Adam Jones sheds five stone for Cardiff Half Marathon
Adam Jones once tipped the scales at more than 24 stone. Next Sunday, the former Wales prop will line up to run the Cardiff half-marathon.
Jones, 45, will tackle the 13.1-mile race on 4 October after losing more than five stone in training, according to BBC Sport. That is some shift for a man built for the front row.
A prop is the front-row forward who anchors the scrum, the packed shove for the ball that is one of union's great set-piece contests. Jones did it as well as anyone. He made 100 international appearances before retiring in 2018, won three Grand Slams — winning every match in a Six Nations campaign — and won a series with the British and Irish Lions. He is now scrum coach at Harlequins, in charge of that area of the game.
The numbers tell the story of his transformation. Jones weighed 24st 7lb (156kg) while he was on the Wales coaching staff in Japan in 2025. He recently weighed in at 19st 7lb (124kg). That is a loss of 32kg.
He is running for two good causes. Jones will raise money for St David's Hospice Care, for whom he is an ambassador, and Prostate Cymru. A JustGiving page has been set up under the name adam-jones-1981 to collect donations.
His preparation has been serious. Jones recently completed a 17km training run as he builds towards race day. He will be among 27,000 runners expected in Cardiff, according to Yahoo Sports.
What makes this stand out is the distance. Props are trained for short, brutal bursts of power. A half-marathon asks for something else entirely: patience, rhythm and tired legs that keep moving. For fans who remember Jones rumbling around the field, seeing him cover 21 kilometres on the roads of the Welsh capital will be quite a sight.
