Olympians at RAF Brampton

By Sgt Al Turnbull

England Athletics Road Race Performance Squad (East) 25-26 Oct 08 @ RAF Brampton

The RAF Brampton hosted the UK Athletics Road Running Performance Squad (East) over the weekend 25-26 Oct 08 with an invite to the RAF Athletics Association. The aim of the squad is to improve road running performances (Incl coaches) of athletes who have registered competitive times (see below) and are associated with the Eastern counties (Incl the Armed Forces).

The weekend started at the Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge with Dan Gordon, Senior Lecturer in exercise Physiology. He explained the energy systems of the body and explored aspects of training v recovery with reference to heart rate/lactate testing. A Q&A session covered areas such as nutrition and physiological changes in the body during training. This was followed by the annual RAF v Eastern Counties v University cross country match south of Cambridge with a win for the RAF Men’s team.

The Squad travelled to RAF Brampton and continued the lectures late into the evening, with Ian Ladbrooke (Director of Edge Fitness). Ian has wide experience in athletics and currently manages a group of elite Kenyan athletes and has acted as the England Team Manager for the Toronto Marathon. His anecdotes of his experiences, including those as an international road race director, were of great interest to the wider aspects of organisation of events. Paul Evans, TraceyMorris and an elite athlete form Kenya available to explain their training and outline the holistic approach to their elite performances. .

Paul’s background was football until he won a local fun run which lead to a path to the Olympic 10,000m (1992,96). His big break was when Roger Hackney (RAF) dropped out of a televised road relay race and Paul was asked to step in. By winning his leg of the race Paul was brought into the public eye and secured his legendary status by winning the Chicago Marathon in 2hrs 8mins ranking him 4th on the UK all time list behind the leader Steve Jones former RAF athlete. The RAF featured a lot in Paul’s elite era, recalling the likes of Mark Flint and was genuinely interested in what had become of them. Paul explained a pre-marathon training week as a professional athlete with Ian adding his knowledge of the African approach, balanced against Tracy holding down a full time job as an armature. Sleep featured heavily with examples such as Paula Radcliffe and Keyan athletes sleeping up to 14hrs out of every 24hrs:

Tracey Morris tried to join the RAF in 1984 as a PTI and was in the last 15 of the selected candidates. However due to cuts in PTI recruiting she did not make it into the RAF and launched her self into career in Ophthalmic health care. Tracey restarted her running from her junior years in her 30’s and joined a local running club when she started to be bitten by the bug. Her failed application to enter the London Marathon by lottery caused her to take up an offer by a leading coach after he spotted her in a local road race. She was entered into the championship start but had to break 3hrs 15mins to justify her place. In the finishing straight of the London Marathon she saw 33mins on the clock and hadn’t registered that the time was 2hrs 33mins not 3hrs 33mins a she thought. Tracey explained she was genuinely baffled when the race staff asked her to speak on television with Sue Barker, and was subsequent selected for the Olympic marathon (2004).

The Sunday morning the squad broke down into their peer groups for a long run on in the rain which failed to dampen the ever present enthusiasm. This was followed by a session on core stability with the squad practicing variations of exercise with otherwise fit individuals finding the more advanced activities a challenge. Much was gained over the weekend by sharing of knowledge and enthusiasm which this article can on briefly justify. The resources at RAF Brampton were superb leaving a lasting impression on the civilian squad. Thanks to Mr Brian Corbett, England Athletics (East) for providing the opportunity to integrate the RAF with a high class event. For further info www.rafatletics and www.englandathletics.org

East England Performance Squad Eligibility Standards

Re: www.englandathletics - Region/East/Athletes/Road Running/Performance Squad.org