Westgate athlete Connor Neal finished his athletics season on a high last weekend when he stormed to victory with the England Men’s 4x400m relay team at Manchester International. This was his international debut with the England team, having been invited by England Athletics after several successful performances this summer.
The men won their relay in a time of 3:06.53 which contributed to England’s overall win of the competition, beating Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the National League team.
Connor began his athletics journey in 2010 when he joined Thanet Athletics Club. He trained with them for 10 years before moving to St Mary’s University in Twickenham, where he joined the Uni’s sprints group. He moved back to Westgate after completing his degree in Sport and Exercise Science in 2023 and now trains at Canterbury Academy where he has been sponsored this year by Lifestyle Fitness. He also trains at Hartsdown Leisure Centre where he is a Sports Foundation member.
After a slow start to the season due to a hamstring injury, Connor ran a huge personal best of 46.60s in the 400m at Lee Valley on 23rd June. He followed this up by competing at the British Championships / Olympic Trials on 29th June where he improved his personal best even further running 46.55s in the 400m heats, coming 10th overall and narrowly missing out on the final.
On 21st July he competed at the England U23 Championships and finished 2nd in the 400m final with a time of 47.49s, just 0.02s behind the winner, in adverse weather conditions.
Connor has also been competing around the country with his club, Harrow AC, in the National Athletics League who finished a very close second overall in the league behind Thames Valley.
He was thrilled to be contacted by England Athletics and invited to compete with the England Team in Manchester as this is a step closer towards his dream of becoming a professional athlete.
Connor said: “I’m really happy with the way the season turned out considering I had a recurring hamstring injury throughout winter training. I’d like to say a huge thank you to my coach Emmanuel Owolabi who programs my track and gym sessions and has helped me return from injury. I’m very grateful also for the support I have received from Lifestyle Fitness and Your Leisure.”
