Mark Smith Qualifies as Athletics Coach

23rd September 2026

Our coaching team has just received a significant boost, as a result of Mark Smith qualifying as an Athletics Coach (Endurance). Our congratulations go out to Mark, especially as the England Athletics training process is long and tough, to say the least. Mark will be well known to most of our members from three years of regular sessions at the Kingsway Sports Arena where we train on Tuesdays.

Prior to Mark turning to coaching, he was an athlete himself and started running at age 15. He enjoyed a variety of events on track, road, cross country & fell, where he represented Greater Manchester. Throughout his athletics career, Mark competed in distances from 800m track races to 20 mile road races. His last race for Greater Manchester was the CAU Inter Counties 20 mile Road race. He regularly competed at the British Milers Club 800m track races with a pb of 1.53.3.

Please speak to Mark at training if you want any advice. Also, if you are on Power 10, he would be grateful if you would add him as your Coach.

This qualification is a just reward for Mark’s hard work and selfless support of others to help them achieve their running goals. And not to forget, our thanks also go out to Sean and Juliet for their support at Tuesday track sessions pretty much every week.