page revision date : 30th November 2009
Morgan’s making his way well in middle distance running
Morgan Smith is one of the talented breed of young athletes who is emerging under the expert guidance of coaches at the Pembrokeshire Harriers Athletic Club after doing well in the County and Dyfed sports after his potential had been spotted at Sir Thomas Picton School by Mr Med Richards.
Med gave Morgan every encouragement to work at his running prowess and it soon paid off as Morgan competed in the school and county sports at the 1,500 metres and won both events. That success qualified him for the Dyfed Championships, where Morgan achieved a creditable second place and since then he has reduced his personal best time for 5 minutes 12 seconds to 4 minutes 31 seconds, a massive improvement of 41 seconds!
High praise for coaches
who work him hard
As well as Mr Richards, Morgan is also full of praise for the efforts on his behalf of the coaches at the Harriers, especially Pete Freeman, who always pushes him hard in twice-weekly training sessions on the superb artificial track at STP School, but is ready to have a bit of fun whilst making sure that the time is well spent in terms of hard work.
“Pete is a brilliant coach and if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have improved as much as I have,” says a grateful Morgan when we caught up with him at a training session. The hard work ethos is very much in evidence because Pete puts them through runs of 200, 300 and 400 metres where they focus on different areas of their race plan as he trains alongside other very talented runners like Lauren Bell and Josie Lewis. He also is a great fan of the running of Matthew Richards, who runs for the Harriers and is Med Richards’ son.
“The 400 metres sessions are the hardest for me,” admits Morgan, “because I am not used to using all my energy up at once like that since the 1,500 metres is more tactical.”
Morgan also goes out on a training run of his own at least once more each week where he runs for an hour, often starting along the by-pass in Haverfordwest and then up through town so that he gets a few hills into the work to build up stamina, but varies his route so that it doesn’t get boring.
Family support and school matters
Morgan is also full of praise for the support given by his parents Nicola and David, who has played football for Prendergast Villa and still helps out, despite admitting to the fact that he is now in the veteran stage. They are both happy to ferry Morgan and his younger sister Emily, who is already showing promise as a sprinter. His sporting interest is also continued at school because as well as other subjects he is following a BTEC course which will furnish him with the equivalent of four GCSE’s and includes time spent helping Mr Paul Hughes at Prendergast Primary in encouraging young children to develop their sporting interests in after-school club – and will ultimately see him have two sessions of work experience at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre. Ask him about a future career and at the moment he says he would plump for being either a games teacher or policeman.
| 
