racing to the worlds – tommy owler

Tommy Owler, at the age of 13, ran a cross country race and loved it.  Since then, with training at Folkestone Running Club, and now at Blackheath and Bromley he’s working towards qualifying for the European and then World Championships.  Folkelife caught up with him at Three Hills, a return to his home turf, to find out how things are going.

“I had always done sporty things, but hadn’t really found the sport for me.  My mum suggested just going along to the training at Folkestone Running Club because it was a good thing to do.  I liked it because it meant I could spend more time with my friends.  It turned out I was quite good at it.”

top five in the county

“So until I was 15 or 16 I was just running. At that time there wasn’t the running track at Three Hills that’s there now, so we had to go to the Julie Rose Stadium.  I started training more regularly, going there twice a week with my coach Pat Hanys.  I was doing ok, coming in the top five in the county.  But, I was getting bored, and was nearly at a point of giving up.  Then, randomly, I got into a race with the boy who was second in the country.  I thought to myself, if I can keep up with him, then running is worth doing.  If not, then I’ll give up. 

“Turns out I was next to him all the way round the track and got a 2 second Personal Best.  And that’s when it all took off.  I went from being 100th in the country to 30th in one race.”

training with the best

“I moved clubs to Blackheath and Bromley and I’m training with the best athletes.  My current training partner is Sam Reardon who’s just come back from the Olympics with two Bronzes.  He’s the 14th fastest British man of all time. So to know that I’m up there training with him, sometimes beating him, being next to him, gives me the self-belief that I have the capability in my races to go up against anyone and beat anyone.”

mind over matter

“You have to believe you can do it before actually going out there and doing it.  My next aim is the U23 European Championships in Norway, with the qualifiers in Cardiff at the end of June.  I am running the 400m, and need to finish in the top two spots to qualify.  Then I want to make the relay team too, to be part of the 4x400m relay team would be great. 

“It’s important to take things one step at a time.  My aim, and everything is working towards the European Championships.  After that there’s the World’s in Tokyo in September, and to be on the relay team there would be a great achievement.  The boys on that team are a little faster than me at the moment, but I’ve been with my new coach, Nigel Stickings, for seven months now, and everything is lining up in place.  If I want it, I have to go out and get it.”

working on the running

“I have a part-time job at the moment, it was full-time but I dropped back so I can focus on my running. It makes things less stressful to be honest.  If I can get race ready, then all I need to do is keep trying and see what happens.”