Featured Athlete (Autumn 2017)
Joseph Tuffin
Joseph, a member of Rushcliffe AC, joined our group (as an U20 athlete) in November 2016. Joseph had already established a good reputation at the local/regional level, and arrived with personal bests of:
1-54.9 (800m); 4-05.78 (1500m); & 9-22.40 (3000m)
Joseph adapted quickly to the demands of our strength/stamina focused training programme. He recorded a highly promising ParkRun 5K time of 16-09 in December 2016, and achieved a highly respectable 12th place finish (U20M) at the Midland Counties XC Championships in January 2017.
A few races on the Winter Indoor circuit saw Joseph take the Midlands Indoor 800m title, and improve his 800m best to 1-52.04. On the back of these performances, Joseph secured his first England vest, winning on his international debut at the Welsh Athletics Indoor international.
It was decided that the focus of Joseph’s 2017 summer season would be on exploring his potential at 1500m and 3000m. Significant results included:
- Victory in the 1500m A race (3-55.36) at the BMC Academy meeting in Milton Keynes in June.
- Qualification for the England Athletics U20M 1500m final (3-53.84) in June.
- Victory in the Midland Counties U20M 3000m Championships (8-48.00) in August., &
- A narrow loss to a current England Senior Steeplechase International in the Tim Wealthall Mile race (4-15.3) in late August.
At the end of the track season, Joseph’s track personal bests read as follows:
1-51.94 (800m); 3-52.57 (1500m); 4-15.3 (Mile); & 8-46.3 (3000m).
All these times were ranked in the top 5 2017 East Midlands U20M performances, with the 800m & Mile time topping those rankings.
From October 2017 Joseph will be studying at the University of Birmingham.
See: Joseph’s Pof10 profile: http://powerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=402926