17 yr old Matt Fayers made his Great Britain debut at the Loughborough International meeting on Sunday 20th May.
He came 4th in the 1500m with some decent international athletes behind him. Fixtures such as these are a step up in competition and they are also more official with more rules and set times to be in places such as the call up room where the athletes get time to mingle with their competitors. This can put an array of emotions and thoughts through and athletes mind in this key time before an event. Matt will have taken a great deal of experience and learned from this scenario for the future and will be more important than this race in his journey to greater things.
With a cold north easterly wind affecting fast times his 3.49.48 time was his 2nd fastest time to date. With the race outside the pace time Matt was 5th in a line at the bell. The leading 3 pulled away at the bend, Matt was caught behind the 4th athlete then at 250 the 4th racer pulled out! Matt was on his own with the leaders away and no one to use. Matt kept his head. With 2 quality athletes closing him down Matt sprinted the last 60m to keep his position and hold them off. All this came after Matt broke the club u20m 800m record again, running 1:51.06 on Wednesday evening to make it a memorable week for him, his family and coach. Matt was proud and looked smart in his new GB kit and should get many more opportunities to wear it in competition in the future if he carries on the with his progress.
Video of race here. Results here.
Contribution by Stevan Dokic
