Brit duo Bingham and Rooney spur each other on

Jul 9 2010 by Nick Purewal, The Journal

HUNTING in packs always eases the personal battle. British 400 metres men Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney told Nick Purewal even track and field offers safety in numbers.

BEAUTY sleep rudely interrupted, Michael Bingham knew the flashing red light could only mean Michael Johnson.

Shrugging off his Gateshead slumber, the North Carolina-born 400metre paceman happily settled down to his manager’s lengthy debrief.

Legendary Olympian Johnson keeps his training group small, select and tight-knit, and Bingham – whose father is British – knows he is in exulted company.

Tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at Gateshead Stadium is the final meet before the European Championships, so Bingham was happy for some last-minute advice.

“He sent me a big email: a big, long email,” explained the 24-year-old. “I woke up at 7am, saw the red light on the Blackberry and went through it.

“I think he’s just telling me to be confident in my abilities to run fast, I’ve trained hard and now I just need to calm down.

“His group – my group now – is really small, there’s only five athletes, so everybody in the group is a certain breed of athlete.

“Not necessarily the fastest, even though we’re all pretty fast, it’s just the mental aspect and your championship record.

“I think we’ve all shown that championships are what’s important, so to him, winning’s important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.

“It’s good to have him in my corner too, because he just tells me the truth, black and white. Sometimes I don’t want to hear it but I still listen to it, it’s definitely valued.

“But it’s been a good relationship, so I’ll be looking forward to some more emails.

“It definitely gives you a little bit of confidence going into things, not necessarily for yourself, but in knowing there is someone behind you who has been there and done that.

“He’s been in and out of the sport for 20years or so, and having that behind you is great.

“It’s also a personal pressure situation though, and that’s something all athletes should be able to handle. I’ve only been professional about a year and a half now, so having people like him just a phone call away is a great resource.”

When Bingham is not replying to Johnson’s motivational missives, he is out training with friend, rival and compatriot Martyn Rooney.

Should Johnson’s words and experience fail to hit home, Rooney’s quality and pace on the track would certainly pick up the slack.

“It’s great to have competitive team mates,” he continued. “It only becomes negative if they defeat you, not in the race but psychologically – because then it becomes an animosity. But between me and Martin that hasn’t happened yet: we push each other and give each other tips, so it’s a good rivalry.

“When the gun goes off we are definitely out to beat one another though, there’s no patting on the back or anything like that until about 10minutes after.”

While Bingham has picked up his fast pace from last season, Rooney has spent the winter strengthening problem hamstrings.

Neither man can escape the inexorable pull of London 2012, but both strive to maintain perspective. London-born Rooney loves the competition too, and at 23 hopes there is time for himself, Bingham and a few other young bucks to build a formidable first-class 400metres group.

The duo comprised half the 4 x 400m relay team that scooped gold in last year’s World Championships.

“If myself and Michael get in a good race, then we can push each other to quick times,” Rooney predicted of this weekend.

“It’s a massive help to have him there, we get on really well but we’re tough competitors and that’s what the best British guys had. Roger Black, Ewan Thomas, Jamie Baulch, Mark Richardson, those guys competed regularly.

“So to have Michael there and to have guys like Chris Clark and Conrad Williams pushing us on, it’s only going to make us run faster.”

Hamstring work complete, Rooney is ready to build back to personal best territory, but 2012 still looms large. “It’s all about building for the next two or three years, because London is so important,” he continued.

“It has to be all about that, you can’t ignore it anymore, it’s coming up quicker than you think.

“If you want to win medals in London, you’ll have to be competing for medals at every championships beforehand.”

Blink, and Bingham worries he will find himself on that London start line.

Eager to cover all bases, he believes he must fix his focus in the middle ground.

“Sometimes when you look at things that far away,” Bingham explained, “that with the time in between you think it’s still only two years away, only two years away. And you’re so focused on that two years that suddenly it’s two months away.

“Then you are left with things you should have done that you didn’t fit in, so it’s definitely something to keep in the back of your head during training, but you try not to think about it too much.

“It’s easy to get too caught up in today and tomorrow too though, so sometimes you’ve got to keep a level head and just enjoy it.”