Where it all started …….
My passion for sport started at a young age, an enthusiastic member of many school sports teams. My favourite past time was racing my classmates in the playground at lunch time which is where my speed was first spotted. Our primary school PE teacher recommended my parents took me along to the local athletics club; and the rest, as they say, is history.
From playground to the Olympics………..
At the age of 10 I joined Harrow AC, training there a couple of times a week with Jean Browne and then Sylvia Parker. When I was 16 I joined a new coach, Madeline Cobb, and specialised in sprints and hurdles. Although I was often the best in the county, my performance on a national level was average at best, finishing last in my heat at the first two English Schools competitions I competed in.
Following a particularly frustrating hurdles session on a training camp in 2002, we decided to focus my efforts on the 100m and was rewarded that season with my first GB vest. What followed was a ten-year international athletics career that I can only have dreamed of a few years earlier.
The pinaccle of my career was competing in the 100m at the Beijing Olympics in 2008; during my career I also competed in 4 World Championships, 2 Commonwealth Games (winning Gold and Silver medals), 2 European Championships, World Indoor Championships and World Student Games. I won a total of 8 National Titles and retired with personal bests of 100m 11.11; 200m 23.29.
Athlete to Coach
I was coached by Linford Christie from 2008 and it was Linford who is to blame for first introducing me to coaching.
I retired from competitive athletics in April 2014 and was already casually coaching an athlete who Linford had asked me look after. That summer Ellie Kormis (nee Spain) approached me about setting up West London Track and Field, an expansion of West London Pole Vault she founded in 2012. My group of one soon became two, three etc etc and I officially started my first training group in the 2014-15 season. I have now coached multiple Great Britain representatives and National medalists (Senior & Junior) across sprints, hurdles and combined events.
My first step back into International athletics came in 2016 when I was coaching an athlete who competed at the World Junior Championships. I started my Team Coach roles with British Athletics in 2017 where I successfully developed the Futures Relay Programme which has produced six medals in Junior and U23 Championships to date.
I am now a Performance Coach specialising in sprints, hurdles and combined events.
Head Coach - West London Track & Field
I lead our inter-disciplinary team of coaches and therapists working alongside athletes from grass-roots to senior internationals, based at Brunel University. The team of athletes and staff is expanding year on year as we celebrate the success of our professional training environment. You can read more about WLTF on our website www.westlondontrackandfield.com
4 x 100m Lead - UK Athletics
I lead the delivery and coaching of the Senior and Futures 4x100m relay programmes, including developing and executing plans to win medals at major championships and the Olympic Games. I provide support to identified athletes and coaches as engagement lead for the World Class and Futures Programme.
When I’m not at the track you will find me here ……..
