SUSAN TOOBY
SUSAN TOOBY (NOW WIGHTMAN) TELLS RUTH JONES ABOUT THE TRAINING THAT LED TO HER RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE AT THE 1988 GREAT NORTH RUN
Susan Tooby: the athlete trained with her twin sister
MARK SHEARMAN
MY KILLER SESSION
BREAKING the British half-marathon record hadn’t been on Susan Tooby’s radar when she toed the line at the 1988 Great North Run, but her training in the preceding months ensured she was capable of sustaining a blistering pace.
Unusually for an endurance runner, the Cardiff AC athlete averaged only a modest 65-70 miles a week, dropping to 45-50 closer to major competitions. Tooby’s coach, Harry Wilson, plotted a higher quality, lower quantity-loaded training schedule for her and her twin sister and fellow Olympian Angela, who has a 31:55.30 10,000m time to her name.
Wilson, famous for mentoring Steve Ovett to major championships victory over Seb Coe in 1980, saw that his protege might struggle to make the GB 10,000m team for the Seoul Olympics despite her obvious aptitude for the distance. With Liz McColgan, Jill Hunter and Angela all having run faster times on the track, she was in a vulnerable fourth position in the eyes of the selectors.