麻豆约拍

About Me

I became involved in Athletics in the year 2000, joining Bexley AC after being selected to compete for The London Borough of Bexley in the Mini Marathon. Since joining Bexley AC, I have competed in various competitions.

Representing Bexley A.C, Kent County and London Schools; Winning the London Schools boys 800m title twice. Both times going on to compete in the English Schools Track and Field championships in Sheffield in 2003 and Birmingham in 2005.

It was at the 2005 English Schools when I first truly experienced the 2012 spirit and became determined to win selection for the games. The Championships were scheduled for to be held on 8th and 9th of July at Birmingham鈥檚 Alexander Stadium, days after the announcement of London鈥檚 successful Olympic Bid.

The London team had arranged to meet at Kings Cross on the 7th before travelling up to Birmingham. However the devastation caused by the terrorist attacks upon London meant that the team rearranged to meat at White City underground station.

Despite the disruption London fielded a team 59 out of 60 athletes at Alexander Stadium on the morning of the 8th: I ended up travelling with the Kent Team, sleeping on the floor of a club mate鈥檚 hotel room> before reaching the Final of the 800m finishing 8th. Other Athletes had walked to White City from South London.

These events have fuelled me with the determination to succeed and reach the games.
During the 2006 track season I suffered from an ankle injury and missed most of the season. I have now recovered fully and am training towards making my dreams reality.

April 2009

Following an eventful month in March, April proved to be a lot more relaxing. A warm weather training trip to Villamoura, Portugal was a good opportunity to get away from England and the stress of balancing university deadlines with training, working, and Coaching Special Olympics Richmond.

During our time in Portugal a very surreal moment was the presence of dame Kelly Holmes during one of our circuit training sessions.听 Kelly had been visiting a number of members of my training group and Ross Murray (who joined us on the training trip) who is involved with her 'On Camp with Kelly' mentoring programme. After finishing her meetings, she decided to pop in to one of our circuit training sessions.听During this session her roots as an Army P.T.O came out; as she stood at the side of the shouting encouragement at the group, especially Ross.

The warm weather seemed to do the trick, and was just what I needed to help me relax: Returning to England rejuvenated and looking forward to competition in May and June, with a number of competitions coming up for members of my Special Olympics squad to.

March 2009

The month of March proved to be a sad one; with my good friend, Joe Allen finally losing his five-year battle with a brain tumour.听 Joe and I had met nine years previously through Bexley Athletic Club, where both of us had been members of Paul Hatfield鈥檚 training group.

Over the next couple of years we became good friends and at times fierce rivals (although Joe always won). My earliest memory of racing against Joe being in the year 2000, the Adidas London Mini Marathon where Joe finished about fifty places ahead of me, this was also often the case in Cross Country races.听

Joe鈥檚 talent was obvious and it wasn鈥檛 long before he represented Kent (being the first member of our young training group to do so). It was while running for Kent that he was approached by one of the county managers who tried their hardest to get Joe to switch coaches, promising him future success. However Joe was quick to rebuff the approach in favour of remaining at Bexley A.C where he had made strong friendships with the boys in our training group.

It wasn鈥檛 long before me, Joe, and the older boys in the group moved on to be coached by John Gates. It was with John that we all started to make big improvements with my 800m time dropping 12 seconds in the space of a year. It was also around this time that we got our first taste of running the 4x400m relay. This went on to become our favourite event, strengthening the bond between us all. Strangely we would often win, even though our team was rarely the strongest on paper.

Unfortunately it was around this time that Joe was diagnosed with a brain tumour. However, I wasn鈥檛 to find this out for another two years. During this period Joe and I had no contact and I was unaware of his situation. It was only when we were re-united at a friend鈥檚 party that he informed me that he had been ill and fought off the tumour, telling me out of the blue 鈥�...I had a brain tumour, but I鈥檓 all right now鈥�.

From then our friendship was re-united, and the pair of us went on to see each other on a regular basis, taking our National Pool Lifeguard course together and meeting up with old friends. Unfortunately, Joe never got back into running, confiding in me that he would very much like to but didn鈥檛 believe he could ever be as good as he was before.

However he would still come and watch me race or in training occasionally. Sadly, the tumour that had tormented him as a 15-year-old returned two years ago and after many bouts of treatment, Joe sadly passed away on March 17th.听 During this time we had seen each other, whenever I returned home from St Mary鈥檚; with my most special memory of Joe coming from spending New Years with him and his family.

This month has made me realise just how lucky I am to be running, doing something which I am passionate about. I will think about Joe when I鈥檓 feeling tired, when I鈥檓 struggling to get out of bed for my morning run, when it starts to hurt during races. It鈥檚 made me reflect that although running is an individual sport, it's also a social sport and I鈥檓 privileged to have met the people I have met through athletics, in particular Joe.

Next stop for me is a warm weather training trip to Portugal with my training group in preparation for the coming summer track season.

February 2009

The month of February turned out to be an uncharacteristically eventful month: With the heavy snowfall having a profound impact upon both training and competition. Although training sessions carried on as normal, the heavy snow fall made the ground underfoot very slow, however听 this did not deter the group from getting out there and training.

Unfortunately the heavy snowfall resulted in the cancellation of the official BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Cross Country Championships in Aberdeen.

Nevertheless the diehard attitude of University Cross country runners overcame the weather and an unofficial race was staged instead. The outcome being very favourable to St Mary鈥檚 with Andy Vernon leading the team home being the first of five St Mary鈥檚 athletes in the top ten.

Aside to BUCS I experienced my first taste of international racing, competing in the 19th Armagh international 5k road race. The race which took part in Ireland鈥檚 oldest City was a high profile affair with participants such as the legendary Irish Distance Runner Mark Carroll, Former European Under23 5000m champion Chris Thompson, and teams from the USA, South Africa and Finland. The race was a highly competitive affair eventually being won by David Nightingale of the USA in an impressive 13 mins 54 seconds.

Unfortunately, my own performance of 1 6mins 19 secs was a little disappointing due to strained ligaments in my left foot done the day before the race. Nonetheless the exceptional hospitality and impressive course outweighed my own disappointing performance making the trip a truly enjoyable experience.

December/ January 2009 Blog:

听 December came and went in its usual manner and with Christmas disruptive as ever, it was refreshing for January to start and return to some sort of relative normality.听 Having got over my heavy load of coursework it was a major relief not to have any exams, and to be able to enjoy training until resuming lectures on February 9th.

听 In addition to packing in the miles and sessions, I participated in my first race since august, in the form of a 1500m race at the Southern Semi Final of The Indoor Inter City Cup (ICC), running an outdoor personal best of 4.02.28mins in the process.听 Even more pleasing was the fact that I only found out I would be competing in the race on the Wednesday prior after being informed about the opportunity through Kevin Quinn, meaning that I had done no specific preparation for the race.

听 Other impressive performances at the ICC came in the 800metres with Andrew Osagie, and Rick Ward (both members of my training group) running 1.49.7 and 1.50.54, as well Jamie McCullogh running 1.52.87: Indicating an exciting summer ahead.

November 2008 Blog:

听听 As November came to an end and Christmas became ever nearer my workload increased. On top of a solid batch of training and numerous assignments, my work with Real Runners started to come to a head for 2008.

听听 After spending a period of time shadowing other members of staff in April, I started working with Real Runners in the summer.听 Since then, I have been working with the company on a regular basis alongside a number of International athletes such as Mark Warmby, Scott Overall, and G.B Hammer thrower Amir Williamson. This has been my first full term working with the company run by Kevin Quinn, and has allowed me to develop upon the skills that I hope will help me to become involved in coaching in my long term future.

听 In addition to this partaking in work with the company has provided me with a number of intrinsic benefits, most notably seeing the physical development of the pupils who have been participating in Real Runners sessions. This work has allowed me to develop the confidence to start working with the Special Olympics Richmond project. The special Olympics is the third Olympic movement, and this project will involve me working with young people with a number of Intellectual disabilities on a weekly basis starting January.

October 2008 Blog:

听听 As the month of October went on, evidence of the changing face of UK Athletics came to light. The departure of Mark Rowland to Oregon and the widely anticipated exit of Alan Storey from his position at St Mary鈥檚 HiPC (High Performance Centre) are some of the high profile changes occurring in what is currently a failing system.

听听 However, whether the changes being made are sufficient is a completely different matter. The failure to deliver medals in Beijing were the catalysts for the departure of Rowland and Storey, but ultimately the truth is they held positions in a system which is flawed from the grassroots up.
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听听 Firstly, the club system in which all young aspiring athletes enter in to is inadequate to nurture the majority of talented teenagers to fulfil their full potential. This is ultimately due to a lack of knowledge from the majority of coaches responsible for the development of 11-16 year olds. In the case of most clubs the majority of the coaches who become involved have not competed as athletes themselves often being parents who have little knowledge of how to develop adolescents to their peak as an adult.听 Minor success often has a detrimental effect in this situation often reinforcing bad coaching and preventing the athlete from moving on to a more able coach. In addition to this a lack of technical event coaches provide the base for international failure in throws and jumps events, in turn creating a vicious circle which hinders the development of future jumps and throws coaches as well as successful athletes.
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听 At the performance end of the scale, certain frailties are also obvious; Athlete funding being one contentious issue, a lack of money, facilities and knowledge being another. Unfortunately the sport of Athletics does not create enough revenue to make it self sufficient meaning that it is dependent upon Sponsorship and Lottery funding and resources have to be used sparingly. As a result of this the annual announcement of athletes receiving lottery funding is always a matter of controversy. This year has been no different; the exemption of Andy Vernon and Scott Overall and others being widely viewed as poor judgement on the behalf of UK Athletics by the wider running community. This matter has only served to add fuel to the flame of dissatisfaction with UK Athletics that鈥檚 currently burning strongly in Britain.

听听 Hopefully some of these issues will be addressed in time for the Olympics in four years time if not then the likelihood is that once again Britain will disappoint on the World鈥檚 biggest sporting stage. On a positive note the legacy that the games will leave may just provide an improved and more efficient system that can lead to future success, with retention of the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games being vital to the development of the sport.

September 2008 Blog:

听听 A groin strain meant that training became very broken. However, with the start of the new academic year and my next race not likely to be until the indoor season the adverse affects of the groin strain were not critical at this point in time.

听听 The return to University life also signalled considerable change for me. The new intake of Freshers almost doubled the amount of Middle distance runners based at St Mary鈥檚, leading to both Clive u and Clive S (Halls of residence) being allocated purely for Athletes. This larger intake included as many as seven athletes with International representation as juniors; Most notably Rick Ward and Joanne Harvey competed at this year鈥檚 world Junior championships, while Simon Horsfield听 is currently in India representing England in the 1500m at The Commonweath Youth Championships.
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听 The addition of such talent to my training group will hopefully be beneficial to my own performance as well as bringing success to St Mary鈥檚 and the athletes based here.

August 2008 Blog:

August offered me more opportunities to race, eventually lowering, my seasons best down to 1min55.3 seconds. I recorded this performance on the same day Usain Bolt took both Olympic Gold and the World Record while running 19.30seconds for the 200metres. Usain鈥檚 achievements may have been in Sprint disciplines but served as Inspiration for me my training partners at St Mary鈥檚. Evidence of this was the return to winning ways from Andrew Osagie.

Andrew posted an impressive Personal Best of 1min47.34seconds in 2007 and was hopeful of making the British Olympic team for Beijing. Unfortunately Andrew suffered from a variety of injuries missing almost a year of training and was unable to race until August. On his return to racing Andrew recorded听 three low key victories which will hopefully provide the base of a successful build up to The Olympic Games in London in four years time. However, reaching the games will be no easy task as every young athlete (me included) will be aspiring to reach the games. Lets hope this and the high profile appointment of Charles Van Comonee bodes for an increase in Track and Field success for Team G.B听

July 2008 Blog:

The month of July tends to be an extremely busy month for athletes everywhere.This was to be no different for me or any of the staff and athletes based at St Mary鈥檚 University Twickenham which is UKA's Endurance Performance Centre (EPC).Significantly,for me I was able to return to full time training and competing.I raced four times between the 28th of June and the 30th of July eventually lowering my seasons best to 1.56.01,beating the time I had recorded racing indoors in March. The coaches at St Mary鈥檚 also had a very busy time of it during July.While performance coaches Mark Rowland and Alan Story were fine tuning some of the senior athletes for the Olympic Trials, development coaches Mick Woods and Craig Winrow travelled to Bydgoszcz in Poland for the World Junior Championships. This 10 day period saw three athletes coached by Woods and Winrow compete.

Most impressive were the Mick Woods coached pair of Steph Twell and Emma Pallent who took both Gold and Bronze in the 1500m.Joanne Harvey (coached by Winrow) put in a solid performance to finish ninth in the 3000m,this coming just weeks after an injury scare looked as if it would ruin her chances of competing at these championships. July also included the announcement of the Team GB track and field team that will be competing in the Olympic Games in Beijing.Team GB include seven athletes who base their training,or who are supported by the St Mary's staff working at the Endurance Performance Centre (EPC).

St Mary's have representatives such as Jemma Simpson competing in the 800m,Kate Reed and Jo Pavey in the 10k,with Pavey being one of Team GB鈥檚 outside medal hopes along with Andy Baddely in the 1500m and Mo Farah in the 5k.The icing on the cake will be St Mary鈥檚 own 2008 World Junior Champion Steph Twell competing in the 1500m at just 18. As the Olympic Games rapidly approach it is a truly exciting and inspiring time to be based at St Mary鈥檚 University College Twickenham.

May/ June 2008 Blog:

听 May and June became seriously disrupted by injury problems. Just days after running my first outdoor track race of the season I was diagnosed with a disfunctioning Tibialis Posterior which was causing pain in the Arch of my right foot. This problem meant that running had to be replaced by cross training during this period. The injury meant spending lots of time cycling, swimming and on The Cross trainer whilst unable to run, to ensure that I kept up my general fitness.

This period was very challenging for me. With motivation to train dwindling at times due to missing large amounts of competition, including the Southern Championships and the AAA under20 Championships (Which doubled as a trial for the World Junior Championships). However, I eventually returned to full training towards the end of June, stepping on the track for the first time in almost two months on Tuesday the 24th of June. This gave me the much needed motivation and determination to salvage something from my season.

April 2008 Blog:

听听 April signalled the start of the track season and the end of the long winter months spent slogging the miles, or treading the boards of the indoor races. With the Cross Country season ending on the high of having numerous St Mary鈥檚 athletes competing at The World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, there was a lot of excitement about the start of the track season.听 The Watford open meeting on the 23rd of April would be the place where a large number of Athletes would be making there bow.

听听 The meet was a positive experience for me running a 1500m Personal Best (P.B) of 4min04.36, breaking a three year old best that I had set at the Age of 16.听 There were also P.B鈥檚 set by Colin McCourt, and Jonny Young in the 3,000m. McCourts鈥� time of 8min09 signalling a possible come back to the form which lead to him running 3min38 for 1500m in 2006. In addition to this were impressive runs from Ireland International Brian Markham and Great Britain World Cross Country Representative Mitch Goose in the men鈥檚 800m, with Leonie Smith St Marys鈥� only female competitor of the night making a return to Competition over 1500m after recent injury troubles.

听 In addition to racing a work shadow placement with Real Runners in March and April meant that i became even more submerged in Athletics. Real Runners offers a service to a number of primary Schools in South West London and Surrey. The scheme was the brainchild of Kevin Quinn (who i shadowed), the concept of the scheme is to supply enjoyable athletics sessions by athletes and fully qualified coaches to primary school pupils whilst teaching them about the physical affects that Athletics and Sport in general has on the body as well as promoting health. This is a really good example of one of a number of schemes of its type being run in the build up to both the Beijing Olympics and the 2012 games. The work placement has lead to the possibly of future work with Real Runners which i am looking forward to.

March 2008 Blog:

听听 As February passed and March began I was completely unaware as to how significant a month this would be for me. It was to be my first experience of Senior University track competition, and one that left a bitter taste in my mouth. After successfully getting through the heat of the BUSA indoor Championships I went into the Semi-Final with an outside chance of reaching the final. Having watch my training partner Lee Taylor set a Gibraltarian Indoor record when finishing third in the first of the three Semi- Finals, I was determined to go one beat his mark and qualify for the final. Finishing in the top three in a time quicker than 1.56.3 would have put me in the final.

I decided to give myself a chance of qualifying and went with the fast early pace, after going through 400m in 55 seconds my lack of experience against senior athletes showed leaving me to drop off the front to. In the later stages the early pace took its toll with me dropping to a disappointing fourth and missing out on qualification.

As the dullness of Sheffield passed clearer skies were on the horizon as I made my way to Portugal for my first experience of warm weather training. The trip had been organized by Craig Winrow and involved athletes from my training group. Surrounded by woodland trails, beaches and an eight lane synthetic track the resort of Monte Gordo on Portugal鈥檚 Algarve proved ideal for training The ten days spent in Monte Gordo proved to be a gruelling period, developing the speed, strength and endurance of the group. Laying the ideal foundations to build a successful track season upon.

February 2008 Blog:

With my first indoor races of the season coming in February my training started to become centred on the track. Although much of my training programme remained the same a few tough specific sessions were introduced, to simulate the conditions when racing. These were a shock initially as they were unlike anything that i had ever done before.听 This training was tailored for my first race at the AAA under 20 Indoor championships on the 23rd and 24th of Febuary.

Without any race practice behind i managed my fastest ever start to the season clocking 1.56.8 in my heat and qualifying as a fastest looser. However, my inexperience indoors and lack of racing showed as I finished down in 6th in the final clocking a disappointing 1.58; half a second down on my nearest competitor. Hopefully i can build upon these performances at the BUSA Indoor Championships on the 15th and 16th of March.

February was also a good month of competition for St Mary鈥檚 university athletics team, with success at the BUSA cross country championships. The Men鈥檚 A team of Andy Vernon, Keith Gerrard, Tom Boardman, Mitch Goose, Ben Lindsey and Steve Connor ran away with the Means team title with Vernon and Gerrard placing 1st and 2nd respectively.听 This was followed up by Steph Twell winning the women鈥檚 race by a convincing thirty seconds, and Bertie Powell finishing second in the Men鈥檚 B race after an impressive effort to win the race from the front. With the Women鈥檚 team taking silver and the Men鈥檚 B team taking Bronze this was considered to be a success for the university. The university hopes to expand upon this success in March with the BUSA indoor Championships, World Student Cross Country Championships, Inter-County Championships (world Cross Trial), and World Cross Country Championships all coming up.

January 2008 Blog:

Initially January started as a struggle, recovering from illness and returning to a training routine. This was made more difficult by the added pressure of exams and extensive revision. However, once these exams were out of the way training became a lot easier. With no lectures until the 11th of February, I have been effectively living the 鈥渢he dream鈥� as a full time athlete; with my day consisting of training, eating, and resting.

The benefits of this lifestyle are having an effect on my training too. Having moved on to the track for a number of sessions I am feeling stronger and faster than I have all winter, and hope that I can keep up the good work through the indoor season and beyond. Hopefully these benefits will be visible in February when the St Mary鈥檚 team travel to the BUSA Cross Country Championships and I make my 2008 Indoor debut at the AAA Under 20鈥檚 Championships at Birmingham on the 23rd and 24th February.

November 2007 Blog:

听 November carried on in a similar vein to October.听With two months to the start of the indoor season my main focus was still upon building a good training base for next season. This included the introduction of weight training and raising my mileage to above 40miles a week.听Possibly the biggest surprise was my first track session since joining St Mary鈥檚 in September.

听听 Having done all my previous sessions on grass at Teddington Lock or tearing up hills in Richmond Park, it was a treat to return to the track for a session one Saturday morning.听Craig had decided to throw me even further in the deep end. Joining groups with Mark Rowland and Liam Kane meant that I would be chasing round after a number of sub 1.50 800m runners including Olympian James McIlroy and the up and coming Darren St Clair.

听 Despite the tough nature of the session it was a great boost to my confidence, showing me that I could hold my own against them on some of the reps, and confirming my belief that with a solid winter behind me I will see noticeable improvements next season.

October 2007 Blog:

听 After the initial shock of my increased training load at St Mary鈥檚, by mid October I was starting to cope much better with the larger volume (typically 6-8km) training sessions. I also had to adapt to frequent sessions dedicated to drills and core stability, in addition to my morning runs. At first I struggled to drag myself out of bed to run at eight in the morning but as October passed this was becoming routine; allowing me just enough time to grab breakfast before lectures.

Living in accommodation with various junior international middle and long distance runners, ranging from Gibraltarian 800m runner Lee Taylor to European Cross Country Silver medallist Andy Vernon, has influenced my lifestyle and ambitions. This ranges from improving my eating habits to making me determined to win a G.B vest within the next five years. With the expert knowledge of the coaches at The Endurance Performance Centre (EPC) this seems a more realistic ambition than a few months previous. With the continued work on developing all areas of my running and a consistent approach to training over the coming winter, I hope that noticeable improvements will be visible next track season.

September 2007 Blog:

The start of the new academic year was to be the catalyst for the biggest changes in my life so far. Starting my course studying P.E in the Community at St Mary鈥檚 University College, Twickenham, meant that I moved out of my family home of the last 18 years and into halls of residence. In addition to the changes in my living and studying there were also to be changes in my training as St Mary鈥檚 is the National Endurance Performance Centre. Attending University here gives me a great opportunity to take my training to the next level.

The move was made a lot easier by the other residents in the special athletes鈥� block, Clive U, who have already helped me to settle into university life and establish a training routine. Many of these are members of the training group I am joining, working under the guidance of UK Athletics coach Craig Winrow.

Living on site means that I was to start half hour morning runs three times a week with a further two sessions down at Lensbury fields. Again this was a big change as the main emphasis of training has become focused upon endurance, and moved away from track work. Additional circuit training and drill sessions have also become an important part of training.

听 Hopefully the changes will set a good foundation for a hard but injury free winter.

August 2007 Blog:

August signalled the end of my competitive track season, which saw my club, Bexley A.C gaining promotion to Southern Mens League division 2.听 A two week holiday to Kos with my friends provided the ideal opportunity for me 2 get away from the pressure of my ever nearing exam results and demand to perform on the track.

Although the nature of the holiday was not conducive to rest it provided the perfect opportunity to relax and enjoy myself before committing myself to the lifestyle of a full time athlete at St Mary鈥檚.

As the holiday concluded we were to board a plane and fly back to England where I would receive my A-Level results. It was not until the plane landed and my feet were firmly grounded upon English soil that I importance of these results hit me. Having only applied for St Mary鈥檚 University in Twickenham, my plans for the next three years depended heavily upon attaining grades BC.

I was confident that with the hard work that I鈥檇 put in and the help of the staff at St Luke鈥檚 sixth form college, I would gain the grades I required, but the nerves were still kicking in. To my delight the contents of brown envelope that enclosed my results contained good news. I had achieved C grades in History and Drama and a B grade in P.E. The first to congratulate me was my P.E Teacher and Form Tutor Peter Lake who played a big role in guiding me towards this set of results.

With my results under my belt I will be taking up a place at St Mary鈥檚 where I will be coached by former Olympic 800m runner Craig Winrow and vow to improve my running in an atmosphere geared for success.

July 2007 Blog:

The Month of July was dominated by the Sainsbury鈥檚 English Schools Championships, held between the 13th and 14th of听 July. I was disappointed with my own performance, finishing third in my heat in a time of 1min56.68. With qualification for the final set at the four winners of the heats and the four fastest losers it was always going to be difficult.

However, it was not my own disappointment that was to leave the biggest impression upon me over the weekend, it was to be the very different stories of three individuals which I will remember the 2007 English Schools Championships by the most.听 The first of these is one of great determination and bravery by one of my fellow competitors in the Senior Boys 800 metres. During June鈥檚 South of England Championships at Crystal Palace Ipswich鈥檚 Tom Love emerged as one of the favourites to claim the Under 20 Men鈥檚 800m title. He was narrowly beaten into second place by Chris Haines of Medway and Maidstone but still went into the English Schools as a strong contender to make the final.

Friday鈥檚 heats drew me and Tom together and he was probably the favourite to progress to the final.听 Little did I know that Tom had been suffering from stress fractures in both feet in the weeks leading up to the English Schools. After battling through the wet and windy conditions I turned to shake the hands of my competitors and to my amazement Tom was still running past the 600metre mark. He finished the race to a round of applause from the whole stadium, limping over the line. His determination to race at the English Schools was truly admirable, and his bravery to run through the pain barrier and complete the race was clear for all to see.

The next story was one of success for my team mate and training partner Frank Kilama. Frank took up athletics in April after much persuasion from teachers, class-mates, and members of Bexley A.C. Frank鈥檚 natural athletic ability was evident, having represented Kent for cross country without any real training. Frank鈥檚 natural endurance led to him gaining the entry standard for the English Schools 3000m back in May; running 9mins01sec. Going in to the Championships Frank was very inexperienced at the 3000m having only run the event twice.

His only other experience of a Championship 3000m had been watching Kent team mate Jack Tyler win the Silver medal in the senior boy鈥檚 event 2 hours before. So when it was announced that Frank had won the Bronze Medal my jaw dropped. His time of 8mins47seconds took fourteen seconds of his personal best (I had been unable to watch his race due to the parade). This result was even more impressive considering Frank had beaten numerous more experienced athletes in the process of gaining that medal. Frank now appears to have a very bright future in athletics ahead of him.

The last story involves a double Olympic Champion. Daley Thompson made an appearance at the Championships, giving advice to youngsters and signing autographs. My room mate and fellow member of Bexley A.C. Jamie Farrell had been a long time admirer of Daley Thompson and was one of the many young athletes to have visited Daley over the weekend. Daley had briefly joked with Jamie and signed an autograph, spending no more than a couple of minutes with him.

It was on the journey home that the impact of this meeting became evident: As the team stopped of at a service station Jamie received a playful jab in the stomach. To his surprise this had been delivered by Daley Thompson who was also making his way home from Birmingham. This encounter made Jamie鈥檚 weekend. It was good to see that somebody of Daley鈥檚 status takes the time and effort to acknowledge aspiring youngsters, confirming my belief that people such as Daley have an important role to play in the build up to the 2012 Olympics.

May/June 2007 blog:

May signalled the start of a heavy competition schedule; leading to me racing more frequently over my preferred distance the 800m. The first of these was a victory in the first Southern Men鈥檚 League competition. Despite the relatively modest time of 1.58.7 the improved performance after my illness gave me confidence after my illness in the previous month. This performance was lead on to a pair of Bronze Medals in the 800m and 1500m at the County champs, and a personal Best of 1min55.3 at The British Milers Club at Eltham followed by another 1.55 at Watford the week after.

听听 May was also successful for my club Bexley A.C. The clubs attempt for promotion From Southern Men鈥檚 League Division 3 South started with a close fought 2nd place in there first match at Eastbourne. With only the 4x400m relay costing the club victory. More success came in the shape of Martin Lloyd Bexley who earned his first senior International Vest; being selected to complete for England in the Loughborough International Match.听听

听听 June followed in a similar vein to May starting with another Southern Men鈥檚 League Match, in which Bexley managed to clinch victory aided by my victory in the 400 metres. The following Sunday we travelled to Barnet Copthal for UK Athletics new Initiative the British Athletics League (BAL) 10 in 100 Cup. The idea of the BAL 10 in 100 cup is to offer quality competition in the shape of 10 Track and Field events in 100 minutes. The idea being that the event is more spectator friendly. However, the event was poorly attended with some teams failing to fill there quota of eight athletes. Despite the controversy over the new format of the event both Bexley鈥檚 Men鈥檚 and Women鈥檚 teams responded positively to the competition, both qualifying unexpectedly for the next round. I was pleased with my own personal performance at the event, running a new Personal Best (PB) of 1min55.27 in the 800 metres and beating Matt Douglas (a Great Britain representative over the 400m hurdles at the Sydney Olympics) in the process. Although, I was pleased to have run a new PB I was disappointed to have just missed the English Schools Entry Standard of 1min55.00.

听听 The week Following the BAL 10 in 100 cup was to be an extremely hectic one for me. With my first A-Level exam on Friday the 15th my week was consumed by revision: making sure that I had left no topic in my text book untouched. The relief after spending three hours in exam conditions was immense. I could relax for the moment, before having to compete in the South of England Under-20 Championships the next day. After making my through the Heats and Semi-Final of the 800m on Saturday all that was Left by Sunday morning was get myself in

a good prepared for the competition so that I could strike for a medal come the Final. A good night鈥檚 sleep seemed to have done me good and with 200m metres to go I was in the lead and preparing my kick for home. I had hesitantly taken the race on and a podium finish from a front running display would have been a good achievement. However just as the race was winding up for a Sprint finish I was tripped and suffered a loss of momentum and any advantage I had over the rest of the field. I eventually finished the race down in 6th place running a personal Best and equalling the Entry Standard for The English Schools of 1min55.00.

听 My performance at the Southern Championships was followed by more A-Level examinations: With History on the morning of the 18th and Drama on the 26th.听 On the morning of the 25th along with five other members of my club I received a letter regarding my selection for The English Schools Championships in Birmingham on the 13th and 14th of July. Only one thing stood in the way of going for me and my club mates. The cost of the week end stood at 拢100 without the costs of kit. This was particularly problematic for 1 particularly talented performer in the Shape of Jamie Farrel. Jamie who is a talented High Jumper and Multi-Eventer had been selected to represent Kent in Both the Multi-Events in Exeter and the High Jump in Birmingham. The combined costs of these could be as much as 拢300-拢400 pounds.

Jamie like myself dreams of competing at the 2012 Olympics and with the right guidance and training is both young enough and talented enough to fulfil his dreams. However, like so many others his talent could be lost to work as Jamie will be taking on a Plumbing apprenticeship and may struggle to maintain training and competing regularly.

听听 Jamie鈥檚 Training partner Martin Lloyd has had similar problems although his training has been consistent this season work obligations have often got in the way. He was recently selected to complete for England in Bratislava but was unable to get permission from his firm to get the time off to travel out there. Following his disappointment Martin went on to win the South of England senior High Jump Gold after working till One o鈥檆lock in the morning before this competition. These are issues face by many Athletes in the same positions as Martin and Jamie. And if they fail to be addressed it is with a heavy heart I can see Great Britain will struggle once again in the Track and Field events at 2012 Olympics and the following games.