Athletics coach, announcer, commentator and host. Author of 'Tokyo Countdown' published October 2021 on Kindle.
West Sussex
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My book ‘Tokyo Countdown’ is out today on Kindle. You can read on any device with free Kindle App. £3.99 - 200 pages/100 photos. Link is below
@jgault13 @euancrumley @scotathletics @runbritain @ArnoldBlack1 @gareth2burrell @Jason_AW @EnglandAthletic
amazon.co.uk/dp/B09JN459B4/r…
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Tonight in Armagh, Northern Ireland, 131 men broke 15 minutes in the same 5k road race. Last place out of 205 entries was 16.15.
Whatever the opposite of ‘fun run’ is, this was it. Incredible to watch. Organisers @Armagh5k @Armagh_AC and runners, we doff our woolly hats to you.
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There’s one organisation that I really must thank, especially on a day like this, and it’s @BritishMilers
From 2nd in the ‘F’ race in 2012 (in a PB) to World Champion in 2022.
Middle distance is the engine of the British team at present
The BMC has contributed hugely. Thank you
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There aren’t many firsts still to be had after 125 years of Olympic athletics but here’s one. @KatharineMerry becomes the first female in-stadium Olympic athletics commentator. Good work. Onwards.
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Love it when a plan comes together.
Many congratulations - @keelyhodgkinson @Faster_feet @JennyMeadows800
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"Come and watch me race 112.5 laps of the track in three consecutive championships in 33 days. I'm going try and win four medals, including a title, just like @EilishMccolgan
How hard can it be?"
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Truly awful news about the passing of Robbie Fitzgibbon at age 28. Such a likeable, enthusiastic and successful runner.
He loved everything about athletics. So sad that he has run his last race. We never truly know the demons that are being battled within. Rest in peace, Robbie.
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How big is @bushyparkrun? Well, it takes more than 90 seconds for all of the starters to get beyond the first 100 metre mark.
It’s an amazing and heartwarming spectacle each week and reminds us that running really is for everyone.
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A great week for our sport. Well done and thank you to all of the officials and volunteers associated with Alexander Stadium and the road events.
Peace out, Birmingham.
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41 years ago today, finishing the inaugural @LondonMarathon. The look of a man thinking “Never again!”
But @chrisfinill has gone on to finish every one of them and, at age 63, may yet dip back under 3 hours again at this October’s race. A unique runner.
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Incredible @nickwillis.
20 consecutive years of sub 4 minute miling. Those of us who never managed one especially doff our caps.
It’s a record that is unlikely ever to be surpassed. The cap on a marvellous career. Well done.
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In the end, middle distance was at the core of Team GB strength in track and field. Frank Horwill would be proud.
You can’t under-estimate the role that the @BritishMilers has played in developing all of the current generation. Take a bow.
Peace out and thank you, Tokyo. 👍
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There were times when I thought Tom McKean’s superb Scottish record would last a century. 1989. Good grief. What a relief. 😅
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A wonderful day of athletics in London with 50,000 votes of confidence in our sport
Congratulations to @jackrbuckner @CAlexanderOBE @AndyKayEvents & their teams who delivered
Remember, at all times, that this is an athletics stadium adapted for football. Not the other way around.
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Well done to Josh and Neil in their eighth global finals between them.
Four different global champions in the past four years. Stand by for an epic game of rock-paper-scissors in 2025.
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First step at full pace in exactly three months. Left, then right. Then repeat. You never lose it.
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… and you know it’s been a good summer of Championships when Coacha-Cola Andy Young gives you one of his finest bottles.
Literally a red letter day.
Cheers.
@scotathletics
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6 out of 12 Brits in Diamond League Final are 800-5000m athletes.
Sunday, 20% of 5th Avenue mile fields are British.
Coincidence?
All learned fast racing @BritishMilers events.
In 2022, BMC hosted 5,363 performances and 44% were PBs.
Frank Horwill would be very proud.
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Amazing photos by @EStreetShuffler at yesterday’s Scottish East District Cross Country Champs
Deer avoids runner.
Deer takes out spectator.
All six of their feet off the ground at once!
No injuries sustained
Just a couple of weeks too late for @WorldAthletics photo of the year
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Vote Jake tonight, please, British runners.
#SPOTY
@parkrunUK @LondonMarathon @Great_Run @NewBalanceUK @lborouniversity @sportscotland @bushyparkrun @runnersworlduk
@TeamGB @Team_Scotland @Jennifalconer @marathontalk @letsrundotcom @RunTogether_ @runbritain @WomensRunning
👍❤️
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Only completely novice recreational runners would leave their Sunday long run until 5.30pm.
Five Scots, four English, token Dutchman.
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Thanks to @gamupdates , who have had a great evening with 1-2 in men’s 800, Lyles still to come and this likely lad taking down the @EdinburghAC club record.
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So glad that I managed to raise a cheery smile for this special photo. World Gurning Champion.
BEHIND EVERY ATHLETE (PART I)
We've said it before (and we'll keep saying it!) but behind every top athlete is a top coach.
LOVE this pic of @lauramuiruns with Andy Young, and @JakeSWightman with @WightmanGeoff, showing off their @ECMunich2022 medals.
@SALChiefExec @EuroAthletics
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Sad to learn of the passing of the great Dick Fosbury.
No-one revolutionised an event like he did.
What an inspiration in Glasgow in 09 when he coached our Bank of Scotland squad youngsters
Imagine being that kid asked to demo by the man who invented the technique.
He flew!
RIP.
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It’s coming home.
24 hours to start of @London_DL
Weather forecast is fine.
More than 57,000 tickets sold.
By far the largest one-day athletics meeting in the world.
Come on down.
🌞🕶️
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A day that is always a joy. My 32nd year on the team in finish cabin @LondonMarathon
Yes, your maths is correct. I began working on it when aged four. 😉❤️
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Nobody in athletics has a bad word about Peter Matthews. He was unfailingly kind, calm & humorous in all his dealings.
The doyen of the commentary box & announcing booth. That voice - so smooth & authoritative. He leaves a mass legacy of work - also a huge void
Rest in peace, PM
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On the day of the @WorldAthletics Cross-Country Championships in Belgrade, a nostalgic look back to the Edinburgh 2008 edition. We couldn’t do weather but we could do crowds.
16,000 was the estimate. Cross-country needs to become an Olympic sport as part of its return to glory.
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How it started. How it’s going.
Sydney, 1990. Guildford, 2021
30th wedding anniversary. 12th October 1991. I’m still punching above my weight. Like most men. 💕
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11th July.
Many happy returns to @samwightman and @JakeSWightman (left to right). Your dear mother has got you some new matchy matchy waistcoats for your birthday.
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Olympic Opening Ceremony is a week away. The real Games begins with athletics on 30th July
Mark Shearman @athleticsimages will work his 15th & (maybe) last summer Games as an elite photographer
Tokyo 1964 to 'Tokyo 2020'
We won't see such longevity or quality in our sport again
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Tonight in Armagh, 129 men broke 15 minutes for 5k!
This was not a parkrun. I felt proud to have stood there bellowing home such a commited gathering of Type A personalities. Good work.
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Three in top five for Brits in Nijmegen 5000m. 1st @mcourtney93, PB, 2nd @EilishMccolgan 5th @StefApril, all sub 15.20. All European Champs qualifying times.
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Anyone else getting athletics, withdrawal symptoms on a Monday?
Great work, whole @wicglasgow24 team,especially the volunteers. Cheers.
👍🥰
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That was a very nice thing to do. Deserves the Fair Play Award. You can see from the video what it meant to the other runner. Vote Jess.
Respect 👏
Press release 🔗 buff.ly/3tKmxbB
#AthleticsAwards
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The girls and I have trained so hard for these World Half Marathon team medals. I am so glad that I didn’t let them down on the day.
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Athletics is coming home. Birmingham 2026 Euros. Bring back the additional grandstands. Call out the Deputy Lieutenant (@KatharineMerry ). Dig up Ozzy Osbourne. Fire up the Quattro. Well done @BritAthletics @CAlexanderOBE @jackrbuckner
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She can be ready to race at a moment’s notice, you know.
Fingers crossed for @EllieBaker1998 on the last and final call for @WCHoregon22 selection. 🤞
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The short form (4K) of cross country was introduced for the 1998 World Championships
It ended 8 years later. Nowhere else in the world is still using, growing & developing the format like @scotathletics
It’s superb to see even though the weather was biblically bad in Lanark today
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Just going through my photos for the past month and this, boys and girls, is why you should never leave your phone lying around unattended when @KatharineMerry and @Iwanrunner are involved.
#FagAshLil
#JedwardsGeographyTeacher.
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Happy 101st birthday to The Shearmanator, one of the leading sports photographers in the Croydon postcode area. The birthday boy is pictured here, stealing the knighthood medal from his schoolmate Captain Tom Moore. Have a great day, from all your friends in Parkhurst.
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Well done Andy Robertson on European 60m bronze tonight - only added to the team midweek.
Well done coach @alex_ogorman - only in charge of training since 2024.
Good big-time temperaments. 👏
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It’s time. No more sleeps.
Day 1. Session 1 incoming.
@wicglasgow24
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Congratulations to @joshk97
This from a less crowded venue and in slightly cooler weather. But still with a stacked team and with a Lord presenting the bling. Lord Craighead of Edinburgh.
Prestonpans, East Lothian
9th October 2010.
East Scotland XC relays.
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What a fantastic day visiting Machu Picchu yesterday. It was a bucket list item that I never knew I had.
It is officially one of the seven wonders of the modern world - incredible in terms of where it is and what it is and beautifully conserved by Peru.
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3.30pm. 31,000 finishers home but maybe 22,000 still to come @LondonMarathon
Summer has arrived though. ☀️☀️☀️
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I invented this hill in 1982. It’s still there in its original location and performing its role well.
Today it was Ben Waterman’s turn to hate it.
Guildford looking voluptuous in the background.
(The Pickford’s van has been parked there for all 40 years, I believe.)
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We are now just 5 days away from the 1st athletics event of @birminghamcg22 - the marathons.
I’m chuffed to be back working with @kristemple again & @Iwanrunner as infield host
Fag Ash Lil @KatharineMerry is on host broadcaster duties for both netball & athletics. See you there.
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The Last Supper.
Celebrating @SusanWightman6 final night in Oregon and @MrAndrewCotter birthday there are some very notable athletics medalists in this photo. I am certainly not one of them. Nor is UKA Chair @ianbeattie1 but most of the rest are decent.
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Total number of finishers in Christmas Day @bushyparkrun
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Bigger than any national cross country championship I ever ran in.
Should have been first bong on News at 10, ahead of 'people diving into the sea in Santa hats & Speedos'. Changing lives through running. Good work
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Teaching career ✅ - completed it, mate.
After 27 years, it’s retirement today.
For both @SusanWightman6 in Sussex and @angela2bsmith in Yorkshire.
Identical twins retiring on the same day. What are the chances?
#weirdos.
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Captured the moment exactly. What a shame that I used a potato instead of a camera.
@mondohoss600
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Champagne track and field stat alert:
The largest ever crowd in the UK for indoor athletics was in 1964 at Empire Pool, Wembley with 7,200 spectators.
Today’s Day 1 of @BritAthletics champs is sold out at 7,400!
Bring it on.
@ian_hodge8 copyright
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Just discovered I left my phone alone for a couple of minutes, late on Sunday night at the stadium. This enabled @TimHutchings1 & @KatharineMerry to pose up a storm. Never work with children or animals. It’s like League of Gentlemen, innit?
#localcommentators
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Thanks very much to my Event Presentation Team colleagues - the A team - @WCHoregon22 for making a nice fuss.
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23 hours of live athletics starts here. @KatharineMerry @iantempest56 @TimHutchings1 @hannengland @BritAthletics champs. It’s cold but Kath has new Cadbury Caramilk bars, so all is well.
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Top photo.
YASSS! Another cracking 1500m final for Scots (and @EdinburghAC!) @joshk97 and @JakeSWightman dominate that last lap, barely a whisker between them but it's
🥇@joshk97 3:40.72
🥈 @JakeSWightman 3:40.77
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Such awful news of the premature passing of Shaun Pickering
He put in a ton of work, as always, in supporting the IFAC coaching conference in Italy a few months ago
Born into athletics, in Jean and Ron’s lineage, he served our sport way beyond his Olympic days
Irreplaceable
RIP
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Improbable scenarios:
Watching Hungary’s 100th birthday party from a boat on the Danube with @kristemple @shannonrowbury and 800m world record holder David Rudisha.
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If you love an athletics stat, 30% of GB medals in Budapest came from middle distance. 50% of all individual medals won.
600 @BritishMilers races again this year, with 6,000 finishers down to under 17. That pipeline will continue far into the future.
Thanks, BMC.
🏅🥈🥉
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Look at the crowd innovation being launched tomorrow @ContiTourGold in Hengelo. Live audience AND the Zoom wall. All we need now is Jackie Weaver but she has no authority here. None whatsoever.
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Sparkly new track. Same old Tony Bennett/Noddy Holder, Jedward’s geography teacher and Fag Ash Lil.
We are all set for day 1 of the UK Athletics Indoor Champs.
3,500 tickets sold. Join us here or @TimHutchings1 and @hannengland on livestream.
#WhereItStarts
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The first event of a busy day of athletics on our return to the London Stadium will be the ‘Couch to 5k’ run.
400 women off in 45 minutes. Imagine your first ever race being on the @London2012 track!
#spoiled.
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12 road races until 19.00. Five laps. Live bands. Food court. All the sports brands. 1000 runners. 2000 spectators. International fields. Come on down or watch the livestream. @podium5k has gone epic.
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What sorcery is this? Sunshine in Gateshead. Summer starts and ends here. Good luck all. @BritAthletics
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I am pleased to have received this today, featuring the great team @WCHoregon22
It was only five days ago but sometimes I think I imagined the whole thing…
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Heats, semi & final racing over 2,500m in an underground go kart track beneath Canary Wharf on a Friday eve.
All less than an hour apart. What could possibly go wrong?
Tremendous atmosphere & highly creative format. Check physio bills next week, though.
Go, @Zakeroo12
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I think I must have read a few dozen athlete autobiographies down the years.
This, published yesterday in Kindle and paperback form, could be top of the podium.
Good work @des_linden
Recommended.
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The @London2017 1500m standard for @JakeSWightman in Oordegem -3.35.9, apparently. Did it by a Wightman nose.
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Coke-Fanta mix? What sorcery is this? They will be mixing lager and stout and calling it laout next.
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Guildford to Birmingham rail return, you say? Certainly. Here are your, ahem, NINE tickets. This is how we old cheapos roll on ‘Split My Fare’.
#lush
#ukindoorchamps.
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Nominative Determination
Mrs Wightman & I just walked the coast of the Isle of Man - 105 miles in 6 days - mostly fine weather.
Isle of Wight last year. We have walked both syllables of our surname. A concept that must appeal to James Rhodes but maybe less so to Frank Dick. 😂
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Antiques Roadshow Alert
It’s another full lap around the sun completed today. Happy birthday to those two cheerful, synchronised and elegant old bags, @SusanWightman6 and @angela2bsmith
Have a great day. 🎂 💃🏻
📸 @AthleticsImages
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The view from here. Bronze. Cool.
tw_track @ Olympiastadion Berlin instagram.com/p/BmT6FYslhbQ/…
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Lunch with The Shearmanator - one of South Croydon’s leading sports photographers - at Denbies Vineyard. What could possibly go wrong?
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Elegant. If this new track was a person, it would be the Princess of Wales. Just over an hour to go to the start of the @NBIndoorGP @thetrackatnb in Boston.
Can’t wait.
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Camp Verde, Arizona parkrun.
* three laps
* by invitation only
* once a year
* no strollers
* no barcodes
* some dogs on the course
* no sympathetic applause for the back marker
* no souvenir t-shirts
* no vol-au-vents for all finishers
* absolutely no chat en-route
* grim
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The view from here. Thanks to Mark Pollard, Mike Johnston, Shannon Connolly, Alex O’Gorman in particular for an excellent holding camp leading in to this. Outstanding.
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I have announced on 15 of the past 17 days. It’s been a pleasure to work with great people, see top athletics and wear an ice cream vendor’s jacket @GC2018 & @LondonMarathon race week. Now I must lie in a darkened room and shut up before Gibraltar 🇬🇮 on Tues. Peace out, London
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Available live on Sunday evening in the UK on the @WorldAthletics livestream with @kristemple and @hannengland
Athletics is back, baby. 😍❤️🏃♀️
@NBIndoorGP @thetrackatnb
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