Published: Friday, 14th November, 2008 11:30
2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games blow for Rosyth athlete
By Simon Harris
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IF Francis Smith is going to star for Scotland in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi he’s going to have to do it the hard way.
For the Rosyth 400 metres hurdler (right) has been stripped of his funding by scottishathletics after failing to meet last year’s target time – by half a second.
Initially one of a number of athletes selected for a funding package geared towards getting Scotland’s top athletes in peak condition for the India games, Smith has been told he’s off the programme after suffering an injury-hit 2008.
Smith, who trains six days a week around his day job as a budget manager for the civil service in Edinburgh, had been told by athletics chiefs that he had to run 50.8 seconds to keep his funding.
But after a year of hamstring problems the closest he got was 51.3 when coming second to American Chance Thomes in the Celtic Cup at Grangemouth in July.
Now Smith stands to lose between £2-3000 of support which helps pay for medical and physio support, warm weather training abroad and competition expenses.
The frustrated hurdler is angry because he feels his injury problems were caused in part by changes introduced by the Scottish Institute of Sport once he was put on the programme.
“When I first got on the programme they did a profile and found weaknesses in my posterior and back and I was having problems lifting weights,” he told Press Sport.
“What the Institute did was that, with the strength and conditioning coach, they broke me down and did a lot of exercises.
“But I had a problem in the hamstring area, when kicking out of the hurdle I was experiencing shooting pains.
"Certain sessions I could do but some days it would be too sore.
“It’s frustrating because they don’t take into consideration the contribution their interference had on my injury problems.
“My coach, John Macdonald, reckons it takes two years for a new strength programme to kick in seriously.
"It will be next year before I get the benefits but I won’t have the funding then.
“In the end I went to (Rangers and Scotland physio) Pip Yeates and he fixed the problem for me.
“Now I’m injury free, I’ve no pain and I’m training well but my funding has been taken away.
“It’s very frustrating. The previous three years went really well and I’ve had one bad year.
“Most athletes have a bad season at some point and all of a sudden, you’re back off funding again.
"I was pretty low for a couple of weeks but I had a chat with John and I’m enjoying my athletics again now and am looking forward to training sessions again.”
Smith, whose big breakthrough in the 400m hurdles came in Istanbul in 2006 when he ran 51.50 in the European club cup, and who also ran 51.02 in winning a bronze medal at the AAAs in Manchester in 2007, is nevertheless determined to get to India on his own.
His London-based club, Woodford Green, will help with some of his costs but Smith said, “Whether I’m on the programme or not, it doesn’t matter, I could still go to Delhi if I meet the qualifying standards.
“I have got a good chance if I can stay injury free and train hard and work on a couple of weaknesses I’ve identified.”
However, any outside help would give the hurdler a huge boost.
“Obviously, the support I got was a massive help.
"Now I am going to have to find all those costs myself with no sponsorship or funding from anyone.
"I’m looking for anyone who can maybe help out an athlete,” Smith admitted.
“Any support in any way helps. If someone can give £50 towards a race then it’s £50 towards a race.
"It sounds silly but even the smallest amount helps.
"If I can fund it myself I will. It probably means staying with my parents a bit longer.
"I’m 27 and still living at home because of my sport and having to fund it.”
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