Best coach in the UK

Bob Ashwood must be fairly good. He is after all the UK:A National Endurance Coach.

I would say from my own experiences there are some very good coaches in the UK, both Tom watson and Mark Rowland have different qualities but always seem to have a great deal of success with their athletes, plus both are good guys willing to help. jt

Seb Coe had a lot of harsh words towards U.K. coaching these days during his last broadcast. Coaching was much better during the eightees, according to him.

its gotta be ken hardcastle--the mans a genious!

merrrrrrrrrr wrote:

its gotta be ken hardcastle--the mans a genious!

yes - the key ken hardcastle session for distance runners - 5 x 60 metres off a random* recovery with each rep timed to the nearest hundredth.

* = sit around waiting for him to finish chatting to whoever else happens to be at the track between reps

who t hell has bud ever coached? as far as i can tell he gets hold of lots of really talented runners who r running well and then somehow makes them all run rubbish....

You don't know what you're on about mate. I have been coached by Paul since I was 14 and have improved every year since. He still sends me schedules even though I'm in America. Obviously I don't follow it absolutely as I want to be doing sessions with Olly Laws, Nick Goodliffe etc. Simon hasn't entirely given up. He is having a break as he had a run of bad luck - none of which had anything to do with Paul. Paul hasn't had loads of athletes at Senior level, no but only because most drifted out of the sport. Paul goes to as many international events as he can, has managed U23 GB teams and is not set in his ways like some coaches. I'm not saying he's the best coach in the UK but I think you need to show some more respect.

Jimmy Hedley didn't have anywhere near the input to Crammy's schedule as people think, he was advised more by brendan foster and other people around him, all Jimmy did was hold the watch...

Apart from David Sharpe and Vince Wilson theer were never ever any other decent guys down there, until Crammy started doing sessions with Alan Storeys group when teh track was ebing renovated at gateshead and they trained at jarrow, Mike McLeod etc..

Coaching is overrated anway. All you need is someone to hold the watch, someone to tell you to stop poncing about when wamring up and get on with the session and someone to bounce ideas off.

my vote goes for Alan Storey. the guy has worked with so many good athletes, is never short of advise, has a good coaching disposition, is willing to work WITH athletes, is humble etc etc

how can people serisouly think peter coe is the best. he's coached one (two including wendy sly) athlete and has drifted out of the sport. I'm not convinced he has the enthusiasm for coaching beyond his own family. In any case, gerard houillier could have coached Seb to olympic gold!

The best coach in any sport has to be martin o neill though.

Hmmm... so, let's see....

Lees has given up and most of his runners dont make it to senior level

Ricky Soos coach is a bit of a dick

Two years ago, I tried to get him to comment on how much Frank had helped him over the years and he refused to comment, except for "he wasn't my only influence you know".

Gandy has had dozens of really talented athletes through his hands at L/boro, but too few have reached senior international level in one piece.

who the hell has bud ever coached? as far as i can tell he gets hold of lots of really talented runners who r running well and then somehow makes them all run rubbish....

Jimmy Hedley didn't have anywhere near the input to Crammy's schedule as people think

how can people serisouly think peter coe is the best. he's coached one (two including wendy sly) athlete and has drifted out of the sport. I'm not convinced he has the enthusiasm for coaching beyond his own family. In any case, gerard houillier could have coached Seb to olympic gold!

What's going on?????

Bud has been involved with some very good guys in the past, Marion Sutton, Paul O'Callaghan and Adrian Passey to name but a few and he was very instrumental with tipton dominance years ago.

Paul Wallace is also a top guy, who knows a lot and is very approachable.

What about Bruce Tulloh?

Why you want to know - you looking for a coach?

Fact is, running, distance running is simple, people make it too complicated, the best thing to do is read a few good books, biographies from the 70's, Marathon and Chips by Jimmy Alder, A Cold Clear Day, the Buddy Edelen Story, The Long Hard Road, Ron Hill etc.. because what they will show you is that there are no short cuts and the only secret is hard work. Ok an intelligent and sympathetic coach is a bonus but after a few years you should have an equal relationship where you dicuss what you are doing and make your own suggestions, after all if you have been running 5,6,7 years and you still don't know what works for you there is something wrong.

A lot of coaches seem to be looking for publicity through their athletes, particularly those coaching young kids, its easy to coach a young kid to the top, just do double the training everyone else is doing (Gloucester athleets come to mind????)! Its keeping them there that is the hard part, when everyone else is mature and doing similar levels of training!

in any club or any group its usually teh coaches who casue the problems rather tha the athletes, the 'my athlete' syndrome.

There are some great approachable guys who give up a hell of a lot of time, but I don't think any coaches 'formula' can be considered good or bad, it all comes down to the ndividual, and if a coach can't tailor that 'formula' to suit the athlete he/she is a bad coach...

MICK WOODS!!

Alot of the people mentioned above are what I call borrowers, other people do the hard work and they live off the glory, not all the above I must add!!

Mick is one of the best coaches around although ive never had 1st hand experience of his coaching ive seen him in action and know how much respect he has from his athletes!!

Definatly mine and many others number 1!!

This has been an interesting thread with many of reponses dependant upon people's perception of coaching and the coach's role.

If coaching includes a long term, empathic, dynamic process with competitive results as the mark of a 'good' coach (not necessarily the final performace indicator that I would want to use, but nonetheless useful in this debate), then the North East of England's Lindsay Dunn has to be in the frame as best UK distance coach.

There are many people who would quiz Lindsay's methods of slow but sure progressive development that errs on the side of caution, but what cannot go unacknowledged are the number and range of athletes that he either coaches or has coached personally or advises(ed).

Ian and Mark Hudspith, Neil Wilkinson, Tom Ranger, Nick McCormick, Sarah Wilkinson, Morag McDonnel, Kathryn Waugh, Diane Hennigan are some of the current stable, while his work with such athletics luminaries as Charlie Spedding, Barry Smith and Brendan Foster mark him out as someone worth listening to. He also assists other coaches by providing advice readily and willingly, influencing the work of athletes such as Euro XC gold medallist Susan Partridge through her coach.

It seems to me that Lindsay's attributes as a coach are one of high quality long term thinking, consistency of approach and stickability, aligned with caring for his athletes. He should be recognised in a listing of this sort unless there are any quibblers out there.

Rubbish man!!What about Jimmy Alder?He's been a legend at Morpeth and worked with some of the best in the country. Read his book for a coaching philosophy worth following.

How come Peter Coe sounds like a regular working class bloke with a working class accent while Seb sounds like Little Lord Fauntleroy?