Ollie James (pink vest) was in the second fastest race of the Wimbledon 5000m Festival Night
It’s already been a year of remarkable achievements from Ollie James thus far in 2024 yet you get the impression that there’s still plenty more to come. Ollie is on a journey at the moment with his running and the way he’s progressing and with the work ethic he has, there really are no bounds to how far he can go.
Finishing 2nd to Joe Arundel at the Broadstone Quarter, he went to take 7th in the Southern Cross Country Championships and 2nd in the Welsh National Championships, starting the year off with a bang. Since then he’s gone from strength to strength, clocking an 8:28.89 3000m on the track and 5:58.68 for the 2000m steeplechase which put him 12th in the British Senior rankings.
He went on to run a magnificent 30:48 at the Trafford 10k which put him 136th in the British Senior rankings and 4th Under 20. He was Bournemouth AC‘s fastest man in both the Southern and National 12 Stage Road Relay events in the Spring.
Running a 9:14.71 for the 3000m steeplechase, he was 22nd in British Senior rankings for that event and 8th Under 23. He then went on to produce a 3:56.34 1500m at a Watford Harriers Open Graded Meeting.
Ollie and his mate Archie Coates prepare for their race
What he hadn’t done yet was any 5000m races, or even any parkruns. That was about to change when he headed over to Wimbledon for the 5000m Festival. That was the same event in which Ollie recorded his first and only sub 15-minute 5k in back in 2022. Rob McTaggart was in the race that time as well and also recorded a sub 15 minute time.
Ollie had progressed a fair bit since then though so there was always the feeling that this time he could go faster. The Wimbledon 5000m Festival Night’s are quite a spectacle. They have beer, BBQ, music and an all round great atmosphere. Everything about it is designed to get the best out of the athletes.
Ollie was chasing a new 5000m PB
The way it works is that you get ten races and the ability of the athletes in the field increases with each race. By the time you get to that last race, the standard is astronomically high. It’s not really about winning though, or even about finishing in a high position. It’s about time. If a runner gets a PB, that’s a fantastic result for them, regardless of whether they finished first or last.
Ollie had plenty of other good runners around him to keep him going
Competing in race nine of ten, it was clear that Ollie was ranked highly. By the time it reached his race, all the athletes left to go would be extraordinarily talented. Racing with so many quality runners around him would likely spur him on to produce something special though. And that was exactly what he did.
Having to dig really deep to find the speed he was looking for and then to maintain it for the duration, Ollie completed the race in a sensational time of 14:34.45. That was a 25 second PB which was a truly remarkable effort from Ollie. That put him 173rd in the British rankings for Seniors and 37th for Under 23s.
Ollie had to dig deep to get the best out of himself
It was a great feeling for Ollie to finally get the result he craved and to produce a performance that justified all the hard training he’d put in. With an average pace of 4:41 per mile for the run, it was definitely one to be proud of for Ollie.
Ollie had finished 13th out of 20 in the race and Incredibly, there were two other runners in it with the surname of James who were ahead of him. One was Dominic James of Western Tempo and he won it in 14:22.65. The other was Rikki James of Southampton who came 6th in 14:26.89.
It was a stellar performance from Ollie and he came away with a very impressive PB
Spending most of his time training over in Southampton, Ollie would have probably known the three Southampton AC runners who finished ahead of him. One was Matthew Revier and he finished a very close 2nd in 14:22.93. The other was Ollie’s mate Archie Coates who came 7th in a time of 14:27.22. Archie and Ollie had worn matching pink kits for the occasion.
Mark Ruby of Poole AC was in that race as well and he finished 9th in a time of 14:28.85 and was 2nd Under 20 Male behind Archie. Paul Martelletti of Victoria Park Harriers & Tower Hamlets was also in the race and he came 17th in a time of 15:00.77. He was the only M45 fast enough to be at that level.
Another Poole AC man, Jamie Grose, was there as well and he competed in the race before Ollie, finishing 3rd in that one and recording a tremendous new PB of 14:42.85. He’s having the season of his life, winning the Upton Summer Series with four first places out of four and also scoring victories at the May 5, the Marnhull 12k and both the 5k and the 10k at Bournemouth Bay Run.
Robert Sesemann of Kent AC was in that race as well and he came 5th in 14:47.76. William Bryan of Southampton was 16th in a time of 15:02.74. Rob McTaggart was there as well and was competing in race seven but he didn’t actually end up finishing. A lot of the runners just pull out if they realise they’re not going to post a good time by their standards as it isn’t much fun slugging it out over that many laps if you’re having an off day.
An old adversary of Ollie’s, Dafydd Jones of Swansea Harriers, won the final race of the evening in an astonishing time of 13:53.60. He was the only man to finish ahead of Ollie in the Under 20 Men’s race at the Welsh National Cross Country Championships earlier in the year.
Sam Bramwell of Herne Hill Harriers was 2nd in 13:55.10 with James Kingston of Tonbridge AC taking 3rd in 13:56.74. Jonathan Escalante-Phillips was 4th in 14:02.65 and Jonathan Cornish of Hercules Wimbledon finished 9th in 14:06.18. The slowest man in that race was Nathan Stark and he made it round 14:30.21.
It was definitely one to remember for Ollie though and the amazing time he registered will be a high benchmark to overcome in future outings. Knowing Ollie though and the progression curve he’s on, he’ll probably manage it at some stage.