Who was Rachel Hughes (Hampshire)?

[The Fool From The Hill]

I read on the UKA site about Rachel Hughes who won the Inter-Counties U13 race in 1981 and was the emily pigeon of her day. What else did she do and what happened to her?

Cheers

[daisy]

I read on the UKA site about Rachel Hughes who won the Inter-Counties U13 race in 1981 and was the emily pigeon of her day. What else did she do and what happened to her?

Cheers

Rachel, Ran for Fleet and Crookham AC. As far as i remember she just got bored with track and field. She trained at Aldershot and Christina Boxer was around at the time. I'm not sure if they interacted much. Rachel definitely needed a role model since she won all her races by miles.

[The Fool From The Hill]

Must admit, I did a bit of research myself. At U13 she is ranked no 2 all time at 800m - 2.15, and at U15 she is ranked no 1 all time at 800m - 2.06.5, 1982 English Schools Junior 800m first, Inter-Counties XC U13 girls 1981 & 1982......and that's it. Great shame, wonder what happened after she dropped out.

As she needed a role model, did nobody try and coax her back to be one for todays athletes....she must have a lot to give.

[daisy]

As she needed a role model, did nobody try and coax her back to be one for todays athletes....she must have a lot to give.

Not sure that is necessarily the case. She was an exceptionally natural talent. She trained with her friends and then got bored. Maybe I misread the scenario, but that was my perception at the time. As a mentor, wouldn't youy want someone who is excited about the competition and racing more than the social aspects of training with friends?

[The Fool From The Hill]

I'd agree. I was suggesting maybe they tried to get her involved again later in life.

You see lots of gifted young athetes like her fall by the way side, it's keeping them in the sport which is difficult. Some are happy to get by on natural talent, until they hit mid teens when the training aspect has to come to the fore as other kids start to catch up.

At our own club, it's an issue we have, very good young athletes, no senior team! We had two of late, English Schools standard, however one took up eating and the other beer!

[peterhughes270]

I am rachel hughes' father and have just seen some comments about her and her retirement from the sport.

She retired for a combination of reasons - puberty saw her grow 2 inches in a year and with it some of her strength; her coach had to retire for business reasons and other growing up events (school, exams etc). Sadly no one from WAAA took any notice and as a parent I wasn't going to push her into something she didn't want to do.

Interestingly her junior 800m record still stands 30 years later - perhaps an indication of what a special talent she had.

Did Daisy run locally at the time - she seems to know of rachel personally?

peter hughes

[The Fool From The Hill]

Mr H - Great shame, and as you say, must have been a fantastic athlete to have the time, still 30 odd years later. We really never seem to learn about looking after young athletes, at a UKA level, etc. Over the last 5 years alone I've watched several mamazing girls come and go, Sarah Hopkinson and and others.

[jjimbojames]

Mr H - Great shame, and as you say, must have been a fantastic athlete to have the time, still 30 odd years later. We really never seem to learn about looking after young athletes, at a UKA level, etc. Over the last 5 years alone I've watched several mamazing girls come and go, Sarah Hopkinson and and others.

Not sure you can blame UKA for ths one! At the age we're talking about, it's the parents and coaches who should be in control (see Jodie Williams telling UKA what to do). The problem is youngsters who are either naturally big for their age or who train too much at a young age then get caught up and lose interest when no longer ahead of the game. This tends to happen at the same time as things like boys, alcohol and general teen issues come into play - all assuming their bodies haven't changed too much with puberty - and this combination is what sees them give up the vast majority of the time

[sw17]

These exceptional junior athletes do come back sometimes. Justina Heslop won the National as an U15 for Elswick in the 80's
& re-found her love for running when becoming a founding member of Clapham Chasers RC a few years ago. Now ranked top 10 in several events & training in Ethiopia regularly.

[Whippetgud]

Hi I've been reading this thread with interest. I now live in New Zealand but I used to run for Camberley and district a.c in the 1980s. I had the misfortune of being just one year older than
Rachel and so often had to race her or
rather run behind her!
I always thought it was a shame Rachel stopped running. How about training for the World M
asters Games in 5 years in NZ? I hope to be there!
Sarah Roberts nee Paterson