Jamie Lambert is a young Sussex athlete dedicated to the sport. Ranked 8th (U20) in the country in 2019 in the 400m hurdles, and under the watchful eye of his coach, ex-Olympian and former world record holder Colin Jackson, he has his sights set high.
Kate Matthews caught up with the young talent to chat about his background in the sport, his training and dealing with changes following isolation and Coronavirus.
Kate: Who are you?
Jamie: I am 20 years old and grew up in Plumpton (near Lewes). I have since moved to Bristol where I am currently balancing studying for an MSci in Environmental Geoscience and training. I run for Bristol & West AC and Puma and am coached by Colin Jackson, although when based in Sussex I used to compete for Crawley AC and Brighton and Hove AC under the watchful eye of Trevor Simcox.
Kate: What are your favourite distances/disciplines?
Jamie: Since my first day on a track I have had an affinity for hurdles. It began as sprint hurdles in the 80mH and 100mH as an U15 and U17 respectively, but as I got older, I fell in love with brutality of the 400mH which is now my primary discipline. The technicality of hurdling and its unpredictability makes me enjoy racing them more than other events. I also really enjoy any sprint distances as they aren’t too far away from my normal event and they are always exciting to watch. I’ve never had the chance to really attempt many field events but maybe there will be the chance somewhere in the future.
Kate: How did you get into athletics?
Jamie: I grew up playing on the wing in rugby and had discovered a decent bit of speed in my legs so in the summer I chose to try athletics over cricket. I wasn’t as fast as I thought and the competitive sprint spots were taken by other boys so I was guided by my head of sport at school to try hurdling. I saw it as a bit of fun at first but began to find strong motivation in improving at it. As I was new to athletics I tried a bit of javelin and ran relays for school too but hurdles was always my thing. I began training outside school at Withdean with Trevor and began to take it seriously in 2015/2016. I moved up to 400mH at the end of U17s as I had suffered from injuries and the snappiness you need for the shorter distance wasn’t there anymore. I would love to race over the 110mH again at some point but for now I’m committed to the 4s.
Kate: What do you love/hate about the sport?
Jamie: My answer to this would vary enormously depending on when I answered it. There have been times where I have had very little love for the sport; when injury has put entire seasons on hold, missing out on international vests by the smallest of margins, the sacrifices of social life that you have to make and the sub zero nights spent churning trackside… but that is also why I love it. The reward when you run that PB or win a medal is so immense, I’ve never felt such strong emotions doing anything else. The time and effort that you put in to an event requires real determination and resilience and when you get to that point where you’re thinking ‘Yes I’ve done it.’ and your goal is achieved nothing in the world can beat that feeling. Aside from the emotional swing of the sport, you get to meet some amazing people and I’ll have friends for life that I’ve met through the sport which is such a valuable part of athletics for me.
Kate: What has kept you in it? Have you had any breaks from it and come back? 
Jamie: I like to think that I have very high mental resilience but it isn’t solely the thing that has kept me in the sport. Through injury and moving to university I have really struggled to justify the sacrifices to myself when I’m running bad races and training isn’t doing it for me. The only time I have given into this was the end of the 2019 season where I just threw the season in mid-July as I had had a rough year with it and the love was gone. I have developed a strong criticism of my performances the longer I stay in the sport and it makes it easy to push myself away from it more and more, however, I am so grateful for the coaches, training partners and family that I have around me who have always known
when to push me back into the sport and learn to love it again – which is where I feel I am with it now.
Kate: What is your most proud athletics' achievement moment?
Jamie: There are a few contenders for this title as they have made me feel proud in different ways. My first County Champion race and English Schools qualification is massive to me even though its way back in 2014 because it was the first time I had really tried to achieve something in the sport and I did it. Also up there, in a nice closing chapter kind of way, is my English Schools Final in 2018, my last ES, I came 4th and ran sub 54s for the first time, this was huge for me as it had been a season where I had dropped my PB by almost 7 seconds which made me very proud of the work and time I had invested that year. During my break in 2019 I received an invite to my first British Championships. I didn’t feel proud about this it just seemed meaningless to me, I hadn’t been training properly at all in the month before and had spent more time at the pub than the track. I decided to compete and ran my second fastest race of the year, I was proud of this because I had overcome a tricky season mentally and shown myself that I am capable of great races but had just let my head get in the way.
Kate: What has been the toughest moment?
Jamie: There was a three-week period across the end of May and start of June last year which sent me through a rollercoaster of emotions. I was told I was being considered for GB Juniors for the LIA which was pretty much a dream and I was elated, sadly I wasn’t selected and felt the equivalent disappointment. While struggling with this I summoned up the negativity of it into SEAA champs where as an U20 the winner runs at the Cardiff International in an England vest. I was favourite and led the whole way to hit hurdle 10 and come in second. The double blow here caused me to quit for a few months but has taught me that I can still love the sport by just doing well for me and the importance of vests etc. has reduced.
Kate: How often do you train (in normal times) and type of things this includes?
Jamie: In winter, three track sessions and 3 gym session a week. Then in summer, I move up to four track sessions and two gym as the focus switches to race preparation and hurdle technique. The gym sessions are mostly weightlifting circuits but in lighter weeks I might do plyometric orientated ones or just prehab.
Kate: Have you had any bad injuries and how did you deal with these?
Jamie: In 2014, I tore my IT band and piriformis muscles (in the glute) while racing at ES. This actually put me out of training for 9 months because I kept trying to return too early. I did manage to learn from this and have had since a bad back injury to my sacrum and despite the frustration have been much more patient to make a full recovery.
Kate: Other than actual achievements/PBs, what has being part of athletics brought to your life?
Jamie: It has brought structure and a real concept of work and reward which I think is hard to establish at a young age. I have learnt new levels of respect for other athletes and coaches and really appreciate the time my coaches have put in especially as both Trevor and Colin work for the love of it. In a way that I am unsure if it is a good or bad thing, athletics has become my identity and is often how I am described to people I don’t know. I like that people see that as a big part of me because I commit a lot to it but it worries me as to how you step away from a sport that pretty much defines you.
Kate: Best athletics memory?
Jamie: Warm weather training in Tenerife with Colin Jackson. That man has some amazing stories and heaps of experience that he’d share with us after training sessions and it has opened my eyes up to athletics enormously.
Kate: Any strange/funny/weird athletics memory/story/anecdote?
Jamie: Discovering I had pretty comprehensive food poisoning midway through the second rep of a 6 x 300m training session…
Kate: What would you say to younger people wanting to get started?
Jamie: Don’t specialise too early, always give yourself the opportunity to try new events and just have fun with it. The reason I enjoy 400m hurdling so much is that I have had the time to grow into it there was no rush or pressure from coaches etc. Which is another good point, always just do what you want to do in terms of who you train with and when you race as an athlete you need to be selfish to get the best out of yourself. Finally, if you really want to achieve something in athletics it needs those winter sessions and no skipped reps, the confidence you get in the knowledge that you’ve trained to your fullest gives you a mental edge on race day too.
Kate: What would you change about the sport?
Jamie: More coverage and promotion of athletics would do wonders for the sport. It is such a pure sport and I’ve seen first hand some performances that are truly incredible that even a non-athlete would be awestruck by but there’s such little opportunity for discovery of the sport and we would all benefit from it, fans and athletes a like.
Kate: How do you juggle training/competitions around university?
Jamie: If I’m honest some of the time I don’t. It is difficult going 100% in training and work/uni because everyone needs some rest and relief and finding the balance is key. My most consistent season overlapped with my A levels which I’d attribute to the structure training can give. Something Trevor used to always say though is that academics need to come first and it’s the best advice I’d give now too, the beauty of athletics is that it is suited to the athlete so you can fit training in wherever and whenever if you have to.
Kate: Favourite athlete (past or present)?
Jamie: Karsten Warholm – was meant to go and train with him before Easter but Corona said no.
Kate: How are you managing to keep fit/train during Corona? Any tips for others?
Jamie: Had to diversify a bit and have been going on longer runs, I live out in the countryside so have been using it as a way to explore the area a bit too. Also been doing Zoom based workouts with Colin and various other friends and the occasional golden era athlete pops in too which has been pretty exciting. The key thing is keeping the structure and discipline where possible and maintain diet too.