4:45.7

Emily set a new UK Under-15 indoor record for 3000m with a stunning performance in Cardiff on Sunday. 

The 12-year-old Gloucester AC runner smashed her personal best with an amazing time of 9mins 55.71secs at the Welsh Indoor centre to finish third overall in a race against women twice her age.

"I was really surprised and I could hardly believe the time," said Pidgeon. "At the start I was hoping to run around 10mins 20secs but I got fastest and faster. I think it was one of my best races ever."

It was easily the fastest time ever run by a 12-year-old girl in Britain and carved 35 seconds off the outdoor personal best she ran at Watford during the summer.

The performance also rounded off a superb weekend for the David Farrow-coached athlete. Pidgeon was nominated for the junior category of the National Sports Personality of the Year competition, reaching the last 10 out of over 600 nominations, but did not win the trophy, and on Saturday, she romped to victory in the junior girls' race at the Gloucestershire Schools' Cross Country Championships.

In her television interview after her race, Pidgeon got straight to the point: "I would like to go to the Olympics" she said.

"I had to restrain Emily," said her coach David Farrow. "She showed a lot of self-control and discipline as well as a great show of front-running in the second half of the race."

Emily Pidgeon set yet another UK record as she recorded a time of 5:05.6 at the Gloucester Mile on Tuesday 10th September, breaking the previous age 13 record of 5:08.1 that had stood since 1982. Pidgeon now holds the mile records at ages 11, 12 and 13. The age 10 best belongs to her training partner Sarah Hopkinson.

In the summer she ran the best ever by a British U15 girl and a European age-12 best for 3000m with 9:44.39 in May and in July she then took the bronze medal (4:32.58) in the Junior Girls 1500m at English Schools, after winning her heat.

Emily won the Cheltenham Race for life in 2002.

In September Emily Pidgeon, 13, travelled from Gloucester to win the girls' Junior Great North Run by over a minute and a half from local entry Mary Ferrier, of Gateshead Harriers. Emily was the 1st girl to finish in the Junior 5 kilometre race, this was for boys and girls up to 16yrs; about 7,000 competitors and Emily came 15th overall.

She also won the U15s race at the National 10km, her time 1minute 49secs faster than 2nd place Julia Cooke's.

Youngest British Distance International

In July Emily became the youngest middle distance runner to represent Great Britain in a track event. She competed in the 3,000 metres in an under-20 triangular meeting at Nove in northern Italy against the national side and a regional team, and came second in a time of nine minutes, 29.34 seconds. 

The run was all the more remarkable because of events before the race.
Emily and  her two other British team-mates sharing her hotel room were woken up at  4am by flames that were rising from a fridge in her hotel room. Pidgeon and the girls fled the room to escape the flames and smoke and raised the alarm with the night porter. The hotel management eventually managed to extinguish the fire themselves before Pidgeon was relocated to another room and given a mattress to sleep on the floor. 

Her coach, David Farrow, said: "It was potentially a very dangerous situation for Emily. Luckily one of the other girls was woken up by the fire otherwise goodness knows what might happened. The girls ran out of the room shouting 'fire, fire' and the management got it under control. Eventually Emily managed to doze off to sleep again at 6.30am but it was hardly the ideal preparation for her British debut."  

She went on to record her second fastest ever time to finish second behind the Italian number one, five years her senior. "She did exceptionally well and her time was inside the required time for the European junior championships."

"She had already done the time, but she'd had only four or five hours' sleep and it was hot," Farrow added.

Adapted from thissisgloucestershire

Read Story: "Pidgeon in line for top award"

Pidgeon's mother, Jessica, said her proudest moment was when she watched Emily romp home to victory in under-20 women's race in the Reebok Liverpool Cross Challenge, incorporating the European trials in November. She said: "It was pretty spectacular. It was a big race because she was up against people five years older than her."

"In European junior champion Charlotte Dale’s absence, 14-year-old Emily Pidgeon put in a remarkable performance to win, but she has declined selection. Her coach, David Farrow, wishes to avoid asking her to perform at such a high level again within the next few weeks."

Former world 10,000m champion Liz McColgan warned against getting carried away with the achievements of Emily Pidgeon.

McColgan was massively impressed by Pidgeon's victory, which was unquestionably the performance of the weekend. But McColgan, twice a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and a former London Marathon winner, admitted she had one or two 'reservations' about her achievements. "The girl is obviously a real talent and is pretty amazing.  My only reservation is she is so young. I would be more impressed if she is running like this in five years' time," she added, alluding to the fact success is one thing as a youngster, but is more important at an older age."

"But," McColgan added, "it is nice to see talented youngsters working so hard and taking their opportunities."

The U.K.A. in the wake of the Emily Pidgeon court case have now decreed that U15 girls can run at the higher distance of 3000m. 

The Emily Pidgeon case was brought by her father against the UKa, for his daughter persistently being refused entry into 3000m races, by entry officials, track referees and other bodies. The result was, he won the case, the UKa, hurriedly went into a huddle and came out with the decision you have above.

Norwich Union AAAs

"Emily Pidgeon, pick of the current crop of up and coming athletes in Britain, ran her first senior AAAs and World Trials in Sheffield on Sunday 8th February. The U14 and U15 number one at 3000 metres was the youngest competitor in the Women's 3000 metres race.   The ever-improving Jo Pavey will start as favourite, but Pidgeon's star shines brightly and a medal is a real possibility for the 14-year-old who holds the European record for her age group."

Emily was 5th with a personal best time of 9.34.66, a UK under-17 and under-20 women's record. Pidgeon's time took almost three seconds of Cornish athlete Zoe Jelbert's (Newquay and Par AC) previous best, despite suffering a heavy fall just before halfway. 

The race was won in 8:43.23 by Jo Pavey, who ran the second fastest time in the world so far this year. [The World Indoors qualifying time is 9:03.00.]

thissisgloucestershire:Her coach, David Farrow, was delighted with the spirit she showed after she collided with another runner and fell on the sixth lap. 

"Emily collided with an African runner at the end of the sixth lap and went down splat on the track," said coach David Farrow. 

"She got up pretty quickly and went whizzing back into the race because the adrenalin was flowing," he said. "But the fear with those sorts of incidents is that you use too much energy in getting back into the race and you pay for it later. I definitely think that cost Emily several seconds and she might well have run under nine minutes 30 seconds if she hadn't fallen. It was a fantastic time when you consider she hit the deck and we were all really pleased. It was a real test of character for Emily, especially as she had been suffering with a cold all week."

Exceptional performances like that will always provoke envy and coach David Farrow is well aware that there is a whispering campaign that he is running Pidgeon into the ground for short-term success and that he risks burning her out before she turns 18. Farrow dismisses the criticisms as not just totally wide of the mark but also naive to the point of reflecting why this country's elite athletes all too frequently lag behind their global rivals when it comes to the business of winning medals at major championships.

"Running the AAA Indoor Championships as a 14-year-old could be a good test for the 2012 Olympics when Emily is 22," said Farrow. "Everything we do with Emily is controlled and balanced, day-by-day, month-by-month and year-by-year."

"Emily's progress is dictated by long-term goals and we are working towards making her competitive on a global stage when she reaches 18. That means she must match the best Africans because they are the athletes who are setting the benchmark in athletics."

Farrow pointed out that Paula Radcliffe has shown it is possible to take on and beat the Africans and Britain's new generation of young female athletes must not only match Radcliffe's professional approach but also improve upon it as standards continue to rise.

"It is no good aiming just to be the best in Britain or even Europe because when someone like Emily is exposed to the global stage the Africans are at another level," added Farrow.

"In working towards the goals it is not so much the fact that Emily is leaving her peers behind but that standards in this country are lagging. On a global level Emily is not ahead of the pack at all. It is a tough, feisty sport and for youngsters like Emily who want to follow in Paula's footsteps it is not going to become any easier."

Pre-race: Nottingham:  Emily Pidgeon (153) is surely the hottest favourite there has ever been for an Inter-Counties Championship. She finished first in the Under 20 Women’s race at the Reebok Cross Challenge Liverpool in November, but is unable to bid for a repeat because a new IAAF rule is now in force. Rule 141 spells out the definitions that apply to the age groups recognized by the IAAF (pertinent in this case because the Inter-Counties Under 20 races are World Trials). 

At Reebok Cross Challenge meetings this winter, she has won the Under 15 Girls’ race in Birmingham by 33 seconds and won the Under 17 Women’s race in Cardiff by 16 seconds as well as lead home the Under 20s and Under 17s in Liverpool. In addition, she has turned in some pretty amazing indoor performances, including an age group 3000m record of 9:34.66 among the Seniors at the Norwich Union World Trials and AAA Championships at the English Institute of Sport Arena in Sheffield on 8 February.

Emily didn't run at Nottingham, after being told that she could not compete in the U20s age group.

Emily had originally intended to take part in Saturday's Under-20s trials race in Nottingham with the aim of finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Great Britain team. Having already stunned the athletics world by winning the European Under-20s trials before Christmas, there was every chance she could have caused another upset against girls up to five years older than herself.

"From January 1, it seems the IAAF have tightened up their rules in the junior age group so that the athletes must be aged from 16 from 19 to take part," explained Pidgeon's coach, David Farrow. "With Emily being only 14, that means she cannot take part and has been told she would have to run the Under-15s race. We don't think it is worthwhile going to the Inter Counties so we'll save her for the English Schools Championships in Maidstone the following week."

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said the rule change has been implemented to protect young athletes. "We want to protect young athletes from possible mental and physical burn-out," said Davies. "The IAAF believes that it is healthier for young athletes to evolve into international competitors in a gradual fashion rather than taking on seniors when they are 14 or even 13 years' old."

Farrow points out that the IAAF rule is aimed at stopping youngsters competing against senior athletes. "All Emily wants is to race against junior athletes and has more than proved she is capable of doing that," added Farrow. "It is just a shame that this new rule has restricted our choice of where we want to race."

Cinque Mulini

To make up for the disappointment at not being able to run in the British Junior Women's Under 20 trials for the World cross country championships Emily Pidgeon ran in the Italian ones instead!

Coach David Farrow found the alternative race and, at the last minute, he secured an entry to the Italian Championships, which were being held in conjunction with the Cinque Mulini race near Milan.

"It was only confirmed very late that Emily could take part," said Farrow. "This is a top class event that has attracted some of the world's best runners for years - people like Steve Ovett, Seb Coe, Lasse Viren, Brendan Foster and all the top Kenyans have run in the men's race. This year it also incorporated the Italian trials for the World Championships so it was guaranteed a good field."

But not good enough to trouble Pidgeon, who romped to an emphatic victory by 47 seconds over the 6km course in 20:38 over second placed Caterina Coppola.

NB: Two of the girls in the top three in Saturday's British trials - runner-up Katrina Wootton and third-placed Claire Holme - were well beaten by Pidgeon in the European trials in Liverpool last November.

English Schools CC 2004

Pre-race: English Schools, Kent:  Emily Pidgeon will start favourite for the inter-girls race but will be reminded by coach David Farrow that medals are not awarded for simply turning up. "There will be a couple of good girls there so Emily will have a race on her hands," said Farrow.


Emily won the Inter Girls' race for the third time in succession at English Schools in Maidstone, Kent, by a margin of 37 seconds, the most impressive win of the day. 

The rare hat-trick was her first success in the inter-girls age group and added to her triumphs in the junior girls' age group in 2002 and 2003.

"I was really pleased to win the race and it was good to make it a hat-trick," said Pidgeon.

"I was definitely fired up to win and I took the lead early on. I did not want to sit around and wait but no-one followed me which was a bit disappointing." Pidgeon said the victory rated second to her success in the European Championships Under-20s trials race at Liverpool before Christmas.

On top of this, Emily Pidgeon has been selected to represent England in the British Schools International next month. 

British Schools CC 2004

Pre-race British Schools: Emily will finish her season by running for England against Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales at the British Schools cross Country Championships in Ayr on Saturday, April 3. She has never run at the competition, despite being selected in the past. Pidgeon had been looking forward to the Scottish trip after English Schools.

"I'm really looking forward to running in Ayr with Sarah. It will be nice to go away together," said Pidgeon.

Thanks to thissisgloucestershire

British Miler's Club PB Classic

thissisgloucestershire

Emily Pidgeon will open her 2004 track season in next Monday's British Milers' Club PB Classic meeting in Millfield, Somerset.

Pidgeon and the other athletes in the David Farrow coaching group traditionally use this high-quality meeting to mark the start of the new campaign. Reigning English Schools' 1500m champion Pidgeon will tackle the 3000m but coach Farrow is cautious about her prospects after her cross country season was brought to a premature end with a nasty attack of flu.

"It forced Emily to take to her bed for a while and she was on antibiotics to finally clear it up," said Farrow.

"She is training now but is not where we would expect her to be at this stage of the season having lost a few weeks. But that is the nature of the sport and time is on her side. She should be back to full fitness for the major championships in July and August."

For the 14-year-old Gloucester AC international those main targets will be the English Schools Championships in Gateshead on July 9-10 and the AAA Under-17s and Under-15s Championships at Birmingham on August 7-8.

"Emily will also be looking to improve all her personal bests from 800m to 3000m," added Farrow.

Unfortunately Pidgeon has been precluded from bidding to qualify for the Great Britain team to take part in the World Junior Championships following a rule change that states athletes must be 18 in the year of competition. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see whether Pidgeon can get close to the World Juniors qualifying time of nine minutes 20 seconds. Her current personal best is 9:28.7. 

Emily Pidgeon opened the 2004 summer in superb style by setting a new UK Age record in the British Milers' Club PB Classic at Somerset's Millfield School.

The Gloucester AC runner, took full advantage of the conditions and the good competition in Monday (3rd May) night's meeting to set a personal best at 3000m. Lining up for the 3000m, Pidgeon knew she was going to be in for a hot race with Welsh rival Non Stanford in the field and so it proved as the pair were paced around the seven-and-a-half laps by Steve Mosley.

When it came to the crunch, Pidgeon proved the stronger and she crossed the line in a time of nine minutes 23.77 seconds, a New UK Age 14 and 15 record and just outside the European Age best, and taking five seconds off Pidgeon's previous best for 3000m.

"It was a really hard-fought race with Non Stanford and Emily really had to fight hard to beat her," said Farrow. "She just opened a chink with 600 metres to go and that was enough."

Roger Bannister memorial mile

thissisgloucestershire

For the second time in four days Emily Pidgeon has re-written the track history books. Her latest exploits took place in front of one of the legends of British athletics, Sir Roger Bannister.

Gloucester AC runner Pidgeon set a new European Age best times in Thursday (6th May) night's Under-20s mile race, which was held at the meeting staged to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bannister's ground-breaking first sub-four minute mile.

On the same Iffley Road track in Oxford - now a modern all-weather surface compared to the cinders in 1954 - Pidgeon won the Under-20s race in a time of four minutes 50.68 seconds.

Welsh rival Non Stanford, who 14-year-old Pidgeon beat over 3,000m on Monday night, was again second with Hannah England third.

"Emily's time was a new British and European Age 14 record," said proud coach David Farrow.

Emily was presented with a special commemorative medal to celebrate the Bannister mile by Diane Leather, who, 23 days after Bannister’s feat, became the first woman to run a mile in under five minutes. “I read about it on the way here in the car, and it made me want to do it myself,” Pidgeon said. She also spoke to Bannister.

Rodger Bannister at the meeting

Thanks to thissisgloucestershire

Adapted from thissisgloucestershire

Pre-race, English Schools Inter Girls' 3,000m: Cheltenham College pupil Emily Pidgeon is the favourite to win the girls' 3,000 metres at under-17 level. Pidgeon holds the best age group times in the country in both the 3,000m and 5,000m. Her best time for the 3,000m is nine minutes, 23.77 seconds.

Gloucestershire's Emily Pidgeon stepped up to the intermediate girls' 3000m and proved a class above her rivals as she raced clear in the early stages  and remained unchallenged, winning at leisure from Avon's Steph Barnes in 9mins 57.96secs, over half a minute away from what she has run already this season. Such are the high expectations surrounding Gloucester AC's Pidgeon that no-one was surprised by her victory, although hampered by illness it could all have gone very wrong. 

However, afterwards Farrow revealed that Pidgeon was not well and had it been any other race she may well have withdrawn.

"Emily came down with an infection just a few days before the championship but was determined to run," said Farrow.

"She certainly wasn't at her best in the race and will now have a well-earned rest."

Thanks to thissisgloucestershire

04 September 2004 - Thanks to thissisgloucestershire

Cheltenham College's Emily Pidgeon claimed another national record. She competed in the women's 2,000m steeplechase as a guest in the Dorset championships at Poole.

Her winning time of seven minutes, 22.8 seconds was the fastest yet by a British under-17 girl.

Thanks to thissisgloucestershire

Thanks to thissisgloucestershire

"While it is frustrating that Emily cannot earn the right to be picked for the team, we've decided there is no reason why she shouldn't run," said Farrow. "She has recovered from winning the British milers' Club race last Sunday. We would not be going unless Emily could prove a point.

"The pressure will be on the other girls to beat her and if she makes the top six then it will be another illustration that she is good enough to represent her country in this age group."

"I felt really strong and was really pleased to have won," said Emily.  

She was disappointed at not having her victory properly recognised but Reebok Series coordinator Cliff Robinson explained they had to abide by the rules and, at 15, Pidgeon was too young to compete in the European junior championships so could not count in the junior trial.  

"Emily was not running for a place in the GB team whereas most of the other girls were really revved up for that," said her coach David Farrow. "It was a very hard race for Emily and she ran very bravely. I am very proud of her."

"It is very frustrating that this option has been taken away from Emily," said coach David Farrow.

Claire Holme (Ipswich) was awarded the junior title despite finishing five seconds behind Pidgeon. Although she admits she prefers hills the Birmingham University physiotherapy student said she found parts of the course difficult to run over because her back was pulling as she ran down some of the slopes.   

Thanks to thissisgloucestershire

Emily Pidgeon's last minute decision to run in the UWIC/BMC Indoor meeting at the weekend was rewarded with yet another UK record.

The 15-year-old Gloucester AC runner tore around the tight indoor track in Cardiff to clock a personal best time of nine minutes 19.31 seconds for 3000m. It not only earned her victory over top Welsh senior Catherine Dugdale but was a new UK Under-17 indoor and outdoor record.

It also put Pidgeon fourth on the UK Under-20 list that is still headed by Olympic runner Zola Budd.

But mere stats do not do full justice to Pidgeon's effort particularly as she has not been training for the event because her main focus is on the cross country season.

"Emily's run was particularly pleasing as we did not ease down at all and only decided on Friday that we would race in Cardiff," said coach David Farrow.

"Emily hadn't raced since the European cross country trials in London [which she won but was too young to earn selection for the Europeans] but she trained well over Christmas so I decided to let her have a go.

"Emily was delighted as she is in the middle of training for the cross country season and yet she showed great speed in the last 400m when she sprinted away from Dugdale."

Dugdale clocked a personal best time of 9:22.50 while a distant third was Pidgeon's Gloucester AC team-mate and training partner Sarah Hopkinson.

Among their rivals in St Galmier will be Kenya’s 16-year-old Jebichi Yator, the World Junior Women’s 3000m Champion. Her winning time in Grosseto was 8:59.80. Pidgeon was the fastest of this Norwich Union GB Junior Team last summer, clocking 9:23.77 in a mixed race, and has accelerated to 9:19.51 this winter.

World Cross-Country, St Etienne, France
Junior women’s race (3 laps, 6152m)

Emily Pidgeon (Gloucester AC) surpassed even her own high expectations in her first World Cross Country Championships on Saturday 19 March, taking 20^th place on a scorching day at the St Galmier course in France and missing the distinction of being first European home by the closest of margins.

The 15-year-old Cheltenham schoolgirl, who was ruled too young to take part in last year’s European Cross Country Championships despite having won the Trials, had targeted a place in the top 35 for her first experience of a major international event, but she did even better on an afternoon when many runners were badly affected by temperatures that rose to 27 degrees, finishing half a stride behind the fast-finishing Russian, Victoria Ivanova, in 22 minutes 15 seconds. 

The highlight of the day, was the confident performance of the schoolgirl who first indicated her enormous potential by winning the European Cross Country Junior Trials of 2003 as a 14-year-old. Pidgeon, coached by David Farrow, revealed afterwards that Paula Radcliffe, who chose not to run here in order to concentrate on her preparations for the Flora London Marathon, sent her a text message of encouragement from her training base in Albuquerque.

“The message said ‘’best of luck, relax and enjoy it’ – and it was really fun,” said Pidgeon, who added that she had taken a tip out of Radcliffe’s autobiography by pouring a bottle of water over the back of her neck just before the start.

“The first two laps weren’t nearly as hard as I thought,” she said. “And the last one was only as hard as I thought the first one would be. I kept pushing on, and I was so pleased with where I finished.

“People were telling me from the sidelines what position I was in. On the first lap they were saying 35^th, then 20s in the second lap and 20 on the last. I thought 35 was my maximum. David has been telling me for five years that I needed to see how close I could get to the best African runners. I really enjoyed it. I’ve never been to a cross country race where there are people covering every single bit of the course.”

Pidgeon finished with the same time as the Russian who headed her on the line. “I was a bit annoyed about that,” she said, adding that she had not been aware of Ivanova until she saw her at the line.

Ethiopia’s Gelete Burika Bati finished well clear in the three-lap, 6152m race in a time of 20:12. Kenya, with four finishers in the first six, took the team title for the seventh successive time, with Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland finishing as leading Europeans in eighth place.

Emily Pidgeon (Gloucester AC), who is not 16 until next month, took off with three laps to go and built an imposing lead before being dramatically caught in the final 20 metres. Danielle Christmas crossed the line first in 4:25.16, just outside her  current PB. Another Under 20, Carolyn Plateau (Radley Ladies) snatched second in 4:25.53. Pidgeon was third in 4:25.59 with yet another Under 20 from Kelly’s Camp, Hannah England (Oxford City) fourth in 4:26.16.

AAA U20 Track & Field Championships

Pre-race: 1500m (4:20.00): While the amazing Emily Pidgeon (Gloucester) is expected to aim for the 5000m in Kaunas, she inevitably dominates the rankings all through the distances. She is European Juniors No.1 at 1500m has gone three seconds quicker this season than MacLarty, who is second in the UK rankings and fourth in Europe with 4:20.97. 

To underline the growing UK strength, Abby Westley is seventh in Europe with 4:21.99 – and then there are Kelly’s Campers entering the fray Charlotte Browning (Aldershot, Farnham and District), Danielle Christmas (Crawley), Hannah England (Oxford City), the Euro Juniors 3000m rankings leader Non Stanford (Swansea), Danielle Walker (Royal Sutton Coldfield) and Marrakech-bound Sian Edwards (Kettering).