England runner James Westlake finds the positives in lockdown

James Westlake in the London Marathon in 2018. PW Sporting Photography

The Crawley Athletics Club member has taken full advantage of lockdown as he looks to progress his running career.

In 2018, Westlake had a breakthrough year, finishing seventh out of Brit runners (excluding elite runners) before being selected to run for England at the Toronto Marathon.

But like all elite athletes the global pandemic and lockdowns, Westlake’s progress is on pause as we await competitive racing to return. However, Westlake, who also has played football for Hassocks in the Southern Combination Football League, has taken advantage of the restrictions and believes it has helped him in training.

James Westlake wins the Brighton 10-mile race in 2018. Picture by PW Sporting Photography

He said: “It’s actually been a positive when it comes to training.

“The lockdown has meant that I’m no longer commuting into work for the time being which has meant I’ve been able to get out either on the bike or running in the morning or directly after work.

“It’s also helped with being able to pick up some strength and conditioning work that has helped with avoiding injuries and keeping me on the roads. Just need the races to be back up and running again.”

And a support group and his coach have helped him keep motivated - along with seeing other people using the lockdown to get fit.

“My fellow athletes and friends in the AB Training Group help support each other to stay fit and keep training,” he said.

“I am fortunate to have a fantastic coach, Allison Benton, and a great group of people that keep each other accountable.

“It’s also been fantastic to see so many people use the lockdown to either get out running, improve their fitness or just change their lifestyle.”

When we came out of the first lockdown last year, Westlake did manage to get some competitive running in - with some impressive results and times.

He said: “At the start of the pandemic, I used the first lockdown to get myself back into some fitness after a lengthy injury.

“Once we came out the lockdown I competed at a number of 5k events running a time of 14 minutes 29 seconds.

“I then went on to run in the Cheshire 10k where I finally managed to break the 30 minute barrier and run 29 minutes 50 seconds. That proved that all the hard work through the lockdown and summer was worth it.”

He added: “I’ve also been able to use the time to get out on the road bike and I’m slowly but surely racking up the miles.

“It’s been great fun to get out and explore Sussex and Surrey.”

As a day job, Westlake is Games Programme Administrator at Premier League and eh says it can be a bit hectic with training.

He said: “It’s all a juggling act with work at the moment.

“Adjusting to the new way of working through Teams and Zoom meetings has been a challenge as I enjoy that social interaction with people.

“Meeting up and keeping morale high within a work and social environment is important.”

The runner, who lives in Haywards Heath, can often been seen at parkruns - and he cannot wait for them to return.

But he understands how hard it has been for local authorities to get these organised.

He said: “As with anything at the moment, it’s is an incredibly difficult set of circumstances we are all working within.

“Between the first and second lockdown, there were a number of races that were organised which were fantastically well ran taking into account all the requirements that now come with these sort of events.

“It’s extremely tough for race organisers working with the local authorities to run these events during the pandemic but fingers crossed we are all moving in the right direction.

“The most important part to get back for me is Parkrun.

“Again, whilst races are important at that elite level, Parkrun is such a fantastic event which is run right across the world and is so important not just to people’s everyday fitness but to their mental health as well.”

And what are his hopes and ambitions for 2021?

He said: “I’m hoping that races can get back up and running again as we move into the spring.

“It’s hard to plan given the circumstances but hopefully as we move through the year, things will become clearer.

“The most important thing is that we get back to normality in everyday life.

“Last year was tough for everyone and think it’s important that we can all get back to living our lives as normally as we possible can, reuniting people with family and friends.”