Name: Tom Randolph

Nationally: Great Britain

Event: 800m

Coach: Craig Winrow

Club: Tamworth AC 

Personal Best: 1:44.98

Domestic Honours:

2013-English Schools Champs 800m Silver

2013-England U15 Indoor Champs 800m Bronze 
2019- British University’s indoor 800m Silver

2021- England U23 Champs 800m Silver 

International Honours:

2021- European U23 Champs 800m Bronze 

About:

After having a school sports day at Tamworth athletics track, I became captivated by the sport and joined Tamworth AC aged 8 years old. I started out in Jonathan (surname if known) group, doing the full range of jumping, throwing and running (I couldn’t even finish a lap). Following this I then trained under John Graves and Gordon Densley, working on endurance and speed respectively. After a few years, and following advice from Gordon, Mark Wickett and Simon King, I began training with Simon, specifically focusing on the 800 meters. It is under Simon where I achieved my first national medals, and broke 2 minuets for the first time aged 14 (1:58.14). 

It is these coaches at Tamworth AC that provided me with the key underlying qualities needed to achieve what I have done today. John Graves instilled true grit and determination, and a never give up attitude. Gordon Densley honed in on technique and raw speed, whilst Simon King prompted performance based thinking, and my achievements under him confirmed my desire and ability to reach a high level in the sport. 

After 10 years of signing in at the desk with Pat or Trev every Monday, Tuesday & Thursday, I moved down to St Mary’s University to train under Craig Winrow at the Endurance Performance Center. It is here where I had my first experience of training alongside elite athletes, such as Andrew Osagie, (2012 Olympic finalist) Adelle Tracey (2018 European 4th place) and on the rare occasion Mo Farah, alongside 30/40 like minded athletes. After a few years of adapting to the change in training load, combined with a few bone stress injuries and a global pandemic, I finally made a breakthrough in 2021 running 1:44.98, and in my first international appearance picked up a Bronze medal. It is this season where the experience and guidance of Craig was invaluable. From my first international championships, to travelling abroad for competition, and extracting the very best of my performance, when after being seemingly stuck on 1:46 for 2 months, we unlocked another 1.5 seconds to go sub 1:45.00. After this breakthrough season, I was fortunate to be put onto the British athletics World Class Performance Programme, and picked up a professional contract with sportswear brand HOKA. This enables me to continue to train as a full time athlete down in Teddington, where I hope to make the step into a senior championship team, and compete for medals on the biggest stages possible.