Knavesmire Harriers runner to compete in Olympic Park Run (From York Press)

Knavesmire Harriers runner to compete in Olympic Park Run

9:50am Saturday 11th February 2012 in Sport By Stuart Martel, Sports editor

FORGET Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis and Christine Ohurogu.

One of the first athletes to cross the finishing line in the Olympic Stadium in 2012 will be York Knavesmire Harriers runner Sarah Douglas.

As part of the build-up to this summer’s London Games, the National Lottery are staging the Olympic Park Run on March 31.

A field of 5,000 runners – including 28-year-old Douglas – will compete on a five-mile course around the Olympic Park in Stratford, culminating in a dash for the finishing line in the Olympic Stadium.

“I’m overjoyed to be in it,” said Heworth-based Douglas, who got her place in the race through a ballot system.

“It is going to be a real thrill to come into the stadium at the end of the race and cross the finishing line with thousands of people watching. It’s going to be something really special.

“I was one of the people disappointed not to get tickets, but this gives me a chance to get involved in another way.”

Douglas has been a member of York Knavesmire Harriers for the last three years and took on the role of ladies captain a year ago.

She is determined to do the club proud on the Olympic stage.

“In my head, I am going to be taking it as seriously as the elite athletes,” she said.

“I am training hard and I would love to come home in under 35 minutes.”

The course of the Olympic Park Run will take competitors past the other main venues, including the velodrome, the aquatics centre and the basketball arena.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said the run was organised as a way of thanking the public for their support in the run-up to the Games.

“It is fantastic for people to be able to say they were the first people to run officially on the track,” he said. “It is a lovely idea.”

Douglas, who works for the NHS in Monkgate, will be cheered into the stadium by her parents and she can think of no better way of kick-starting the Olympic celebrations.

“I am already getting excited about the Olympics with it being held in this country,” she said.

“I would have loved to have been there to see some events, but I think Knavesmire Harriers will be having some Olympic parties to watch the athletics.”