Shaun Smith – Athlete Profile

Shaun Smith is a middle distance and distance runner and he competes for Kingston in the under20 age category. His athletics journey began in 2010 with the Barton and District Athletics Club, spending 3 years with them, before moving across the Humber to Kingston for the start of 2013.

He made his debut for the Barton club, as an under13 athlete in May 2010, at the Yorkshire and Humberside County Championship meeting, held at Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium, where he ran in the heats of the 100 metres and the 800 metres. That first season also saw Shaun running in the Humberside track & field league meetings, and his last outing of that year was in November, at the Scunthorpe Open cross country meeting.

The 2011 campaign brought a move up to the under 15 age category, and his season began in January at his first cross country championship event, the Yorkshire and Humberside meeting which was staged in Doncaster. He finished well down the field but it was a good learning curve for him, and the experience he gained would serve him well in the future. At the Humberside track & field championships he won his first medal, picking up the silver in the 80 metre hurdles event. In the Humberside League matches and at Open meetings Shaun was competing on the track over 800, 1000 and 1500 metres, as well as hurdles, and in the field in long jump and discus throw.

2012 began with the Humberside cross country championships in Scunthorpe, where he finished in the middle positions in a race, which also featured future Kingston team mates Josh Taylor-Brown, Jack Michaels and Jonny Beharrell. A debut appearance at the Northern cross country championships in Pontefract soon followed, yet more experience to add to the store. He took 5^th place in the Humberside Schools cross country championships, and also ran in the English Schools cross country event in Birmingham. The track & field season saw him win his second championship medal at the Humberside event, winning bronze in the triple jump. He won county representation at the Northern Inter Counties Championships in Grantham, where he ran in the 800 metres race. At the end of the year it was back to the cross country courses, at the Northern Relay Championships and the Northern Athletics Open meeting.

2013 saw Shaun leave the Barton club and move across to ‘Kingston’. His first competition in the blue and gold vest came on the 6^th of January, at the Humberside cross country championships at Beverley Westwood, where he won the silver, his first cross country championship medal. In fact four Kingston athletes, Jonny Beharrell, Shaun, Baldvin Magnusson and Jack Brothwell, took the first 4 places in the race.  Another county call up came in March, for the Northern Inter Counties event in Birmingham. During the track & field season he competed in the Humberside league and at Open meetings. In September he was a member of the Kingston team which competed in the Northern Young Athletes road relays in Blackpool, and the following month at the Northern Counties cross country relay championships in Sheffield. To finish off the year he was in action at the Northern Athletics cross country open, where he finished in 3^rd place and ran a new PB of 9:30.52s.

At the 2014 Humberside cross country championships, again at Beverley Westwood, Shaun won the gold medal, with his club mate Harry Powell taking silver behind him. He finished in the top third of the field at the Northern Championships at Knowsley, and in the top quarter at the English National championships in Nottingham. He won the Barton cross country open, and finished in the top quarter at the Inter Counties competition in Birmingham. More success followed in the track & field season where he was crowned the 3000 metre champion at the Humberside championships, and took the 3000 metre silver medal at the Humberside Schools event. He won another county vest at the Northern Inter Counties event in Derby, where he ran in the 3000 metres race, and he ran in the 3000 metre final at the Northern track & field Championships at Wigan, finishing in 5^th place. To finish off the year he was again a member of the Kingston team at the Northern road relays in Warrington, and finished in the top half of the field at the British Athletics cross challenge in Liverpool.

2015 saw him move up to the under 20 age category, and he got the year off to a great start, with Shaun making a successful defence of his title at the Humberside cross country championships, this time in Grimsby’s Weelsby Woods. He finished in the top quarter at the Northern Championships at Pontefract, and was the silver medallist at the Barton open. He finished in the top half of the field at Birmingham’s inter Counties championships and in the top third of the field at the English Schools championships at Blackburn. The track and field season saw him win the 1500 metres gold medal at the Humberside championships, and at the Northern Championships in Manchester he took 5^th place in the 5000 metres final.

Shaun is a valued and popular member of the Kingston Youth Team, and he competed with distinction in the teams UK Youth Development league fixtures, in addition he turned out regularly for the clubs senior team in Northern England division 1. He is a very talented athlete, an excellent middle distance and distance runner over any track or terrain, and is also very much a team player, willing to turn his hand to almost any event to help out his team mates.

Shaun’s hopes and ambitions for the 2016 cross country seasons are:-

“ Finish in the top 50 at the Northerns (championships) and the Inter Counties (championships) and the (British Athletics) cross challenge at Liverpool.”

And on the track:-

“To get the qualifying time for English Schools (championships) and get selected to go”

“Get my 3k time down to 8:50s”

“Get close to 4 minutes for the 1500”