Northern stores race report

Greetings Sports Fans,

Sunday 26th saw Andrew Wiles line up against some the brightest young middle distance talent the North East has to offer in the Mens Elite Mile race that finished in the Stadium of Light, home to Sunderland Football club.

As with the most of the UK , the sun dawned hot and remaind so for the rest of the day, recording a sizzling 30 degrees to make it the hottest to date, with no wind, so almost perfect racing conditions; The course could be kindly described as *undulating* which made for slower times than one would normally expect for an Elite mile race.

In an exclusive interview with this *reporter* early in the week, Andrew explained that he was feeling confident in his racing fitness and had a definate plan in mind for the race.

Setting off and covering a quick 1st half mile {2:06} Andrew was happy with his place in the pack and wasnt feeling under pressure, confident that he could cover the leaders, should they make a break at any point - With 1000m gone Andrew found himself dropped off the back of the leading 6 athletes, and about 10 meters down, with the two leaders now making an effort to drop the rest of the runners, with only 400m left Andrew dug deep and kicked hard to get back to the runners in 3rd/4th/5th and 6th, 250m to go another big effort into the stadium and Andrew was chasing down 3rd and 4th positions, catching 4th but not quite getting the 3rd placed athlete on the line Andrew clocked 4:19, some 7 secs down on his club mate and local rival Ricky Stevenson.

Speaking this week Andrew commented that although the race was slow he felt he made a mistake by not being in the lead 2 or 3 athletes from the gun and getting detached was always going to make it difficult to place in the top three, drawing on the positive his kick over the last 400m did take him past other runners renowned for their kicking abilities.

Andrew is now seeking some fast 800m BMC track events to try and break 1:50 over the half mile distance.

We look forward to watching Andrews progress as the summer season progress's.

Thanks for watching, catch you next time, and keep it tuned to Darlington-FM-Sports report.

Report Mic (Darlington store)