The performances recently in the USA have been great to see, as the British guys out there have been tearing the track up. I have added interest as David Bishop, who I coached last year has gone to New Mexico University and continued to progress. He had a great cross-country season, and then had a great race last week, running a 4:00.3 mile. His British team-mate Lee Emmanuel Ran a 3:57 the week before, and a whole host of Brit’s have been turning over PB’s for fun.

The question that has been asked; is what are the reasons for their improvements? And are the tracks short in the US? The latter I can say for sure is not true, as the NCAA come down hard on meets where they don’t have enough college races, so they would never allow a track even 1cm short. The reasons I feel the performances are down too are due to a number of factors. First off, they are looked after by the schools, they want you to run well, in most cases they have a two to four year plan for you. The schools and coaches that the recent Brit’s have attended have been the right schools for them. In the past it seemed a lot of UK kids went to the wrong programs and this left a bad impression of the system for a while. Success from athletes like Tom Lancashire and Scott Overall, have given the UK the confidence to get out there and try the US College system. The Internet has really help get the right information to these kids and they have had a better understanding of what to expect.

Training wise, they have a structured training and racing plan. Plus they train in large groups and have medical back up. This is a dream for most UK kids and this allows the US based athletes to train and race like full-time athletes. The fear of burn out should really be forgotten, as those that stay behind because of this are normally lost to our university culture of drinking anyway. My biggest regret of my career was not going to the US to study, but I was still in the generation that didn’t understand that not all schools ran you to the ground. The good coaches wanted you to run well and if coached well, then you would run well along time after graduating. My advice would still be to do your home work on the school and coach, and pick the right school for the right reasons.

The standards have also increased, the likes of Rupp and Fernandez have helped raise the bar. The races are stacked from heat to heat, and take David’s run last week, he won the B’s race in 4flat! How many UK races indoors are of that standard, so again coaches know they have fast races to prepare the athlete’s for. Not all universities have great climates like the mild and altitude that New Mexico provides. But most have great indoors facilitates, and that is again something that is getting better in the UK, but has been rare in the past.

Basically if I was a UK based kid looking at going to university, or what to do after school, I would be doing my homework on the US schools. As could be a ticket for you making that next step and learning how good you can become, rather than having any regrets. But of course the US is not for everyone, and I know with my coaching work worth The UWIC squad, that many UK universities are really trying to catch up with the US type systems. The hope is that in a few years the same type of structure will be in place and we can really help boost the UK endurance scene through the UK university system.

Cheers james