The Athletes Journey by Kenny Pearson
The Athletics Journey from a hill climbing perspective
1. The small hill – Starting out at the club
The athletics journey is a long one. You can’t see the whole way. You have no idea where it is taking you. All you can see is the part of the journey you are on. It is difficult to imagine what the whole journey looks like to an athlete just starting out. I thought a good analogy for this is to imagine the athlete on their journey is like a mountaineer and the Olympic Gold medal is like reaching the summit of Everest.
The mountaineer won’t just start at the bottom and climb straight to the top. When they start they won’t even see Everest. All they will see is a small hill in front of them. They can’t see what is beyond it but they know they have to climb the hill to ultimately reach their goal.
This is like an athlete first starting at Central AC. All they can see around them are the group they train with and other athletes at the club. So imagine the first small hill the mountaineer sees represents the athletes at the club and the athlete starting out is at the bottom looking up. They will see lots of other athletes in yellow and blue vests climbing up ahead of them. Competition opportunities here include Time Trials, Open Graded Meetings, Club Champs, and competing for Central Ac in League Matches.
2. The bigger hill – Scottish championships
When they get to the top of the hill, what do they see? A bigger hill beyond.
They look to the next hill and see lots of athletes with lots of different coloured vests. There will be Edinburgh, Giffnock, Pitreavie, Aberdeen, Falkirk, Kilbarchan etc and a few Central vests on the next hill. They know to continue their journey they need to get onto this next hill. How do they do this? They start entering championships, East District, Scottish Schools, Scottish National Championships. Once they line up against the best athletes in Scotland and test themselves out they have started climbing the next hill.
John MacLennan (L) & Ben MacMillan(R)
They look up the hill and can see at the top athletes getting onto the podium at Scottish championships. Those that are talented enough and dedicated enough though will eventually climb to the top of this hill and start winning medals at championships themselves.
Coirilidh Cook (L) & Lucy Smith(R)
Well there is a catch here. Until they are about 14 they can’t see beyond this hill. It doesn’t mean they have reached the end of the journey. There is a long way still to go only it is shrouded in mist. They shouldn’t be thinking they have reached the pinnacle of the sport and they need to understand this. It is just they have progressed as far as they can for their age and the rest of the journey is not yet available to them.
3. The first mountain – UK championships/ home nations internationals
If you want to see who is on this mountain go onto the power of 10 website and you will see lots of fantastic performances. Athletes from the likes of Thames Valley Harriers, Belgrave, Sheffield, Sale, Birchfield, Cardiff Archers, Ballymena and there will be a few Scots, Edinburgh, Giffnock etc and a handful of Central AC vests there. How do you get onto this mountain? You need to head South to England & UK championship events, Sheffield, Bedford, Manchester, or get selected for Scotland at home nations internationals.
Jessica Cleland(L) & Kate Gallagher(R)
With enough talent and dedication you can climb to the top of this mountain. Several Central AC athletes have competed well at these events and reached finals and won medals recently.
Caitlin Edgar (L) & Matt Chandler(R)
4. The mountain range – GB international events, age group major championships
If you are old enough to see the next level, you will see a whole mountain range of snow capped peaks.
There are peaks representing European & Commonwealth Youth championships, World Junior Championships, European under 23 championships, Great Britain junior and senior international opportunities. There are many possible routes here. But this mountain range is reserved for the exclusive few that can achieve Great Britain international selection. If you can get this far you are starting to go places in the sport.
(L) Tom Chandler competing in combined events international for GB against France, Spain & Portugal in Salamanca, Spain in 2016
(R) Kathryn Gillespie at the European Junior championships in Eskilstuna, Sweden 2015.
A few Central AC athletes have reached this far recently. Kathryn Gillespie competed at the European Junior championships in Sweden in 2015 finishing 5th in the 1500m, going further back Morag MacLarty won the European Junior 1500m title in 2005. Scott MacDonald and Andrew Butchart have competed at cross country and in 2016 Tom Chandler competed in a combined events international against Spain, France and Portugal. For Tom it was an eye opening experience as he took on some of the best young athletes in Europe and he is desperate to go back and compete at this level again.
At this point it is worth noting is that athletes can’t make it up these mountains on their own. Well done our coaches!
5. Everest – World elite, Diamond Leagues, World Championships, Olympic Games
Just seeing Everest isn’t enough to get there. This is reserved for the world class elite senior athletes. At this level everything is available, Diamond Leagues, World Championships, Commonwealth Games; Morag McLarty, Alastair Hay and Ross Houston, Olympic Games. In 2016 for the first time in Central ACs history an athlete from the club made it to the Olympic Games as Andrew Butchart was selected for the 5000m at Rio.
He not only made it onto Everest he climbed all the way up to the final camp, reaching the final, then reached the summit ridge, competing with the leaders right up to the final lap. And he saw the summit, he was in the home straight as Mo Farah crossed the line to claim the Olympic gold medal. Andrew is desperate to go to Tokyo in 2020 and clam the gold himself but a huge achievement to date
6. Moral
· The journey is long, when you first set out you don’t know how long it is, where it is going. But as long as you keep climbing the hill you are on and moving onto the next one you are getting closer.
· There are ups and downs in the journey. When you are on an up don’t assume you are destined for success and will always keep going up. Success depends on years of perseverance and dedication.
· If you reach an earlier summit which you can’t see beyond don’t think you’ve made it. There is a long way still to go.
· If you are on a down don’t despair. Every athlete’s journey has as many downs as ups. It is the athletes that show the tenacity to keep going through these dark periods that ultimately makes the difference between success and failure.
· Don’t worry too much about the other athletes competing beside you to reach the same summit as you. It doesn’t matter too much who gets to the earlier summits first. There will be thousands of athletes around the world trying to get up hundreds of different hills. It is all about getting to that final summit on Everest that really matters.
· Don’t worry if you don’t reach the earlier summits at all. Andrew Butchart didn’t start athletics until he was 17 and never won an age group title. Tom Chandler never won a Scottish gold at under 13 or under 15 and is now competing for GB.
· Don’t forget your coach. Athletes can’t do it alone. They need the support of their coaches, parents, club etc..
· And above all as long as you are in a Central vests climbing up a hill, wherever you are on the journey, you’re a winner!
Kenny Pearson