Michael 'Mick' Woods
Born (1949-02-15) 15 February 1949
(Great Britain)
Occupation(s)Performance Coach
Former distance runner, sports lecturer, running coach
Years active1964–1986 (athlete)
1986–1994 (coach/athlete)
1994–present (coach)
Employer(s)St Mary's University, Twickenham, London 2003–present

Michael 'Mick' Woods (born 15 February 1949 in Great Britain) is a former long-distance runner and a middle/long-distance running coach.[1] He is currently a coach at Aldershot, Farnham & District AC[2] and sports lecturer[3] at St Mary's University in London. As an athlete, Woods ran internationally for Ireland and ran in over 70 marathons, with a personal best of 2:20.12.[4] Woods is now one of his country's leading endurance running coaches.[4]

Athletics career

Mick Woods' first marathon was the Polytechnic Marathon in 1971. He has been a member of Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletics Club since 1964. Woods ended up completing more than 70 marathons in his career with a personal best of 2:20:12, achieved in the London Marathon in 1983. He represented Ireland in various international marathon races.

Mick has an outstanding coaching record that has seen numerous junior athletes make GB World and European championships, athletes including:

Stephanie Twell – competed in the 1500m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 5000m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, 1500m Bronze medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 5000m Bronze medallist at the 2016 European Champs

Emma Pallant – gold medallist in the 2011 U23 cross country championships

Beth Potter – 2014 Commonwealth Games 5000m 9th & 10,000m 5th and Rio Olympic Games 10,000m finalist

Anna Emilie Møller – double gold medallist 2019 U23 European Championships 5000m & 3000m steeplechase. Doha World Championships 7th, 3000m steeplechase, 2019. Gold medallist European U23 Cross Country Championships 2019.

Coaching career

Woods is based at St Mary's University in London. He has been coaching since 1986[5] and has been extremely successful, putting numerous junior athletes into European Championships, GB teams and even the Olympic Games.[6] Woods is currently coach to nearly 300 athletes, playing a huge role in developing international track and cross country athletes for Great Bitian. Woods has coached Jonathan "Jonny" Hay,[7] Ellis Cross,[8] Louise Small[9] Anna Emilie Moller,[10] Emily Hosker Thorn-hill,[11] Phillipa Bowden,[12] Niamh Brown,[13] Phoebe Law,[14] Amelia Quirk [15] and many more, to international and national success.

In 2003, Woods was employed by UK Athletics as a performance coach.[16]

In 2008, he was presented with the English Athletics Association Coach Of The Year Award.[17]

In 2014, Woods was asked by Athletics Weekly about his retirement and his response was, "I like seeing athletes come through and improve and I coach athletes to race. As I get older, such a busy lifestyle is becoming more of a challenge, but I do not envisage retiring. Athletics is in my blood”.[18]

Personal bests

Marathon – 2:20.12[5] – London, England, 1983

References

  1. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  2. ↑ afd.org.uk
  3. ↑ "SMUC Coaching Staff".
  4. 1 2 "Mick Woods in action! |". Smrac.org.uk. 24 January 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Coaching Staff | Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) | St Mary's University, Twickenham". Smuc.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "Independent Report". 12 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  10. ↑ "Athlete Profile".
  11. ↑ "Athlete Profile".
  12. ↑ "Athlete Profile".
  13. ↑ "Athlete Profile".
  14. ↑ "Athlete Profile".
  15. ↑ "Athlete Profile".
  16. ↑ Eightlane (7 March 2013). "Interview with Mick Woods of AFD". Eightlane. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  17. ↑ "News". England Athletics. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  18. ↑ "AW: A day in the life of Mick Woods". 11 May 2014.
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