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Liam Collins: The Athlete

Athletics was always a passion of mine and I have some great memories of competing for my club Gateshead Harriers as well as getting to represent GBR on many occasions. I made some great friends and the lessons I learned about self-discipline, goal setting and work ethic are all self-development aspects I now take with me into business.

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second

I used to love racing overseas or on hot summer days when my family would be there to watch. On the flip side I also loved the wet winter days training at Loughborough and before that up in Newcastle at Gateshead Stadium.

I don’t think anything can ever match the physical exertion of training for the 400m hurdles. I remember reading David Hemerys book. For those who are not familiar he won the Olympic Gold in Mexico at the Olympics in 1968.  I thought how could anything really be that hard?!  I soon learned why it is the only event where the winners rarely do a lap of honour!

My speed was decent but what I lacked in lungs I made up with heart. I was never particularly gifted but I always worked hard and my greatest achievements were winning the national under 20 championships for the sprint hurdles and then being the first Englishman over the line for the Commonwealth trials for 400m hurdles. In the end I missed out on the qualifying time for Melbourne by 0.4 seconds! Gutted. After this my focus drifted towards building the property company and it became ever increasingly difficult to do two things to a high standard and something had to give.

I made one last attempt to gain selection for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 training in India in the Himalayas at altitude which almost culminated in representing The Indian national team when approached training one day by their track coach. In the end just my luck they had the 3 fastest 400m hurdlers in history come out of the woodwork thus making it easier to actually compete for GBR!!  A chronic Achilles injury was the final nail on the coffin and I hung up the spikes.

I took all residual passion and determination into the business. I thought I had left my hurdling career behind but setting up a property company in a recession has meant I've traded wooden hurdles to banking hurdles. The aspect I love about business compared to athletics is that you don’t have a limited time frame to become world class and become the best at what you do in your chosen industry. I’m enjoying the learning curve and finally working as part of a team with the senior management. Athletics can be very lonely in that respect.

Athletics Stats

110m Hurdles

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400m Hurdles

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Decathlon

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Long Jump

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Sprinting

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Personal Bests

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Click here to view Athletics Press Cuttings

Added : 19-05-2009

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Added : 19-05-2009

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Collins & Bone Partnership

Rob Roy Collins - Street and Corporate Entertainer