Andy Baddeley on elite racing 'comeback' aged 41
Andy Baddeley is excited to be back in action once again.
It's been eight years since Baddeley – who won the Dream Mile in Oslo with his personal best of 3:49.38 in 2008 – last raced on the track.
Baddeley's last race, just before Christmas, was the Valencia Marathon where he clocked 2:53:49 on his debut over 26.2 miles.
Safe to say, a time trial over 1km was slightly different.
The 41-year-old, who ran 2:16.99 over the distance back in 2007 and is still joint-eighth on the UK all-time list – ran an impressive 2:39.45, partnering with Mizuno, at the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival in Leicester (March 16).
After the race, AW caught up with Baddeley on his 1km time trial, the current crop of British milers and why rivalries in sport are so important.
Full Q&A below:
How does it feel to be back racing once again?
Yeah, being back in this racing environment amongst I supposed the elite level of athletics, is great. It's the first time I've raced like this since 2016 and that's bonkers. I got the phone call from Graham [Johnson] at Mizuno, asking if I could come and race in the 5km.
However, there was a roster of 5km runners that were so much faster than my current level of fitness that he asked me if I'd do the 1km time trial. The last race I did before Christmas was a marathon so doing the 1km was absolutely bonkers!
What was the atmosphere like racing on this circuit?
I've missed this [kind of atmosphere]. It's almost visceral and you can hear the coaches, family and training groups all shouting for each other, leaning over the barriers. It's also a really small circuit here as well and it's built and built!
I'd have loved to have raced in something like this in Leicester. The innovation from the Podium 5k series is doing a lot for the top end of athletics. I see these events, Friday Night Under the Lights 5km and also Night of the 10,000m PBs and they are getting more people interested. You can hear the music and cheering and there was nothing like this when I was running. It's such a massive difference.
When you think about what you did in your career and the success of British miling is now, how do you reflect on that?
The strength in British middle distance running right now is crazy. I was in a generation where we were striving to be the next Steve Cram, Seb Coe and Steve Ovett and I felt I was nearly there. Having seen what Jake [Wightman] and Josh [Kerr] have done in the past few years has been incredible and I'm a little bit jealous in the sense I'd have loved to have achieved that myself!
It's a proud time to be watching it again. It took me ages to be a fan again after I retired. I sort of resented not being able to do it anymore but I've had enough time away from it now that I'm watching and cheering those guys on. The times have moved on with the technology and the rest of it. However, we have men and women who can compete right at the front of the world's best.
What's your thought on the importance of rivalries, such as Josh Kerr v Jakob Ingebrigtsen?
I think without rivalries, the sport dies. There was a real period where there were different people in Diamond Leagues – or Golden Leagues when I was racing – and for a lot of time there was one superstar, like Hicham El Guerrouj, dominating and picking up prizes. So you looked around and tried to watch as a fan and there was a period with very little significant rivalries in middle distance running.
Now, you've got Ingebrigtsen who's really outspoken and Kerr doesn't mince his words either. When you've got the pair giving a bit of back and forth, not to each other directly but in the press, that's exciting and I want to see that head-to-head.
That was what was exciting in the 1980s with Coe and Ovett and you were backing one or the other.
People rooted for them and you were coming back for the same rivalry.
How important is innovation to track and field and getting the sport out to more people?
The battle is making people care isn't it? If young people will show up to this and get excited in the freezing cold let's be honest, that's great. There's music, branding and people running incredibly fast times. It's a course put together for people to run quickly and there's a real buzz. You can't come to this and not love it.
I'm buzzing. I fell out of love with athletics because I couldn't do it anymore. In the last four or five years I've built that love for it again and this is the stuff I miss. Just seeing people in clubs vest and friends, family and coaches shouting for you.
What did it mean to represent Mizuno at the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival?
We've done quite a bit of work with Mizuno at The Running Channel over the past couple of years.
Sarah, from the channel, went out and ran Osaka Marathon last year and got a personal best with Mizuno. Graham from Mizuno actually used to run with my coach Andy Hobdell and when he rang me up and asked if I'd wear the super shoes – Wave Rebellion Pro 2 – and just give it a good go, I thought why not? For the last few weeks I was regretting that decision but I loved it!
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