Athlete's Profile (13)

ATHLETE'S PROFILE (12)

MIKE ROBBINS

 

NAME: Mike Robbins

CLUB: Wrexham AAC

 ANY PREVIOUS CLUBS: Deestriders RC, RAF Sealand, RAF Cosford.

 AGE AND DATE OF BIRTH: 50, blizzard of '63!

 HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COMPETING:  Over 30 years.

 ANY OTHER SPORTS PLAYED: Football came and went as did the orienteering (no co-ordination or map reading skills!)  I stick to the running now.

 OTHER HOBBIES OR INTERESTS: I still regularly practice on a guitar that's been with me longer than the running!

 FAVOURITE RACING DISTANCE:  1500m without doubt.  All the tactics of the event would give you something to think about but competing in a close race and getting on the final bend was a real buzz, would you have anything left?

 FAVOURITE RACE AND WHY: Track and Field league fixtures.  It's summer, good atmosphere, lots of different events to watch/cheer on, lots of sociable people, I still get asked to go and I'm able to score a  few points!

 FAVOURITE TRAINING SESSION:  I was told 'it's the one's you don't like that do you the most good', so my favourite dislike was 5 or 6 x 800m and get the recoveries down to 45 seconds or less.  Hated them but ran some of my best races afterwards.

 PROUDEST MOMENT:  Leading the British Masters Road Relays in Birmingham for Wrexham.  I made a big effort to get past the leader going to the Jamboree Stone just so I could tell everyone we had been in the lead but managed to hang on with a 20 second lead.  It was the ability of Bernie Jones, Ted Partridge and Mike Weedall that put me in that position but I happily grabbed the opportunity while it was there.

 WHOM DO YOU MOST ADMIRE (INSIDE ATHLETICS AND OUT) AND WHY:  Haile Gebrselassie and David Rudisha are such positive role models in athletics as well as fantastic athletes.  Outside athletics, Joy Soffe.  It inspires me the more I discover about Joy and what she achieved in such a short time.  It seemed preordained that I would be holding her when she progressed to the next stage of her life.  Joy will remain forever perfect and motivates me on all my long runs.

 ANY PERSONAL AMBITIONS:  Do more Ultras.

 ANY REGRETS:  Maybe I could have trained more seriously for athletics at an earlier age but I was in the Army and my motivation was different.

ANY EMBARRASSING EXPERIENCES:  Being interviewed towards the end of the London Marathon by the BBC after the wheels fell off.  I hope it ended up on the cutting room floor.   I vaguely remember being told I was going to get a 'fantastic' time but insisted on telling them what a 'cr@p' run I was having!

 WHAT CHANGES (IF ANY) WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE SPORT: More opportunities for developing athletes to combine higher education with continued involvement in sport.  Clubs loose so many talented youngsters at this time and there's no real structure in where they go or what they do.  The American Collegiate system seems to offer so much more and appears way ahead of the universities in the UK .