UK Sport

Search will continue for volunteers who 'Train Like Champions'

Volunteers are put through their paces at the Train like Champions Challenge event
UK Sport

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Jessica Whitehorn 05 March 2009

The last of four ‘Train Like Champions Challenge’ events, hosted by UK Sport, took place at the world class indoor athletics facilities at Brunel University at the weekend.

Over 600 people applied to take part in ‘Train like Champions’, a recruitment drive run by UK Sport’s Research and Innovation team aimed at finding volunteers to take part in cutting-edge human performance research projects, aimed at discovering novel training strategies and methods.

Willing volunteers, keen to benefit from the expertise of world class coaches and sport scientists while supporting this research, were invited to take part in a battery of performance tests aimed at determining their experience level and how well their training history replicates that of an elite athlete.

When the project was launched back in September, Head of Research and Innovation, Dr Scott Drawer explained the need for the volunteers’ help:

“For work in this area to be applicable to elite athletes, we need to involve participants in our projects who are capable of training like our best athletes – with the utmost dedication and determination.

“The overall performance level is not the only factor which will determine whether individuals can contribute – it is just as important that we find participants who, like many of our athletes, are at the perceived limit of their individual capabilities.”

Following this first round of Train like Champions Challenge events, Dr Drawer said:

“The Train like Champions Challenge events have attracted some really enthusiastic and committed athletes who have risen to all of the challenges we have set out for them. Some of the applicants tested represent the athletic profile we are looking for. Others certainly had the potential to improve their overall performance with relatively simple interventions, whether that be tweaks to the frequency or intensity of their training or their technique.

“We must now look in detail at all of the results and pick out those individuals that can best help us as we investigate innovative training methods and performance solutions to help British athletes remain a step ahead of the competition in 2012 and beyond. Train Like Champions is the the first event of this kind, and there will be more chances for people to become part of this unique opportunity to contribute to British sporting success.”

Train Like Champions volunteers will hear from the Research and Innovation team within the next month as to whether they will be kept on the database and invited to take part in projects they are best suited to, based on their training history. The top scores of all of the tests over the four events can be found by clicking here – top scorers will be receiving prizes from us as a reward for their efforts.

Further Train like Champions Challenge events will take place later in the year, to determine the suitability of more volunteers for forthcoming research projects. Anyone who thinks that they train like a champion and would like to help Britain’s top athletes perform at their best should apply online at www.uksport.gov.uk/tlc

Those who appear to display the characteristics required for specific projects will be asked to commit to various performance projects. In return the ‘elite subjects’ will benefit from free performance assessments and training plans, and experience innovative training interventions under the guidance of world class coaches and sport scientists.

The Train like Champions team would like to thank all of the sport scientists who gave up their time to assist in running the events, as well as those who donated items to the Train Like Champions goody bags: adidas, British Cycling, British Swimming, Camelot, the English Institute of Sport, For Goodness Shakes, Lucozade Sport, the Olympic Medical Institute, Power Bar, the RYA, Science in Sport and the University of Bath.