AS Holly Weedall stood steeling herself on track before one of the biggest races in her life, she already had in mind a plan.
Except it took an age for the starter’s gun to fire.
“I was so nervous,” she said.
“I tried to focus, and not think about anything else.
“But that’s not easy.”
The Weaverham High School student made it look that way when she surged ahead of her rivals in the junior girls’ 1,500m final at the English Schools’ Championships on Saturday.
But that’s how she does things.
A blur in Cheshire’s black and gold vest, the 14-year-old led from the outset at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham – just as she had done in a heat on Friday – to take gold on only her second visit to the event.
A glance over her shoulder on the final bend revealed that rivals behind were closing in, but they were too far back to worry her.
“I had a bit saved back just in case I needed it,” she smiled.
“I’d worked so hard to get into that position and I wasn’t going to give up.
“I felt a little bit of everything when I crossed the line, but more than anything it was happiness.
“There was relief, some pride, but mainly joy to make it.”
Commentators on a live broadcast of the event had wondered aloud the previous day whether her approach, running aggressively from the front and then hanging on, might backfire the next day.
But it’s a tried and tested formula, and her opponents haven’t come up with a way to counter it.
Holly said: “I like to go out hard from the gun and run the first lap quickly.
“It’s worked for me so far.
“I’m not so confident in the pack; it can get a bit pushy, and I don’t like that.
“I also think the other girls don’t know how to approach the race when I do it. Maybe that helps me – I don’t know.”
A member at Vale Royal Athletics Club, her coaches there – Andy Carter and Shaun McGrath – were in the stand at Birmingham for the final.
So too was her mum and dad.
Proud teachers Johnny Goodall and Kelly Wilson were also managers with the Cheshire team.
Friends and other family members watched the broadcast, something Holly herself when she got home.
“It’s crazy to watch back,” she said.
“It isn’t how I remember it, which is things going a million miles an hour.
“I can understand now why everybody else was so nervous while they watched! That’s what they told me when I saw them afterwards.”
Goodall described his pride after watching another athlete from the school, following George Hyde’s double success in the shot, claiming a national title so soon afterwards.
He accompanied Holly to the start.
“It’s fascinating to observe the dynamic,” he said.
“The other children look at her, and they know who she is whether that’s by name or because they recognise the Cheshire vest she’s wearing.”
Holly told the Guardian she hadn’t thought about winning until after she had progressed through a heat.
However she said it helped to have made her debut 12 months earlier, coincidentally when she won bronze while racing against older rivals.
“I feel like you can never be certain of anything,” she said.
“But knowing what to expect was important because this event is so different to all the others.
“It’s up there with my favourite memories, definitely.
“That, plus running cross country for England.”
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