Contrasting American Track Leagues, European Athletes Hail Their League: ‘There’s Decent Money in This’

After the conclusion of the World Indoor Athletics Championships 2024, track and field spectators’ attention has gathered at the ongoing Podium 5K event commencing today. “We’re now coming up to a decade since the first ever Podium 5k event took place (November 8, 2014) around the Steven Burke cycle track in Barrowford,” says Chris Barnes. 

Kickstarted with U20 1500m athlete Chris Livesey’s 1500m run, Podium 5K has emerged as a standout platform for athletes to compete at longer distances. However, this is not the only reason for the popularity of this big event. Interestingly, one of the participating athletes is making waves all across the internet for the monetary gains involved with the event.

Racing to the top of Podium 5K

In a recent candid interview, Athletics Weekly took to their official Twitter account and posted a glimpse of athlete James Young’s insights about Poduim 5K. Alongside the video clip, they penned, “There’s decent money in this, especially when it’s not your full-time job! “James Young on the feeling of winning the men’s @sportsshoes_com @podium5k Festival time trial.”

After coming on the tracks of Podium 5K, James Young emerged as a dominant force. As a result, he finished off the time trial at the Podium festival first. “I was just absolutely blacked out. I was just in the zone and full of laxatives, so I didn’t know what was happening around me. It was hard, but it was a good run out.” says James in the same interview after an impressive run. 

He added, “I just want to compete, to be honest. Whichever race I can get into, I just want to be up there. And then hopefully, like with the spiral, I’ll get into better races, being prepared to run through whatever race I can get into….there is decent money in this, especially when it’s not your full-time job like it’s too wrong of a long way to like, sort in.” Although James passed with flying colors, this was not as easy as it may seem to be. While the lucrativeness of Podium 5K worked its magic, so did Young’s determination.

A rising star on the road to success

Coming up with an overall rank of 3415 across the globe and a Men’s 1500m rank of 259, James’ journey to the top was a result of his unwavering determination. Interestingly, James came up on tracks after pouring heart and sweat into practice at Bramley’s training with Olympic silver medalist and 1x world champion Steve Cram as his coach. 

In the same interview, “First year, just a complete change to what I was used to, trying to get used to a whole different way of training. I was just much more like steady running… So I’ve had a really consistent winter, like putting things back to back, just going about it, and hopefully set us up for a decent summer.“

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Consequently, James’ hard work and Steve’s guiding excellence led him to this remarkable feat at Podium 5K. However, there is more to come from the aspiring athlete. Now, spectators are expecting more from James at upcoming events. Will James be able to keep up with the growing expectations? 

Also Read: 7 Months After No Update From AIU, 19-Year-Old Track Champion’s Hope Once Again Gets Crushed