I remember in 2006 looking at the GB athletics team that had just been slected for the Olympics and being absolutely gutted for Hannah England that she was not on her way to Beijing. Twelve months later she appeared to have done everything she could have to gain selection for the World Championships in Berlin, but again she was overlooked. Today as she won silver at the World Championships in Daegu, those selection disappointments seemed like a lifetime ago. The apparent effortlessness with which the world's best athletes stride to victory hides numerous hurdles and setbacks that they have encountered and endured. Hannah is no different.
I had the pleasure of working with Hannah during my four years at Birmingham and of training at altitude with her in Mammoth Lakes last spring. Not that I can take any credit for Hannah's success today. She rarely needed my help during her time as a student, and she dropped me on all but one of the runs that we did in Mammoth.
But what I can say is that I knew her before she was famous. And because you all seem to like the caption competitions, I thought that I'd do a little Hannah England special. The photo was taken when we were altitude training in Mammoth.
My attempt is an adaptation of my favourite 'fat mama' joke: 'this girl is so fast she has to wear two watches...one for each time zone', but I'm sure we can do better than that. Add your suggestions as a comment below, or e-mail them to me. I'll post the best ones in a few weeks time.
Congratulations Hannah! And for those of you that are faced with obstacles and setbacks, keep fighting!
