A luxury jewellery store in Wrexham now boasts its own hidden gem of an athletics star.
Chloe Ann Jones started working as a part-time sales executive at Mococo at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre just before Christmas.
But colleagues had no idea the modest 20 year old was actually a champion runner who has represented Wales on numerous occasions, taking a host of titles, and has her sights firmly set on professional track career.
Now that word has filtered out to the rest of the staff at the busy store that there’s a potential Olympic hero in their midst they now all avidly follow her achievements.
Chloe Ann splits her time between Mococo and Glyndwr University in Wrexham, where she is in the second year of a sports science degree course.
She first caught the athletics bug as a pupil at the local primary school in her home village of Eyton, on the outskirts of Wrexham, and her running accomplishments have gathered pace ever since.
Chloe Ann said: “I started running when I was eight years old as the teachers made it so interesting. I also played football for about two years and was in both the school’s mixed and girls’ teams. Although I scored quite a few goals, running became my favourite sport and has since become my real passion.
“About six years ago, when I was in my early teens, I was chosen to represent the Maelor School at Penley, where I went after Eyton Primary, in a schools athletics tournament in Brecon.
“I came first in the 200 metres and someone who was there watching from the Welsh Athletics Squad must have been impressed by my performance and asked me if I’d like to join the squad. I jumped at the chance and a few weeks later I ran for Wales in an indoor international competition down in Cardiff and came third in my age group in the 200 metres.
“Since then I’ve run for my country on many occasions. In fact, it’s now so many times I’ve lost count but it must be dozens.”
Chloe Ann added: “A couple of years ago I switched from the 200 metres to the 400 metres and that’s now my event.
“I’ve run for Wales mostly at tournaments in Britain but when I was 18 I was part of the Welsh team in an international competition in Vienna, Austria, and came third overall in the 400 metres running against girls from all over Europe.
“I’ve also held a number of Welsh championships, including 200 metres at under-17s level in 2012 and 400 metres at under-20s level last year, both times running at tournaments in Cardiff.”
Chloe Ann shows incredible dedication to her sport by training six times a week, after work or college, at Wrexham’s Queensway Stadium.
Her training sessions are usually solitary affairs as her coach Matt Elias, who is an official Commonwealth sports coach, is based in south Wales and the two can meet up only three times a month.
However, at the moment he is arranging for Chloe Ann to have the benefit of a spell of warm weather training away from the wintry Welsh climate in the much sunnier surroundings of Portugal.
Ultimately, she is aiming to represent Wales in the next Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018 and perhaps one day even Great Britain in the Olympics.
Until then Chloe Ann has her sights set a little closer to home and is hoping for to be selected for the Welsh squad in a major international tournament in Loughborough in May, then in July she will be running on an individual basis in the 3A’s British Championships in London.
“I just love running and put everything I have into it. I don’t mind all the training I do because I believe it’s well worth the effort if I can one day achieve my dream to become a professional athlete,” she explained.
“My hero is the young female athlete Perri Shakes-Drayton. She runs at the same distance I do and in the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenburg last year won gold in the women’s 400 metres final.
“I’m studying for a sports science degree at Glyndwr University to enable me to become a PE teacher, which is something I can fall back on if I don’t make it as a professional runner but I’m doing all I can to make sure I achieve my dream.”
Mococo store manager Suzanne Bartley said: “Chloe Ann is so modest that when she first joined us we had no idea she was a Welsh champion runner and have only found out gradually about how good she actually is.
“With the 400 metres she has chosen what I’m told is one of the toughest distances to specialise in, so she doesn’t go for the easy route.
“She’s a lovely girl and picked up the job here at Mococo very quickly.
“We’re all very proud of her at the store and whenever she is competing we follow her progress very closely. We wish her every success with her running in the future.”
Eagles Meadow Manager Kevin Critchley said: “We’re delighted to have such a talented young athlete in our midst.
“She is a fantastic role model for other young people and a shining star of the future. Watch this space!”
