Michael 'Mick' Woods (born 15 February 1949 in Great Britain) is a former long-distance runner and a middle/long-distance running coach. He is currently a coach at Aldershot, Farnham & District AC and sports

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

at St Mary's University in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. As an athlete, Woods ran internationally for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and ran in over 70 marathons, with a personal best of 2:20.12. Woods is now one of the nation's leading endurance running coaches.

Athletics career

Mick Woods' first marathon was the

Polytechnic Marathon The Polytechnic Marathon, often called the Poly, was a marathon held annually between 1909 and 1996, over various courses in or near London. It was the first marathon to be run regularly over the distance of 26 miles, 385 yards which is now the g ...

in 1971. He has been a member of

Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletics Club Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletic Club is an athletics club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The club are based at the Aldershot Military Stadium in Aldershot, Hampshire. AFD competes in the Youth Development League (YDL), Hampshire ...

since 1964. Woods ended up completing more than 70 marathons in his career with a personal best of 2:20:12, achieved in the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...

in 1983. He represented

in various international marathon races. Mick has an outstanding coaching record that has seen numerous junior athletes make GB World and European championships, athletes including:

Stephanie Twell Stephanie April "Steph" Twell (born 17 August 1989) is a British middle- and long-distance runner who competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and trains at Aldershot, Farnham & District AC. S ...

- competed in the 1500m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 5000m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, 1500m Bronze medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 5000m Bronze medallist at the 2016 European Champs Emma Pallant - Gold medallist in the 2011 U23 cross country championships

Beth Potter Beth Potter (born 27 December 1991) is a Scottish long-distance runner and triathlete competing internationally for Great Britain, and for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. She competed for Great Britain in athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympi ...

- 2014 Commonwealth Games 5000m 9th & 10,000m 5th and Rio Olympic Games 10,000m finalist Anna Emilie Møller - Double Gold medalist 2019 U23 European Championships 5000m & 3000m Steeplechase. Doha World Championships 7th, 3000m Steeplechase, 2019. Gold medalist European U23 Cross Country Championships 2019.

Coaching career

Woods is based at St Mary's University in

. He has been coaching since 1986 and has been extremely successful, putting numerous junior athletes into

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an Championships, GB teams and even the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Woods is currently coach to nearly 300 athletes, playing a huge role in developing international track and cross country athletes for Great Bitian. Woods has coached Jonathan "Jonny" Hay, Ellis Cross, Louise Small Anna Emilie Moller, Emily Hosker Thorn-hill, Phillipa Bowden, Niamh Brown, Phoebe Law, Amelia Quirk and many more, to international and national success. In 2003, Woods was employed by

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

as a performance coach. In 2008, he was presented with the English Athletics Association Coach Of The Year Award. In 2014, Woods was asked by ''

Athletics Weekly ''AW'' (formerly ''Athletics Weekly'') is a monthly track and field magazine published in the United Kingdom by Athletics Weekly Limited. The magazine covers news, results, fixtures, coaching and product advice for all aspects of track and field, ...

'' about his retirement and his response was, "I like seeing athletes come through and improve and I coach athletes to race. As I get older, such a busy lifestyle is becoming more of a challenge, but I do not envisage retiring. Athletics is in my blood”.

Personal bests

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

- 2:20.12 -

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, 1983

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Mick 1949 births Living people Irish male long-distance runners Athletics (track and field) coaches British athletics coaches