Gary Floate
Message from the President
I did not think my first few days as President would be like this, if it carries on my reign I will be the only President who held the post when no athletes actually raced. I will be known as Gary The Plague President Floate. I hope you are all keeping well during this worrying time and that you are sticking to the rules and only training once a day. Hopefully we all be out of it soon and back training and racing. In the meantime look after yourselves.
Name: Gary Floate
Born: 1966
Date Joined:
IAC Initially 1981, but left after less than 2 years to Join Newham & Essex Beagles,rejoined about 10 years ago
Personal Bests:
Track
400m: 55.4 Tooting Bec 1989
800m: 1.57.2 Woodford 1989
1500m: 3.54.8 Crystal Palace 1990
3000m: 8.23.3 Walthamstow 1991
5000m: 14.36.0 Birmingham 1987
3000sc: 9.41.1 Woodford 1986
Road
5k: 15.01 Chelmsford 1990
5m: 23.46 Victoria Park 1991 (old course was short)
10k: 31.08 Harrow 1991
10m: 50.35 Canterbury 1991
Half Marathon: 70.30 Benidorm 1989
First Club Race:
Shortly after joining I did the Havering relays, was meant to do U15 4×400, but somebody did not turn up and did U17 4x 1500, Wayne was also part of the team. Then a few weeks later I won the club handicap at Chigwell Row, got my best ever headline in paper “ Gary Floates Home”
Favourite Race:
Rochester 5, 2.5 miles uphill, then 2.5 down, was going for over 50 years before it stopped, Victoria Park 5 also a favourite, and relays Old Essex relays, Chingford relays and NewZealand relays over Chigwell. Sadly relays have mainly disappeared off the racing calendar; I would like to bring the New Zealand relays back.
Notable Performances:
Can’t say much springs out, never good enough to win a title, and only won one road race, and don’t think The Walthamstow 7 gets me worldwide recognition. A few Essex track medals, but not the win. At Beagles we had a good U20 team and won, The Essex, 3rd in the Southerns and won the National team cross country titles in one year.
Biggest Disappointment: Not winning an individual Essex title, not breaking 50 minutes for 10mile and having to pack up age 25 due to persistent injuries.
Typical Weeks Training:
These days I am so injury prone, it’s mainly road running, with occasional attempt at a hill session at the forest with the group. In my day we always tried to do two track sessions a week, extract below from a winter and summer session.
Winter
Sunday: 20 Mile Road Run
Monday: 10 Mile Road Run
Tuesday: 20 x 400 (69,69,68,67,68,67,66,67,67,67,68,68,,67,67,67,67,67,65,66,66(67.1) 10 Miles
Wednesday: 8 Mile Road Run
Thursday: 10 Mile Road Run
Friday: 8 Mile Road Run
Saturday: 6 Mile Road Run
Total = 72 Miles
Summer
Sunday: Race Essex Club’s Final 1500m 3rd 3.57.0 5 Mile s
Monday: 8 Mile Road Run
Tuesday: 3 x 800(2.02,2.01,2.01(2.01.3) 6.5 Miles
Wednesday: 6 Mile road and grass
Thursday: 4 x 300(43,44,43,43(43.75) 4 x 200( all 28) 6 Miles
Friday: 5 Mile Road Run
Saturday: Race Southern League 800m 4th 2.02.1 and 400m 57.1 5.5 Miles
Total = 42 Miles
Favourite Sessions:
The session above 3x 800 was a great session , really eye balls out, I did with aguy who came 5th in the Olympic trials and he was doing 3x 1000 and telling me to run faster. Also sessions of 200s were a favourite, 40 being the most I did.
Who is the most Famous Athlete you Trained with:
Colin Reitz who won a medal at 1987 World Champs, then again more drinking than training. I shared a room for a week with Matt Yates who went to both Olympics and worlds.How would you improve the sport: Life bans for all drug cheats, with no second chance, and cut vets races to get more people helping with officiating and coaching at their clubs. I would also ban Park runs . Finally would want UKA to give more back to grass roots athletics.
Favourite Athlete or Sportsman:
Athlete would have to be Steve Ovett, from other sports, Bruce Grobbelaar was a favourite, Bernhard Langer the golfer and who helps the Bengals have a winning season.
What other sports do you follow:
Football, I follow Tranmere Rovers, but soft spot for Chelsea my first shirt was a Chelsea number seven shirt, Charlie Cooke. American football The Cincinnati Bengals were the worst team in the league last year., but always hopeful.
Best Country Visited:
America where Meredith is obviously from, also South Africa is a beautiful country.
Favourite Food & Drink :
Steak and a bottle of Rioja
Favourite TV Shows:
I like old stuff like Dads Army and Porridge, Vikings on Amazon Prime was very good.
Last Film Seen :
Avengers End Game, but gave up half way through, as thought was boring
Last Book Read:
Sword of Kings by Bernard Cornwall. I read a lot and get through about 50 books a year.
Favourite Band Singer:
Morrissey, The Alarm, Squeeze, Half Man Half Biscuit, The Foo Fighters,FeederLast Album Bought or Downloaded: I am not a Dog on a Chain by Morrissey and Urge for Offalby Half Man Half BiscuitLast Concert Attended: Steve Harley, but was due to see The Alarm this Week
Any Pets:
I have a 4ft fish tank full of tropical fish
What are your aims for next season:
I would just like to have a year of injury free running and then start thinking of races after that. Managed 11 weeks of running this year so far.
Tell us a Joke:
I will give you three from Tim phoned the local gym and I asked if they could teach me how to do the splits. He said, “How flexible are you?” I said, “I can’t make Tuesdays.” “He said ‘I’m going to chop off the bottom of one of your trouser legs and put it in a library’. I thought ‘That’s a turn-up for the books.'” “And the back of his anorak was leaping up and down, and people were chucking money to him. I said ‘Do you earn a living doing that?’ He said ‘Yes, this is my livelihood.’