Hatti Dean recounts her race to a brilliant 4th place in her debut at the
2010 European Athletics Championships
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I qualified for the European Athletics Championships by
the skin of my teeth. For the 6 weeks before the GB trials I hadn’t run for 2
weeks due to injury. At the
trials I missed the qualifying time for my event – the 3000m steeplechase -
of 9:40 by just 0.69 seconds. |
My luck changed the next
weekend when I achieved the qualifying standard by 0.00 seconds – running
9:40.00 24 hours before the deadline.
I travelled to the training
camp in
The championships began on
July 27 and there were some good British performances on that first day,
notably with a Gold-Silver in the Men’s 10000m. This
kick-started a positive atmosphere amongst the Brits which remained all the way
through the championships and really motivated everyone.
On the 2nd day I went into
my heat thinking that if I ran really well I could qualify for the final as a
fastest loser. I took on the pace fairly early to make sure the race was fast,
all the time expecting half the field to come surging past me. To my surprise
no-one did, and with 2 laps to go I was running at the front of a breakaway
group of 3. I managed not to fall into the water jump and was delighted to
finish in an automatic qualifying spot.
That race gave me so much
confidence, and I was now aiming for the top 6 in the final. The noise and
atmosphere for the final were something I’d never experienced before. A
Spaniard was one of the favourites and the Spanish crowd were
chanting her name with a relentless fervour.
I managed not to get
over-excited and started the race controlled, working my way through the field
and gaining confidence with every person I overtook. I didn’t realise I was
close to getting a medal until 300m to go when I noticed I was in 4th place. I
kicked all the way to the finish but I’d started my surge too late and finished
less than 1 second behind 3rd.
I think I was the happiest
4th place finished in the entire championships then! I knew I’d done my best
but it didn’t stop me from being slightly disappointed when I found out that
the medallists all got their hair done before the medal ceremony!
Hatti Dean
Hatti leads the Statistical
Evaluation and Analytical Team in the DWP Disability and Work Division
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Postscript: Hatti’s successful 2010 did
not end with the T&F championships as she returned to
Tony Croft