Sean Baldock - Hastings AC's First Olympian

Sean Baldock (1776) running stride for stride with world record holder Michael Johnson (3294) at the year 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. As many of you know, Sean joined his brother Steve as a member of Hastings AC as a Mini Colt (Under 11) back in 1987. In this year he run the 800m in 2:40.9. The following year he progressed to:- 100m - 14.8 200m - 30.3 800m - 2:38.7 1500m - 5:45.1 Throughout the following years, Sean was always one of the keenest athletes, always willing to compete in any event to help his team. His first 400m for the club occurred in 1992, where he finished the year with a best of 57.7 to finish 4th on the Hastings Youths rankings! In 1997 whilst racing for the men's league team on a wet and windy afternoon at Woking, Sean broke the Southern Men's League record with his 46.6 timing. What more could a team manager ask for? In the final league match of 1998 with the Club needing a good result to regain promotion to division one, this young man ran the 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x100. This brought us to the final event of the day, the 4x400m A determined Sean Baldock took the baton a full 40metres behind the two leaders and sprinting after them he made up half that distance by the middle of the back straight. By the beginning of the home straight the leaders were flat out trying to beat each other, and were visibly shaken when they realised that the Hastings runner had not only caught up but was actually outsprinting them. Sean went on to win the race in a Club record, Hastings were promoted and I know that just about everybody at Worthing that day will never forget that race. The last few years have seen Sean rise to international level, and with the help of (among others) his coach Mark Gregory and his Hastings training partners he went on to take second in the AAA's championships and earn his place on the plane to Australia. Unfortunately the injury that he carried to Sydney caught up him in the home straight and curtailed his participation. We know that Sean is on his way back and looking forward to 2004. Naturally the best wishes of the Club always go with him.