Indoor National Athletics

Caitlin Hancock, L4E

I have been running at Woodford Green AC for seven years and the amount of opportunities I’ve had have been incredible. I train hard weekly doing long jump and sprints to help me reach and surpass my goals.

One of my recent goals was to qualify for the Indoor Nationals in Sheffield which I did! I told myself I’d enjoy every moment and, whatever happened, I’d just be grateful to have made it this far. Never did I expect to leave the stadium with a silver national medal for the long jump!

The atmosphere was amazing with my friends and family watching from the stands. Until the fifth round I was in a gold medal position. Unfortunately, that was taken away from me but I managed to improve my previous personal best by 23cm, jumping a distance of 5.47m. This ranked me first in England and second in the UK. I had been training so hard for that moment and it all paid off when I stood up on the podium with a medal around my neck.

I was very pleased with this considering we were racing unrested. My most successful day was the Sunday, when I cut half a second off of my 50m Breaststroke personal best, so putting me in a really good place for the upcoming British swimming championships, when the Commonwealth Youth Games team will be selected, and the British summer Nationals in July. Only around 0.5 seconds currently separates the top ten juniors in the country.

After a successful indoor season, I’m excited for the coming outdoor season and what it has to bring.