Frank Horwill

Frank J. Horwill (born 1927) is a UK Athletics senior level 4 coach most famous for founding the British Milers' Club (BMC) and for formulating the Five Pace Training Theory which is widely used for coaching middle-distance runners throughout the world.

As a volunteer coach since 1961, Horwill has coached 49 Great Britain and Northern Ireland international athletes (at Sep 2008) from 800 metres to the marathon - from track to the road and to the country. Five of his athletes have run sub-4 minute miles – the fastest being Tim Hutchings, who ran 3:54:53 and placed fourth in the 5000m in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

In 1963 Horwill co-founded the British Milers’ Club (BMC) with the aim of raising "British middle distance running to world supremacy". Seventeen years after the BMC was formed, British male middle-distance runners held all the middle distance world-records. This was attributed to the first ever national scheme of using ‘hares’ in races. The club has been the nursery and arena for many champions over the years, with the great majority of Britain’s best middle distance runners being members and Horwill is still an active member of the club’s committee.

In 1970 Horwill invented the 5-pace/multi-tier system of training, used by Sebastian Coe to enormous success under his father and coach Peter Coe. In 1980, Peter Coe said, "we have used Frank Horwill's multi-tier system. It’s all embracing."cite book
last = Martin
first = David E
coauthors = Coe, Peter N
title = Better Training for Distance Runners
year = 1997
publisher = Human Kinetics
location =
isbn = ISBN 0880115300
pages = xvi
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=SdUUFVVJpGEC&pg=PR16&lpg=PR16&dq=%22Frank+Horwill%22+%22Peter+Coe%22&source=web&ots=Wo6jW7ELxd&sig=8HIXEWqgdWxc9t-QAkFyzYqvsCk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result
accessdate = 2008-09-28]

Many other prominent athletes have also adopted the 5-pace system of training including Said Aouita who was the only man at the time capable of running 800m in sub 1:44, 1500m in sub 3:30, 3000m in sub 7:30, 5000m in sub 13:00, and 10000m in sub 27:30 and Noah Ngeny, the 2000 Sydney Olympic 1,500m champion.

Horwill is widely respected in athletics circles throughout the world and has lectured and coached internationally, including in Canada, Ireland, Poland, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Bahrain, Portugal and South Africa. The latter country holds a special affection in his heart and on his frequent visits he is sought out for advice by aspiring South African middle distance athletes and coaches. He has helped and influenced countless athletes and coaches worldwide by correspondence and still coaches a large squad of runners, "Horwill’s Harriers", in London.

A prolific writer, Horwill regularly produces articles for the British magazine Athletics Weekly, and other sporting publications. He is co-author of The Complete Middle Distance Runner (1972), along with Denis Watts and Harry Wilson. In 1994, Frank Horwill published Obsession for Running, described by The Daily Telegraph as “The athletics book of the year”. Owen Anderson in Peak Performance called it “An outstanding book...”.

Horwill is a man of many quotes including, "we’ve only just begun to work"; "Anyone can run fast repetitions and have a cup of tea and a doughnut after each repetition!"; [cite journal
last = Horwill
first = Frank
year = 1998
title = Beyond Our Reach Forever?
journal = Track Coach
volume = #145
issue = Fall 1998
pages = p 4619
url = http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/technique/145_Frank_J_Horwill.pdf
format = pdf
accessdate = 2008-09-29] "keep going, keep going, keep going until a little something inside you says, 'keep going'". Track side, at the 200m mark at BMC meetings he has been heard to say, "If you can’t go faster than that – get off the track."

References

External links

*cite web
url = http://www.britishmilersclub.com/aboutbmc/history.asp
title = British Milers' Club History
author = Frank Horwill
date = n.d.
publisher = British Milers' Club
accessdate = 2008-09-28
*cite web
url = http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/advice_about_frank.html
title = About Frank
date = n.d.
publisher = Serpentine Running Club
accessdate = 2008-09-28
*cite web
url = http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/advice_frank.html
title = Articles by Frank Horwill
author = Frank Horwill
date = n.d.
publisher = Serpentine Running Club
accessdate = 2008-09-28