having the visa wasn’t enough. Like the time I had a race meeting in Belgium. Because of bad weather our ferry was rerouted from Ostend to Calais in France. I had my Belgian visa stamped and ready but I didn’t have a French visa, so they wouldn’t let me through. I was gutted. All I wanted to do was get into the country, catch a train across the border and head across to the race meeting. Alan argued my case, but the border guys wouldn’t budge. Eventually we gave up and returned home. I didn’t understand why it had been such a problem. For me, all I wanted to do was race.
I put that episode behind me and in mid-July I competed in the 3000 metres event at the World Youth Championships in Poland. This was my first taste of running against the Kenyans and Ethiopians. I finished fifth. Pius Muli of Kenya won it; a promising young Ethiopian runner called Kenenisa Bekele finished second. (Bekele went on to dominate world distance running, winning three Olympic golds, five World Championships golds, 11 World Cross Country titles and setting world records at both 5000 metres and 10,000 metres.) I was nearly 13 seconds behind Muli. In domestic and European meets, with no East Africans to compete against, I continued to win easily. At the Under-19s European meet in Neubrandenburg in Germany I won the 3000 metres in a four-way race against Germany, France and Poland. I was starting to achieve recognition on the athletics circuit, making a name for myself.
That summer, at the age of sixteen, I finished at Feltham Community College. Alan Watkinson also left and took up a new post as head of year at Isleworth & Syon School, which was up the road from Feltham. This was great timing. I was looking for a way to continue running, and switching to the sixth-form college at Isleworth was perfect. My grades weren’t up to scratch, but Alan promised to have a word with the head teacher at Isleworth to see about bringing me over with him. At the time, Isleworth were Feltham’s great rivals in school athletics in the borough, and, as it turned out, the school was only too happy to welcome me. I still had to work on my grades, so I divided my time between going to Isleworth, studying to resit my English Language and Maths GCSEs at a college in Richmond, and training at the athletics club. At the weekends I went out for runs and competed in events. The only downside was that I didn’t see as much of Alan at Isleworth. He was teaching history for a year instead of PE, and I was spending more and more time training at the club under the guidance of Conrad Milton.
A year or so after I started at Isleworth, our athletics club merged with another club: Windsor Slough & Eton. This wasn’t a major surprise. The writing had been on the wall for a while for Borough of Hounslow. Feltham Arena had that worn-out look about it. The council didn’t have the funds to lay down a new track. Eventually the club couldn’t even get insured to host competitions. Conrad, Alex and the other coaches didn’t feel very confident working there. There had been talk of the club moving from Feltham Arena and the local council laying down a brand-new track at my old school, Feltham Community College. Everyone was in favour of it – the school, the club, the coaches. They mentioned my name as someone who’d benefited from the club and could inspire other kids to get into athletics. Sadly, nothing ever came of the talks. The track never got built. Feltham Arena fell into neglect. Borough of Hounslow had no choice but to merge with their Berkshire neighbours. The new club was named Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club.
The big positive from the merger was that Hounslow got the benefit of sharing top-class training facilities. The club was based at the brand-new Thames Valley Athletics Centre in the grounds of Eton College. Still, leaving Feltham was a bit of a blow for athletics in Hounslow, and for me personally. Instead of a short drive north up the A312
I put that episode behind me and in mid-July I competed in the 3000 metres event at the World Youth Championships in Poland. This was my first taste of running against the Kenyans and Ethiopians. I finished fifth. Pius Muli of Kenya won it; a promising young Ethiopian runner called Kenenisa Bekele finished second. (Bekele went on to dominate world distance running, winning three Olympic golds, five World Championships golds, 11 World Cross Country titles and setting world records at both 5000 metres and 10,000 metres.) I was nearly 13 seconds behind Muli. In domestic and European meets, with no East Africans to compete against, I continued to win easily. At the Under-19s European meet in Neubrandenburg in Germany I won the 3000 metres in a four-way race against Germany, France and Poland. I was starting to achieve recognition on the athletics circuit, making a name for myself.
That summer, at the age of sixteen, I finished at Feltham Community College. Alan Watkinson also left and took up a new post as head of year at Isleworth & Syon School, which was up the road from Feltham. This was great timing. I was looking for a way to continue running, and switching to the sixth-form college at Isleworth was perfect. My grades weren’t up to scratch, but Alan promised to have a word with the head teacher at Isleworth to see about bringing me over with him. At the time, Isleworth were Feltham’s great rivals in school athletics in the borough, and, as it turned out, the school was only too happy to welcome me. I still had to work on my grades, so I divided my time between going to Isleworth, studying to resit my English Language and Maths GCSEs at a college in Richmond, and training at the athletics club. At the weekends I went out for runs and competed in events. The only downside was that I didn’t see as much of Alan at Isleworth. He was teaching history for a year instead of PE, and I was spending more and more time training at the club under the guidance of Conrad Milton.
A year or so after I started at Isleworth, our athletics club merged with another club: Windsor Slough & Eton. This wasn’t a major surprise. The writing had been on the wall for a while for Borough of Hounslow. Feltham Arena had that worn-out look about it. The council didn’t have the funds to lay down a new track. Eventually the club couldn’t even get insured to host competitions. Conrad, Alex and the other coaches didn’t feel very confident working there. There had been talk of the club moving from Feltham Arena and the local council laying down a brand-new track at my old school, Feltham Community College. Everyone was in favour of it – the school, the club, the coaches. They mentioned my name as someone who’d benefited from the club and could inspire other kids to get into athletics. Sadly, nothing ever came of the talks. The track never got built. Feltham Arena fell into neglect. Borough of Hounslow had no choice but to merge with their Berkshire neighbours. The new club was named Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club.
The big positive from the merger was that Hounslow got the benefit of sharing top-class training facilities. The club was based at the brand-new Thames Valley Athletics Centre in the grounds of Eton College. Still, leaving Feltham was a bit of a blow for athletics in Hounslow, and for me personally. Instead of a short drive north up the A312
Similar Books
