College has six Team GB hopefuls at European indoor event
SIX Loughborough College staff and students will represent Team GB at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Turin, which get under way tomorrow.
The group will join up with the 41-strong British and Northern Ireland team to compete in the championships, which run until Sunday.
The Loughborough College representatives are as follows:
■■ Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, a student on the diploma in sporting Excellence (DiSE) programme, will compete in the men’s 60m;
■■Joe Brier, a student on the advanced apprenticeship in sporting excellence (AASE) programme, will compete in the men’s 400m;
■■Piers Copeland, an AASE student, will compete in the men’s 1,500m;
■■Ama Pipi, a DiSE student, will compete in the women’s 400m and is also part of the 4 x 400m relay team;
■■Tom Somers, an assessor at Loughborough College, is part of the men’s 4 x 400m relay team;
■■Keely Hodgkinson, a DiSE student, will compete in the women’s 800m.
Keely, 18, is among the leading names who will compete and is tipped for a medal, after winning the British Championships in 2020 with a time of 2 min 03.24 seconds.
She is the current under-20 world and European indoor 800m record holder, with a time of 1:59.03. Her outdoor 800m personal best is
2:01.73.
She won gold in the European Youth Championship in 2018 and the European Junior Championships in 2019.
Jo Maher, principal and CEO at Loughborough College, said: “We are so proud that so many of our students and a staff member are representing Team GB at the European Indoor Championships and we wish them every success in Turin.
“Loughborough is synonymous with sport, supported by the best environments in which athletes can train and prepare together for careers in elite sport and competition on the global stage.”
LEICESTER Tigers have recruited a “world class, experienced operator” to fill a newly-created role of general manager of rugby.
Welshman Leigh Jones will take up the position on May 1 when his time as general manager of rugby performance with the Hong Kong Rugby Union comes to an end.
Jones has held senior coaching roles with Ebbw Vale, Newport Gwent Dragons and the Welsh Rugby Union, including leading the Wales A programme under Sir Graham Henry.
Jones was also a senior member of the Japanese support team at the 2015 Rugby World Cup alongside now-England head coach Eddie Jones and Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick.
In the newly-created role, he will be responsible for the off-field performance of Tigers, including overseeing Oval Park, and “drive the cultural and performance standards at all levels of the rugby programme, including the academy and senior squads”, said a club spokesman.
Additionally, the general manager of rugby will work alongside Borthwick on the development of coaching and performance, as well as the recruitment of coaches, performance staff and players.
After the departure of Geordan Murphy in November last year, Tigers revealed they would not be seeking a replacement director of rugby. He was shortly followed out the door by head of elite performance recruitment Jan McGinity in early December.
Leicester Tigers CEO Andrea Pinchen said: “Leigh is a world-class, experienced operator who we are excited to be welcoming to the club.
“As well as driving world-class standards in our operations and overseeing the processes at the club, Leigh will be a key member of the senior leadership team to ensure we uphold the standards expected of everybody at this club.
“We are very confident in his ability to do that, as well as being excited about what he will bring to this role.”