400m athlete, Luke Smallwood

Luke Smallwood, a track athlete at Jeremy’s former running club (Medway & Maidstone Athletics Club), previously competed for Great Britain in the European Under-20 Championships. Luke, from Bearsted in Kent, specialises in the 400m and 400m hurdles, but also competes in the 100m and 200m, and has ambitions to be in the World Championships and Olympics. He also coaches young talented sprinters aged 11-15 years old at the Hoo Running Track in Kent where he trains.

June 2009

A £500 grant by the JWCT has been awarded to Luke to help him continue his running career. Despite setbacks in the form of injury, this year he ran a sub-48-second 400m, and 21.80s in the 200m which put him 13th in the UK at Under-23 level and established a new club record for the Medway & Maidstone Athletics Club.

Luke said “I wouldn’t say athletics is the driving force in my life, I would say it is my life! . . . The money will go a long way to helping me, including additional treatments, which have really help me beat injury this year, helping me pay for warm weather training in Cyprus and buying a few extra bits of equipment which will help me through my training. When the track opens in Sutton Valence [a village near Maidstone where Luke lives] I’m sure we will obtain a higher level of members and therefore I will be looking to either assist current coaches there or maybe create a new group of my own.”

May 2008

The JWCT has provided Luke with a grant of £1,000 to help pay for training, equipment and travel costs to enable him to achieve his ambitions as a full-time athlete. As part of the funding he will continue to coach young talented sprinters.

In the future Luke aims to compete in the European Under-23 Championships, the Commonwealth Games 2010, World Championships 2011 and the Olympics 2012.