Lecturer to represent England in cross country nationals

Phil Gould, a lecturer and senior research fellow in the School of Life Sciences, has been chosen to represent England in the M35 age category for the British & Irish Masters Cross Country International in Cardiff on November 16.

Phil, who is a member of the Kenilworth Runners club, is the first-ever Kenilworth member to be called up to represent England.

He will be running over eight kilometres and competing against Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Though he acknowledged tongue-in-cheek that it was “not full senior level – i.e. Mo Farah standard”, he commented: “I am extremely proud and honoured to be selected for my country.”

When asked how often he trained and how he managed to balance this with research work at the University, he said: “I am quite unique in that I don’t train as often as the runners I directly compete against.

Phil Gould (centre)

“I have two beautiful children, who are also sporty, and a busy job to balance.

“Typically, I will train four to five times a week and try and race most weekends to stay sharp. In total, I run about 30 miles per week.

“However, since selection, I have stepped up my training simply by running to work more instead of cycling, which is an easy way to ramp up the miles I cover every week.

“Running allows me to think about the experimental problems I face at work.”

Phil continued to explain how he started competing seven years ago after taking up running following a football injury. He entered a local race and realised he was “pretty good”. He soon joined the Kenilworth Runners club, which helped advance his running, and is now captain of the club.

Phil also raced against Warwick University students in the cross country league.

He added: “I would like to thank my coach Pete Matthews and my very understanding wife Laura.”

In an article from the Leamington Courier, Kenilworth Runners club chairman, Pete Bryan, described Phil as having been “brilliant” as men’s captain.

He continued: “He was the first of our current crop of runners to enjoy Warwickshire selection and now he’s made it to the international stage which will provide great encouragement to some of the younger guys in the club.”

As a senior research fellow in the Life Sciences department, Phil studies how viruses hijack our cellular protein as part of a research project to design drugs to slow down the infection cycle, allowing our immune systems to destroy the virus.

Phil certainly deserves credit for his efforts to keep in competitive shape and continue his research at the University.