Hi everyone,
Before I do anything else, an apology is needed. Back in October I wrote my first blog in the build up to the European cross country trials. Since that blog I’ve been very lazy and not done any more, sorry about that! I’ll hope to make amends over the next few blogs. Here is another installment, hopefully this will get everyone excited for the English National cross country championships this coming weekend.
As I’ve said above, my first blog was a long time ago so some updates are needed. Since October I’ve raced numerous cross country races, with the major highlight being a 2nd placed finish at the European cross country championships in the U23 age group. This was a great result and almost all that I could have asked for after what can only be described as a disaster at the trials two weeks earlier. The other national championship in which I have competed in over the winter occurred this last weekend. I raced in the 3000m at the UK indoor championships. The Armagh 5k preceded this race, two days earlier. Whilst this was always going to be a big ask I was confident of good performances in both. I wont go into the Armagh race too much here as there is some great race coverage on the Athleticos website. The race report and video interviews created some great interest in the race, which made it even sweeter to get the win amidst the public spotlight.
The indoor 3000m didn’t go quite as well as Armagh did, I finished 5th in a time of 8:02. I was content with this result considering that it was only two days post Armagh. I wanted to use a track race to try a few new things out before this summer. One of which was to front run the race at a fast pace. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the pace as fast as I wanted to, however some big positives were still there. Both of these races served their purpose and have set me up well for a successful end to my cross country campaign for the year.
Onto the National cross country championships this weekend. This is arguably the best cross country event of the entire winter calendar. The atmosphere is brilliant throughout the day, always culminating with the Senior mens race in the late afternoon. As a youngster this was always the race in which I aspired to compete in. As my club (Leeds City AC) has a successful mens cross country team, this was always the focus of the calendar for the entire team. Growing up I had a good pedigree in the National xc, I’ve finished in the top 10 on 5 out of the past 8 editions of these championships. Two of the exceptions were at Alton Towers, it seems I just don’t get on with that place!
Last year I made my senior national cross country debut finishing in 21st. Whilst it was brilliant to be a part of a gold medal winning team, this only slightly made up for my poor individual run. This year I’ll be looking to finish considerably higher up, ideally leading the team to a successful defence of our title.
Looking forward to a great day of racing. See you all there.
Wilko
Before I do anything else, an apology is needed. Back in October I wrote my first blog in the build up to the European cross country trials. Since that blog I’ve been very lazy and not done any more, sorry about that! I’ll hope to make amends over the next few blogs. Here is another installment, hopefully this will get everyone excited for the English National cross country championships this coming weekend.
As I’ve said above, my first blog was a long time ago so some updates are needed. Since October I’ve raced numerous cross country races, with the major highlight being a 2nd placed finish at the European cross country championships in the U23 age group. This was a great result and almost all that I could have asked for after what can only be described as a disaster at the trials two weeks earlier. The other national championship in which I have competed in over the winter occurred this last weekend. I raced in the 3000m at the UK indoor championships. The Armagh 5k preceded this race, two days earlier. Whilst this was always going to be a big ask I was confident of good performances in both. I wont go into the Armagh race too much here as there is some great race coverage on the Athleticos website. The race report and video interviews created some great interest in the race, which made it even sweeter to get the win amidst the public spotlight.
The indoor 3000m didn’t go quite as well as Armagh did, I finished 5th in a time of 8:02. I was content with this result considering that it was only two days post Armagh. I wanted to use a track race to try a few new things out before this summer. One of which was to front run the race at a fast pace. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the pace as fast as I wanted to, however some big positives were still there. Both of these races served their purpose and have set me up well for a successful end to my cross country campaign for the year.
Onto the National cross country championships this weekend. This is arguably the best cross country event of the entire winter calendar. The atmosphere is brilliant throughout the day, always culminating with the Senior mens race in the late afternoon. As a youngster this was always the race in which I aspired to compete in. As my club (Leeds City AC) has a successful mens cross country team, this was always the focus of the calendar for the entire team. Growing up I had a good pedigree in the National xc, I’ve finished in the top 10 on 5 out of the past 8 editions of these championships. Two of the exceptions were at Alton Towers, it seems I just don’t get on with that place!
Last year I made my senior national cross country debut finishing in 21st. Whilst it was brilliant to be a part of a gold medal winning team, this only slightly made up for my poor individual run. This year I’ll be looking to finish considerably higher up, ideally leading the team to a successful defence of our title.
Looking forward to a great day of racing. See you all there.
Wilko
