It’s been a whirlwind of a month for Rob Heppenstall of Hamilton, Ont.
Final month, Heppenstall was chosen to symbolize Staff Canada on the 2023 Pan-Am Video games in Santiago, Chile, the place he received a silver medal within the males’s 1,500m behind Quebec’s Charles Philibert-Thiboutot in a photograph end. This was Heppenstall’s first senior nationwide crew choice and medal.
On Friday, Heppenstall introduced on social media that he signed with Adidas and joined the Atlanta Monitor Membership Elite, a widely known American coaching group with a concentrate on middle-distance occasions (800m and 1,500m).
“The previous month has felt like a unending film,” says Heppenstall. “That’s the easiest way to explain it.”
Heppenstall informed Canadian Working that his resolution to hitch coach Tom Nohilly and the Atlanta Monitor Membership Elite felt straightforward. “I felt coach Tom and I’ve a really comparable perspective in the direction of monitor,” says Heppenstall. “I imagine his philosophies and coaching will solely assist me and my teammates get higher.”
The 26-year-old from Hamilton was a extremely touted 800m runner popping out of the NCAA, setting convention and Canadian junior data throughout his 4 years competing for Wake Forest College in North Carolina, signing knowledgeable contract with Below Armour after graduating in 2019.
Heppenstall’s transition from college to professional got here with rising pains, however he says his means to remain affected person and centered gave him course. “There’s no telling of when it’ll work out or not,” says Heppenstall. “I realized that no matter my efficiency, my job stays the identical daily.”
When Heppenstall misplaced assist from Below Armour, he was left with out a sponsor and got here again to Hamilton to coach earlier than heading to Colorado together with his shut pal and fellow middle-distance runner Thomas Staines. In Colorado, he had the chance to satisfy and prepare with European file holder and British distance runner Eilish McColgan, and her companion, three-time British 800m Olympian, Michael Rimmer.
“It was inspiring to see how she [McColgan] trains from day after day and her professionalism and dedication in the direction of desirous to be the perfect athlete she may be,” says Heppenstall. “Eilish and Michael have shared tales about their experiences on and off the monitor, and I’ve tried to soak up as a lot data as I can.” Heppenstall describes his relationship with McColgan as one-of-a-kind. “She all the time makes some extent to achieve out via the nice and unhealthy. She’s all the time the primary to congratulate me.”
He says he generally forgets how well-known McColgan is. “I’ve all the time seen her as my good pal, then I’ll randomly come throughout {a magazine} on the grocery retailer that she’s on the duvet of, and I shortly get reminded: Proper, she’s Eilish McColgan,” he laughs.
Heppenstall says the 2023 monitor season has been his most chaotic 12 months up to now, however he’s glad he capped it off with a silver medal for Staff Canada and knowledgeable contract with Adidas and the Atlanta Monitor Membership Elite. “It makes every little thing price it,” he says.
