Former King’s School pupil Elliot Smith-Rasmussen has made his international athletics debut for Denmark
Newark Athletics Club’s Elliot Smith-Rasmussen wants to enjoy his final year of racing in student competition.
Smith-Rasmussen is completing a PGCE course in Nottingham to become a music teacher.
“I’m planning to race the British Universities Championships, first indoors over 3,000m in February and then outdoors over 5,000m in May,” he said.
“As part of a steadily improving Newark Athletic Club team, I also hope to run the road relays in March.
“The focus in the summer will be on improving my 1,500m time, with the aim of peaking for the Danish Championships in July. Most importantly, I aim to keep enjoying my running.”
After success at the Midlands Cross Country Championships last month, Smith-Rasmussen represented Denmark at the weekend in the Glasgow Indoor International, finishing second in the 1,500m in 3min51sec.
His first international selection saw Smith-Rasmussen finish 11th in the Nordic Cross-Country Championships in Finland, helping the Danish team to gold.
“Probably my best race performances include the race in Denmark to qualify for the national team and then how I performed in the Nordic Cross-Country Championships to cement first team place for Denmark,” he recalled.
“I’ve also enjoyed running shorter distances on the track last summer, when I progressed my 1,500m time from 3.54 to 3.48 beating some quality runners that I’d not been close to in the previous season.”
On his first taste of international athletics, he added: “I really enjoyed the experience and immediately felt accepted as part of the Danish team.
“I’ve lived locally in Lincolnshire most of my life, but I have dual nationality and have a lot of Danish relatives who were very excited about it.
“It was quite frosty on the day of the race which helped me as I’m not a fan of thick mud in Cross Country races, but I still had to dig really deep when the leaders increased the pace in the last lap.”
Smith-Rasmussen has benefited from his work with the Newark Endurance Group.
It’s been a gradual progression to his current level.
“I’d always enjoyed running and would occasionally do the parkrun at Belton Park near Grantham,” he said.
“My main activity as a teenager was competitive climbing. I continued this when I went to university in Bangor, North Wales, but gradually drifted away from competitive element to do my own thing.
“I’d always done the occasional training run but when the Covid pandemic hit this became more regular. I started doing long runs in the woods and mountains near the campus, which I enjoyed and after lockdown I joined the university athletic club.
“When back from university I started training with the Newark Endurance Group and taking some coaching advice from Bill Taylor. It just progressed from there and I made the Lincolnshire County cross country team.
“The season after I narrowly beat my Newark teammate Ed Buck to gain a bronze medal in 5,000m at the English U23 championships. This made me realise that I could be quite good at running if I buckled down with a progressive training programme.
“My training varies through the racing seasons, and I’ve been learning as I go. I think I’m strongest as a track runner so in the last couple of years I’ve been focussing on that.
“Therefore, in the winter I tend to run 80-90 base miles per week with a couple of faster sessions mixed in. As I transition to the summer racing season the volume reduces, and I’ll do more shorter and faster track work.”
