Tompson takes the national 800m title
Thursday, 19th August 1999.
STEVE Tompson is the top under 17 800-metre athlete in Britain.
The Cambridge and Coleridge club runner easily won the AAA under-17 championship at Sheffield to add to last month's English Schools intermediate title.
But the 16-year-old Newmarket Upper School pupil admitted the latest accolade did not carry the prestige should - with him at least.
"It used to be a really big championship," said Tompson, from Great Brinkley, near Haverhill. "But they've moved it from Birmingham to Sheffield and it's such a big stadium with not many people in it.
"The throwing events are at a different place and while there used to be lots of athletes everywhere, it was very quiet.
"I'm still really pleased to have won it, but there just doesn't seem to be the hype of the schools
"There were fewer people, but that also meant there was less pressure on me."
There was no sign of the pressure on Tompson, however, as he ran exactly the race he and his coach discussed before the final, after qualifying from the slowest heat.
He was barely hampered by the hacking cough he had been unable to shake off for almost a month as he tucked in for the opening 300m, then kicked for home.
Nobody went with him and he cruised in 20 metres clear in a modest time of 1 min 55 sec.
Tompson has shelved his plans to contest the Peterborough Games before the end of the season so he will be fully fit for the winter season, where he intends to cut back his cross-country commitments - "I'll just do a couple of races" - to concentrate on an indoor track season in the new year.
The Cambridge and Coleridge club runner easily won the AAA under-17 championship at Sheffield to add to last month's English Schools intermediate title.
But the 16-year-old Newmarket Upper School pupil admitted the latest accolade did not carry the prestige should - with him at least.
"It used to be a really big championship," said Tompson, from Great Brinkley, near Haverhill. "But they've moved it from Birmingham to Sheffield and it's such a big stadium with not many people in it.
"The throwing events are at a different place and while there used to be lots of athletes everywhere, it was very quiet.
"I'm still really pleased to have won it, but there just doesn't seem to be the hype of the schools
"There were fewer people, but that also meant there was less pressure on me."
There was no sign of the pressure on Tompson, however, as he ran exactly the race he and his coach discussed before the final, after qualifying from the slowest heat.
He was barely hampered by the hacking cough he had been unable to shake off for almost a month as he tucked in for the opening 300m, then kicked for home.
Nobody went with him and he cruised in 20 metres clear in a modest time of 1 min 55 sec.
Tompson has shelved his plans to contest the Peterborough Games before the end of the season so he will be fully fit for the winter season, where he intends to cut back his cross-country commitments - "I'll just do a couple of races" - to concentrate on an indoor track season in the new year.
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