Philippa Roles

Philippa Roles was one of Wales’ finest throwers. She excelled at hammer, shot and discus, but specialised in the latter. Her bubbly personality made her a popular member of any team she represented. At the age of 14 she won the Welsh under-15 discus title and a month later won the AAA under-15 discus (and shot) title. In 1995, when just 17, she won the under-20 title, and two years later was second in the senior AAA championship, when she was placed third in that year’s European Junior Championships. Roles was third in the AAAs in 1998, and in 1999 finished fourth in the European Under-23 Championships, but then started a run of three consecutive years when she was runner-up to Shelley Drew at the AAAs before capturing her first senior title in 2002. She lost the title to Drew, then Shelley Newman, the following year but regained it in 2004 and held on to it in 2005. She was coached by the former Commonwealth Games shot putting silver medalist Mike Winch at the time.

Roles four times represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games, being placed fourth at Manchester (2002) and Delhi (2010), and sixth at Kuala Lumpur (1998) and Melbourne (2006). Having set many records for her club Swansea Harriers, Philippa’s last major title was in winning her seventh Welsh Open Senior Championship at Cardiff in June 2011. Her best mark of 63.89 metres for the discus was set in June 2003, and it ranked her in the world top 20. At the time of her death in 2017, she was still placed fourth on the all-time British list. Towards the end of her athletics career, Philippa was a train driver for Southern Rail, driving Metro trains in South London.

Personal Best: DT – 62.89 (2003).