Friday 22 March 2013

Athlete's Profile (4)

ATHLETE'S PROFILE (4)

JOHN FORD (NWRR)

ANY PREVIOUS CLUBS: Abergele Harriers, Mysteruns. Joined NWRR at the beginning of 2011.

AGE AND D.O.B.: 43,  26.9.69

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COMPETING: Just over 6 years, since the 2006 Ras Fawr Llanddoged

ANY OTHER SPORTS PLAYED: I was a keen cyclist in the 1980s before taking up football again in the 1990s. I hung up my boots in 1999 before my son was born.

OTHER HOBBIES OR INTERESTS: I am an avid lifelong Blackpool FC fan.

FAVOURITE RACING DISTANCE: The Marathon - I have averaged 2 a year since 2007

FAVOURITE RACE AND WHY: A very close call between Ras Fawr Llanddoged (my local race, which got me running and I now help organise) and the Snowdonia Marathon, but the heart says Llanddoged.

FAVOURITE TRAINING SESSION: Fartlek session in the hills above the Conwy Valley

PROUDEST MOMENT: After one of my earliest Llanddoged races my daughter's teacher put a notein her homework book saying "Da iawn Dad Elliw", followed closely by winning the race in 2010.

WHOM DO YOU MOST ADMIRE (INSIDE AND OUTSIDE ATHLETICS) AND WHY: Sporting wise it's got to be Ron Hill and Jimmy Armfield

ANY PERSONAL AMBITIONS: To have a go at cross-country again (I enjoyed it and it was probably the only thing I was good at in school) and, hopefully, get a Welsh Masters vest one day.

ANY REGRETS: I wish I hadn't had my gait analysed last year and changed the type of trainers I wore - I struggled last year with plantar fasciitis, which was at its worst first thing in the morning when I do most of my running/ long runs

ANY EMBARRASSING EXPERIENCES: My worst running experience was collapsing at the end of the 2009 Ras Fawr Llanddoged after suffering a hypo-glycaemia attack in the last mile, with my wife and kids watching as I was given oxygen and the paramedics tried to bring me round (before being taken away in an ambulance)

WHAT CHANGES, IF ANY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE SPORT: More funding at grassroots level to get more/better coaches to spot/nurture talent at a young age and to hopefully produce a better crop of GB runners in the future including, hopefully, a British runner challenging in the top marathons like Ron Hill and Steve Jones used to.

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