Cambridge & Coleridge AC's Jack Gray bidding to maintain good form at Muller British Athletics Championships
Jack Gray will be aiming to use the Muller British Athletics Championships as a step to greater things this autumn.
The 26-year-old Cambridge & Coleridge Athletics Club member has already had a year to remember, with medals at three national events, two track personal bests and a first Great Britain vest.
It is the target to keep maintain that momentum, but the primary objective is not at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham this weekend.
Gray has bigger fish to fry or, to be more exact, longer distances to tackle.
His personal bests have come over 5,000m and 10,000m, and it will be the former that he will race in Birmingham, but the goal is a half marathon in the autumn.
“I’ve got a few things on the horizon that I’m aiming towards and although it is the British Championships, it’s not my main focus in terms of the next year,” said Gray.
“But it’s the sort of event you can’t really miss out on. It’s one of the big events of British Athletics so it’s always an honour to get an invite to compete there.
“My aim for the next year is to lower my half-marathon time in Valencia in October with the aim of trying to qualify for the World Half Marathon Championships in Poland next March.
“I’m going to try to run a quick time at what is known as one of the quickest courses in the world and one of the best races in the world.”
Before then, Gray will race for England in the 10,000m in the Inter-Celtic Cup in Brittany in October, and that comes having earned his first GB call-up to race at the Night of the 10,000m PBs.
Stepping up in distance will be a gradual process over the next few years, with the target of qualifying to race at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022.
“Being a Brummie, the idea of competing in my home city in a home games at a major championships is too alluring to miss out on, and my aim is to try to run the marathon there,” he says.
“I’m gradually trying to transport myself from a 5k runner to a marathon runner over the next three years. Hence why I’m targeting this half marathon because it’s part of the process upwards. Those are my immediate and long-term aims.”
If his progress this year is anything to go by, then you get the impression that Gray will have things well mapped out.
He has taken almost nine seconds off his 5,000m personal best, which is now 14min 2.37sec, although he has gone quicker on the road, around 13min 47sec.
In the 10,000m, Gray has improved his track personal best by more than three minutes.
“It’s been a brilliant year. I have represented England numerous times, I’ve got that Great Britain vest at the Highgate race and my times have been tumbling as I’ve been stepping up my training and my first phase build-up towards the Commonwealth Games,” he said.
“The additional training has paid dividends. I’ve picked up three national medals this year.
“I’ve just got to build on that now, and start to shape my training towards the longer distances.
“The key has been having that lure, that shining beacon of hope of the Commonwealth Games in the far distance and that dream to chase because that’s given me the massive motivation.
“Increased endurance has seen my times come down really quickly.”
As for this Saturday in the 5,000m at the British Championships, Gray would be happy with a top-eight finish.
“I’m just going to see how it goes,” he said. “Championship races tend to be very tactical and not about fast times and eyeing up positions.
“People are going into this race to try to qualify for the world championships – that’s not where I am in terms of level, definitely not at the moment. Maybe in the future.
“My aim will be to try to run the race which will enable me to finish the highest I can.
“I realistically can’t win a medal, and I can’t qualify for the world championships but I can, potentially, finish in the top eight and that would be a great achievement.
“I want to build another strong race, good experience and build after that towards the autumn and winter.”
