Mick Woods

Michael 'Mick' Woods

Mick Woods (left) with athletes Mo Farah and Chris Thompson
Born 15 February 1949
(Great Britain)
Occupation Former Distance Runner, Sports Lecturer, Running Coach

Michael 'Mick' Woods (born 15 February 1949 in Great Britain) is a former long-distance runner and a middle/long distance running coach.[1] He is currently a coach at Aldershot Farnham & District AC[2] and sports lecturer[3] at St Mary's University in London. As an athlete, Woods ran internationally for Ireland and ran in over 70 marathons, with a personal best of 2:20.12.[4] Woods is now one of the nation's leading endurance running coaches.[4]

Coaching career

After Wood's successful career in running he said "I ran 2:20.12 for the Marathon, but I know if I had myself as a coach, I would've been much, much better". Mick Woods is based at St Mary's University in London and has been coaching since 1986[5] and has been extremely successful, putting numerous junior athletes into European Championships, GB teams and even in to the Olympic Games.[6] Woods is currently coach to many GB athletes including Olympian,[7] Steph Twell, 10,000m British record holder,[8] Charlie Purdue, European cross country champion,[9] Emelia Górecka, and international athlete,[10] "Jonny" Hay; to name just a few.

In 2003, Mick was employed by the UKAthletics as a performance coach[11] and in 2008, Mick Woods was presented with English Athletics Association Coach Of The Year Award.[12]

In 2014, Woods was asked by Athletics Weekly about his retirement and his response was "I like seeing athletes come through and improve and I coach athletes to race. As I get older, such a busy lifestyle is becoming more of a challenge, but I do not envisage retiring. Athletics is in my blood”.[13]

Personal bests

Marathon - 2:20.12[5] - Ireland

References

  1. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  2. ↑ afd.org.uk
  3. ↑ "SMUC Coaching Staff".
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Mick Woods in action! |". Smrac.org.uk. 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Coaching Staff | Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) | St Mary's University, Twickenham". Smuc.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  6. ↑ "Independant Report".
  7. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. 1989-08-17. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  8. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  9. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. 1994-01-29. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  10. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  11. ↑ About Eightlane (2013-03-07). "Interview with Mick Woods of AFD". Eightlane. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  12. ↑ "News". England Athletics. 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  13. ↑ "AW: A day in the life of Mick Woods".