Henley girl makes the top 10 for fastest runner in country

A GIRL from Henley has run in a national showcase race.

Sophia Smyth, 11, is a pupil at Queen Anne’s School in Caversham and is within the top 10 fastest runners for her age group, nationally.

She is also currently ranked fifth in the country for long jump in the under-12s age category.

Sophia’s running journey started when she was about nine at a sports day held at the former St Mary’s Prep School, which closed earlier this year.

She ran a 50m sprint race, finishing first and was scouted by athletics coach Ed Morris, who leads a children’s athletics club, Wycombe Phoenix Harriers, at Little Marlow Athletics Track.

Sophia has attended the club for about two years, training as a sprinter and a long jumper. She started competing regularly last year, ending the athletics season by achieving a personal best at the StoneX Stadium, home of Saracens Rugby Club in north London.

She said: “When I finished my 150m sprint, this gentleman came up to my mum and me and said there were Athlos trials for an under-12 Showcase Race.

“I attended the trial and made the top six for the fastest runners, so I was selected and I was able to attend the showcase race on September 18.”

Founded in the United States, Athlos is an all-women’s track and field meet that showcases elite athletes. The event includes a series of track and field competitions including the 100m, 200m and long jump. Athletes compete for cash prizes and a Tiffany and Co crown. Last month’s event was held at the StoneX Stadium.

Sophia said: “On the day, I was in the warm-up area with my coach, Leanne Welling. We saw all of these famous athletes warming up near us, which was really exciting.”

She also got to see American Olympic sprinting champion, Sha’Carri Richardson, warming up, who she really admires.

Sophia said: “I look up to her so much because she’s really good at what she does, she’s done so much and she always just comes back and keeps on going.

“We were told that we weren’t allowed to go up to athletes and ask for photos from those who had their headphones in and were trying to warm up. Richardson had her headphones in and she was quite focused, so I couldn’t go up to her unfortunately but it was still really cool.”

Sophia also saw American long jumper Claire Bryant who was warming up in the lane next to her.

She said: “It was a really good experience and I felt like one of the professional athletes, even though I’m not as famous.

“I got a bib for the day that had my name written on it, rather than a number and the bibs also had chips in them so they could get exactly the right time when you crossed the finish line.”

She laughed: “I got filmed twice on the day, when I was running and then by the BBC when we were in the audience eating our fish and chips afterwards.”

For her race, Sophia achieved a time of 13.82 seconds for her 100m sprint. She said: “The only event they had for my age group was the 100m, so I didn’t do any long jump because that was for the best of the best.”

Sophia currently trains about once or twice a week with both sprinting and jumping. She also plays netball once a week. At school, her sporting activities include lacrosse which she loves, netball, swimming, trampolining and badminton.

She said: “I feel I can balance my time well. Some days, I can do all my sports at school and then I can come home and relax or play with my cats. I have a four-month-old kitten called Vespa and a 16-year-old cat called Pickle.

“They don’t like each other. Pickle isn’t impressed with the four-month-old. During the week, on some days, I have extra-curricular clubs at school including cookery and drama, rather than sport. Some days, I will have sports after school as well. I see the Olympics in the future but over the next few years, I’m definitely trying to get into more top-ranked competitions but it all comes with the training and seeing what happens.”

Sophia also competed at a long-jump competition in Wimbledon on Saturday last week, which she won with a distance of 4.26m. Her personal best is 4.31m.

Mr Morris, Sophia's coach, asked Ms Welling to train with her for about two sessions before the Athlos event. He said: “Sophia was up against the fastest girls in the country on that day at Athlos. Looking at the times in the race that Sophia was in, the girl who ran the fastest is currently the fastest in the UK for their age group.

“Sophia has mainly competed at local competitions previously, rather than national, so to have that step up at such an early age is just fantastic. She’ll have some great opportunities next year, because she’ll move up an age group and will be able to compete at things like the Oxfordshire County Championships and the South of England championships. Wearing an Oxfordshire vest would be amazing.”

Her mother, Claire, said: “They brought an entire crew in from the United States, because the event is American. There were loads of American accents around, the commentary was great and there was loads of glitz and glamour.

“It was not like any other athletics competition we have been to in the UK.”

Mrs Smyth laughed: “She’s not doing the cross-country season. I think she would rather do anything like chop off her leg than run long distance. It’s so funny, sprinters and long-distance runners, it’s such a different approach.”