David Bishop (athlete) - Junior Career

Junior Career

Bishop, now a Bristol & West AC athlete (formally Swindon Harriers), first appeared on the national athletics stage in 2003, and has subsequently won five national indoor titles (2003 Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) U17 3000 m; 2003 Scottish Athletics Federation (SAF, now scottishathletics) U17 1500 m; 2004 AAA U20 3000 m; 2006 AAA U20 3000 m; 2007 BUSA 3000 m), in the process setting the Scottish U17 National Indoor 3000m record, ranking 8th on the UK All-Time U17 indoor 3000 m rankings, setting the SAF U17 1500 m Indoor Championship best and also placed 4th at the 2003 English Schools' Athletic Association 3000 m final. Bishop first began to get noticed in 2004 (although he was already well known in his age-group by the end of 2003 for a national 3000 m indoor title, a 4th place at the English Schools' Athletic Association 3000 m final and finishing 6th on the UK Ranking Pages ) when, in January he won a National Reebok Cross Country League race. From this victory, Bishop went on to win the U20 AAA Indoor 3000 m Championships (Feb, 2004), at just 16 years old in a time of 8:37.74. From here, he went on to finish 8th in the Intercounties National Cross Country Champs at Nottingham (March, 2004).

In 2006 after two quiet years, Bishop took another step forward when he ran 3:51.77 in the 1500 m (ENG, 24 June 2006) taking almost five seconds off his Personal Best (PB) and ranking him in the top 10 in the country for the first time since 2003. It also placed him well inside the AAA Grade One U20 standard (3:55.0). To cap the season off, Bishop became an International athlete on 3 September 2006, when he competed for Scotland in the 2006 U20 Home International (SEAA V MEAA V NEAA V SCO V WAL) in the 1500 m, where he placed 2nd. Bishop finished 2006 by running the fastest leg of Bristol and West AC's 2006 U20 English National Cross Country relays gold medal winning team (other team members: Tom Marley and Craig Peters).

The start of 2007 saw Bishop make a big breakthrough in his career, when he took the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) Indoor 3000 m Championship in a massive PB of 8:13.75, taking almost 25 seconds off his previous PB. Although the start of Bishop's outdoor season was hampered by injury, he managed to reduce his 1500 m PB to 3:48.14 (ENG, 25 August 2007) and 800 m to 1:52.95 (ENG, 11 August 2007) and finished the season off with a victory in the U23 Home International and Interterritorial match in the 3000 m at Derby for Scotland, beating fellow Scot, Tom Russell.

Although his 2008 outdoor season was cut short due to a move to Albuquerque, New Mexico, under a full athletics scholarship from the University of New Mexico track team, Bishop's early season saw him finish 4th at the CAU Intercounties 800m Senior Champs and qualify for the British Olympic Trials after setting a new 1500m best of 3:45.82.