About

Alex Masidlover – England Athletics Coach in Running Fitness, England Atheltics Leadership in Running Fitness, England Athletics/Fell Running Association Off Road Leader (Leadership In Running Fitness FMR), Wilderness First Aid Qualified, Self Coached Endurance Athlete

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What I do Currently in Endurance Sport

I am currently coaching Manchester Harriers Senior Endurance section and some athletes from Gatley Runners.

I’ve been racing short distances on and off road over the summer and I’ll be competing in Chester Marathon and then moving on to the Cross Country season this autumn.

How I Got Here

At school I loathed running and almost all sports apart from cycling, I was the butt of PE teachers jokes and was always picked last for teams.

At university I started eating badly and pretty much stopped exercise completely. My eating improved in my twenties, unfortunately both in quality and in volume. By the time I reached my thirties I was obese.

Once my eldest son was mobile (at about 18 months) I started getting out of breath chasing him and realised something had to be done.

I started a food diary and the weight came off over a period of about 18 months, then I decided a triathlon seemeded a good idea – all I needed to do was learn how to run! I completed the Couch 2 5K and then South Manchester Triathlon in 2012.

Then I started to read about running technique and realised that my running technique was awful – so I spent a year working on it and went from a 27 minute 5km to doing a 42 minute 10km (at the end of an olympic triathlon).

From there some particular highlights are…

Winning the Wildcat Aquathlon (1500m river swim and 10km trail run)

Racing 3 marathons; including winning the most recent one (albeit with a field of only 12 runners!)

Being part of the winning team of an overnight 36km relay swim

Racing 3 winters of Manchester Area Cross Country League

Returning to Wollaton Park, where I used to walk around the annual school cross-country run, to run in the English National Cross Country Championships.

Accompanying 10 fabulous athletes, many of whom had never run a marathon before, through their journey to completing Manchester marathon 2022.

Spending many wonderful hours exploring the peak district and lake district by fell running

So I hope that when I come to coaching I’m able to empathise with a wide range of athletes.

Outside of Endurance Sport

I have a wife and two boys to keep me busy and am a director of Medoc Computers and Future Technologies (Omnia)