Two young endurance athletes from Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, coached by Nadeem Shaikh, Managing Director of SMART Way Forward, recently topped the UK under 17 track rankings, by achieving the fastest times run over 800 metres and 3,000 metres for their age group this year.
Sixteen-year-old Matt McLaughlin ran 1 minute 51.5 seconds over 800 metres at the British Milers Club Meeting, held in Manchester last weekend, and comfortably won his race.
A few days later ,15-year-old Michael Callegari ran a phenomenal time of 8 minutes 28.3 seconds over 3,000 metres at the Watford Open Graded meeting in Hertfordshire. Michael, who recently finished 3rd at this years English Schools Championships in Gateshead, instantly topped the UK rankings with his performance and received an invitation to run at the Aviva Diamond League Athletics meeting on Friday 5 August at Crystal Palace, London.
Nadeem has been coaching both Matt McLaughlin and Michael Callegari for a number of years, looking after their training schedules, as well as their physical and mental preparation before each race. Nadeem was delighted to receive news of their performances and hopes this level of progression & experience will make them even stronger over the months to come.
“I am so pleased for both Matthew & Michael,” he said. “They have both trained really hard this season and implemented their mental preparation and focus very well. Living proof that the need to win is important – but the need to prepare is vital!”
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