Nation XC - Darlington's Andrew Wiles

Greetings and salutations sports fans,

Sat 7th Jan saw Andrew Wiles face his biggest racing challange in his short 5 year racing career, invited by UK-Athletics to race against a truly world class field that included Kenise Bekele, Eluid Kipchog and eventual winner Absele Kiprop over a undulating 3K cross country course next to Arthurs Seat at Edinburgh.

Speaking before the event Andy told this reporter that he was very excited about the event and was looking forward to racing against some of the best distance runners in the world - Well over his lower back problem, that had plagued his training for a month, Andrew's training and hard sessions had gone really well through the previous week and he was feeling in excellant shape.

Other notable athletes from England were club-mate Ricky Stephenson back from altitude training in Kenya and eager to stretch his legs with a supporting cast of Jonny Hay, Ross Millington and Steve Vernon.

After the initial introductions to the expectant crowd the race was off with a bang! and a furious pace being set by a mixed bag of African, European and English runners, with a short but steep hill after 300m , Andrew stayed out of trouble on the very tight first few bends and settled into a comfortable position at the back of the lead group of runners, then just as the pace started to settle down Millington took the race by the scruff of the neck and took it to Kipchoge, Kiprop and the other lead athletes.. Holding onto the his position but watching the pack start to fragment from the hard front running by Millington.

Wiles kept his head and started to work through the pack as best he could, with the rest of the race becoming a procession of athletes as they guys settled into their individual paces. Andy kept focused on the athletes just ahead of him and was determined that he kept the gap down to a few paces, and working off the guys as they attacked the hill on the 3rd circuit.

With 500m to go Kiprop opened an extensive lead and kept the pressure on, making the winning victory margin look very easy... and with 19 year old Jonny Hay out-kicking Kipchoge for an amazing second place, then back to the chasing pack and great racing from Ricky Stephenson earned him a superb 5th place, with the hard working Millington placing a creditable 6th , followed very closely by Vernon 9th and Wiles out-kicking Bekele to snatch 10th position from the fading Ethiopian

Speaking post race Andrew was over-joyed with his result and the rest of the English lads who had worked very hard to earn there moments of glory, commenting that he was happy with his race and he felt he did all he could to make sure he finished well, he is looking forward to getting winter out of the way and getting back on the track.

This was an excellant weekend for individual English athletes, and shows that Athletics in UK is very healthy and we do have some great junior and young men making their way through the ranks for the future.

Congratulations Andrew, we look forward to the Spring! and seeing what a solid winters work brings.

Mic

PS - You can still see this race at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019c13b/Great_Edinburgh_International_Cross_Country_2012/ fast forward 1 hour and 10 mins for coverage.

Mic Doughty
Manager, Up&Running Darlington