The dimunitive figure of Josh Elderfield is unmistakable in races. He's an athlete who never gives less than 100% and is starting to show some real talent for middle distance running. He clearly has a bright running career ahead of him. Here we learn about his aims and his views on pain!
Have you won any titles or been selected for county teams or major events?
I won the Kent Schools 1500m as an Intermediate Boy in 2008
Managed to finish 3rd in the Kent Cross Country League as an Under 17. 2008
Kent Relays – 4 x 400m 2nd 2008
I was also selected to represent Kent in my first season of cross country at English Schools and was part of the winning team in 2008.
How did you get into the sport?
I used to really enjoy running for my school at district races and was eventually able to find contact to Medway and Maidstone after being noticed by a few people in the sport.
Who is your coach?
Chris Bowman
How often do you train?
I’m supposed to train about three times a week.
What is your favourite training session?
Good question, do I have one? I think I just like the sense of achievement after a tough session knowing I’ve really benefitted from it and also achieved the targets I set out to aim for prior to the session.
What is your proudest moment or biggest achievement in the sport?
Receiving the call for my English Schools selection and was also extremely relieved to win the Kent Schools as my nerves built up weeks before. Being part of a successful team was also a proud moment when being a member of the winning Kent team and closely finishing second at the Kent Relay Championships.
What are your current aims and targets?
I would love to run under 9 minutes for the 3000m and to also run as near as 4.10 for 1500m as possible. I’d like my speed endurance to improve and aim to run very near 2 minutes flat for 800m. To help achieve this, I would want to run about 54 seconds for 400 and this would definitely boost my confidence.
What are your long term aims and targets?
I think running a sub 4 minute 1500 one day would personally be a great achievement for me and would hopefully focus on the longer distances and ultimately compete in many marathons. For this, I think running between sub 3 hours and 2 and a half hours would be a realistic goal.
Who is your athletics hero?
For me, as an endurance runner, I would say Kenenisa Bekele.
What do you enjoy doing away from athletics?
I very much enjoy making music with my guitar and also play quite a bit of pool. I usually tend to go out and shop a lot, go football and mainly just eat loads of food. If I’m being boring however, I usually just sit on the computer.
What is your job or what are you studying?
I’m currently studying my A Levels and hope to have a career in sport. If that isn’t a success, I have a Plan B and Plan C and so on.
Do any of your family compete in the sport?
Thankfully no.
Who is your best friend in the sport?
Well I don’t want to single anyone out but probably just the usual small group I train with. Saying this, every session I do and every race I compete in I run with Nathan Wilkins and we travel everywhere to compete.
Anything else you would like to add?????
I suppose taking in to every session and race the phrase “short term pain, long term gain” is a positive attitude to have.