Peter picks up deserved honour at sporting awards

That Peter Freeman should receive the recent ‘Coach of the Year’ award was no surprise to anyone involved in Pembrokeshire athletics because they would unanimously agree that it was fitting reward for over two decades of total commitment to Preseli Harriers, and now Pembrokeshire Harriers since they successfully merged with the Cleddau Athletic Club.
Peter would say that he has received far more pleasure out of what he has put into the club than he has ever taken out but that is typical of the man since he has always underplayed his role as a UK level three endurance coach and now chairman of the club after a previous stint as vice-chairman.

Tough training stints

His work includes attending training sessions on three evenings a week and very often the weekend is nicely rounded off with a long group run down the river to Little Milford and back, or through Little Milford Woods, or Freshwater West sand dunes. Peter has always enjoyed that little ‘treat’ and in his younger days the Freeman family dog also kept fit on those runs!
His involvement as an endurance coach entails his working with the middle distance runners at the club and the cross country section during the winter. He started out his involvement with the 800 and 1500 metre runners almost by chance when his son Matthew started out his running and Peter was dragged in by the late Gerald Codd to help out at the sessions.

Rugby retirement

It came at the right time because Peter had been forced to retire from playing rugby after 12 years at Milford Haven RFC through knee ligament problems. He played centre or outside half alongside very good players like Keith and Paul Fletcher, Peter and Dai Griffiths, Barry Kingston and Steve Holmes but then his ligament snapped and that was that as far as the oval ball game was concerned.
Matthew had started out in running and Peter’s daughter Kate also got involved so he was happy to help out and although he had little real idea of what was to be done he attended a series of coach tutorials and received lots of help from Carl Palmer as he got more and more involved.

Training Venues

At that time the athletes, who included Matthew, Gavin Hughes and John Perkins, used to use the natural facilities in Haverfordwest for their training sessions, including the plentiful supply of hills and steps. Now they use the gym at STP School on Mondays, from 6-7 pm, and the floodlit track at the school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 6-8pm. Then there’s still the Sunday morning ‘fun runs’ along the river bank or to other ideal venues like The Racecourse, Canaston Woods or Clerkenhill Farm on the A40.

Strong set-up

This is Peter’s first year at the helm as he sadly had to take over from the late Jan Younger, whom, he says, was doing a great job.
“We are lucky to have coaches of the calibre of Huw Morgan, Nigel and Liz Rowland, Mark Richards, Dave Thomas, Simon Roach and Karen Llewellyn, with Huw guiding me through as vice-chairman and others like team managers Julia Withers (cross country) and Liz Rowland (track and field) doing a great job too. Liz Rowland completes a treble since she is also club secretary whilst Sue Alvey works really hard as treasurer.
“Last year the club took part in a competition run by Norwich Union Assurance and as a result we were allocated funds from them towards building a stand alongside the track at STP and that would be a wonderful thing to achieve since it would complete the fine facilities there and allow us to hold meetings in style. The completion of that stand is a long-cherished dream for a lot of us at the club.”

Juniors look good

The club is currently strong in its junior section, with a very good vets’ squad that includes real characters like Huw Morgan, John Sinnett, Bob Elliott, Martin and Lorraine Dyde. They are all very committed and Peter’s ambition is to see the senior squad grow in comparable strength to the other sections.
“The club competes in the Welsh Junior League, the Gwent Cross-Country League and the Louise Arthur Track and Field League, which incorporates the Gerald Codd Memorial Trophy and is traditionally held at Haverfordwest in memory of the great local athletics man. We compete against the likes of Swansea, Carmarthen, Barry and the Vale, Brecon, Neath, Llanelli and Amman valley – and the great thing is that as well as the competition we have made any number of great family friendships over the years.
“There is a high level of enthusiasm and commitment which has brought about six gold, one silver and three bronze medals in the Welsh Championships, plus18 vests this season from youngsters of the calibre of Megan Withers, who also won her section of the London Mini-Marathon to confirm her potential, Lauren Bell, Lisa Neumann, Josie Lewis, Zoe Priestley, Dominic Coleman, Ricky Watts, Matthew Richards, Jonathan Stowell, Heather Lewis and Adam Davies. This was easily a club record and there was further good news in the fact that Megan, Heather, Zoe and Jonathan all helped Wales win the Celtic Cup against Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire.”

Still going strong

Ask Peter about whether he still enjoys his involvement and you would receive an unequivocal nod of the head. Because.
“I have been very lucky that my wife Ann has always given me total support and is still involved at the club. Matthew and Kate did well in their running careers and it is smashing to see today’s youngsters do well.  It is an honour to be chairman and I am very lucky to have had so long an involvement.” His nomination for ‘Coach of the Year’ and subsequent choice as the winner this year amongst such a strong field shows how others feel that he has done a great job for Pembrokeshire Harriers over so many years.