Coppard’s hard work paying off

Tonbridge AC’s Simon Coppard has praised his club after winning the under-17 800m at the Kent Championships earlier this season, writes Rhys Higgins. The 15-year-old, who has only been with Tonbridge AC since April 2015, stormed home in a time of 2.01.35 to win the title. The Borough Green resident admitted his victory and progression is all down to the excellent training that Tonbridge has to offer. Coppard said: “It feels good and I feel proud because I’ve done a lot of training. “The training at Tonbridge is amazing and it’s planned well. The people at the club take a lot of time to plan everything and the amount of time that goes into it does help everyone. “There’s a massive range of elite athletes as well and everyone puts a lot of time into making the training work. There’s different training nights planned which are all beneficial for the runners.” The Maidstone Grammar School student believes his progression is also thanks to the hard work he puts in. He added: “I train on Tuesday and Thursday nights at Tonbridge where the training is already planned. The sessions are good but hard. “Monday and Friday nights I have gym sessions which are quite difficult but beneficial and on a Saturday of a non-race week I will go for a long run to keep my stamina and sprint endurance up. “On a Sunday I will then do another session. So I train six times a week with Wednesday being a rest day.” Coppard recently achieved a personal best time for the 800m of 1.59.24 and hopes that he can continue to improve. He said: “I want to carry on progressing at Tonbridge in the manner that I have been. “Hopefully, I will go to national events and maybe one day the Olympics. That is definitely a target for me and every runner’s dream. “It’s a long way off but it’s something to aim for.”