Shropshire based athlete Ben Rowlings (18), broke the British T34 800m record at the weekend. Ben, competing in the Sharjah International Open meeting in the United Arab Emirates recorded a time of 1.50.43 to break the British record and put himself 3rd in the world rankings.  

Ben who trains with coach Job King at Coventry Godiva Athletics Club said; “to break the British record this early on in the year was completely unexpected I'd just come back from a tough training block in Western Australia and wasn't race sharp and didn't feel in personal best shape but something just clicked It was a quick race with both the gold and silver medallist from the World Championships there so to be close behind them was a big achievement”. The record means that Ben holds the British records for 100, 200, 400 and now 800m, “to hold four records is a great achievement and something I'm proud of but I can't dwell on it it's done and I'm moving forward and aiming on lowering them further this season”.  “I have no plans to target the 1500m record for now, I am focusing more on the 800 and the shorter sprints trying to push for selection for the World Championships in October this year” Ben added. “There's still a lot of hard work left and a lot of things that I need to nail down before the start of the season but I feel like I'm in a good place right now”.  

Thanks to the generosity of Shropshire Cerebral Palsy Society, the Ready charity, Wrekin Housing Trust and his parents, Ben has just recently returned from warm weather training in Australia. “This record is for all of those people who have supported me and made it possible for me to go and do some warm weather training, I couldn’t have achieved this without them”. “The benefits of warm weather training are here for all to see and going forward it would be great if I could get a sponsor or two to help me meet my training costs, so that I can realise my full potential”. 

Find out more about Ben at his website www.benrowlings.com