Rising star Marinus Petersen (From Western Telegraph)

Rising star Marinus Petersen

10:00am Sunday 17th February 2013 in Sport

Marinus Petersen is rightly regarded as a highly promising long distance runner in Pembrokeshire and showed just how good he is when he competed in Ysgol Dewi Sant cross country competition and won in his age category by well over a minute.

At 14 years of age, he has already represented Wales in cross-country running in Perth, Scotland, and ran a mini-marathon in London.

“I just love running,”

Marinus told us. “I can’t wait to get my running shoes on as I try to complete about 20 miles a week.”

This includes twiceweekly lunch-time runs on St Davids Airfield with one of his teachers, Miss Rachel Thomas. His evening training with Pembrokeshire Harriers sometimes includes running up the dreaded steps from near the Bristol Trader to the St Thomas’s Church at the top, or running around the athletics track at STP School. If he is unable to attend because of school commitments then Harriers coach Peter Freeman has provided him with a training schedule.

Not content with that little lot, Marinus is also regarded as one of the most talented young tennis players to emerge in the county, training twice a week with John Deason on the new courts at the Phoenix Project in Goodwick. He helped Croesgoch Primary School to the final of the Welsh Schools final for his age group and has won the county singles final a few times, including the under- 16 final in Haverfordwest last year.

At St Davids School he joined forces with twins Samuel and Lewis Thomas to reach the final of the Welsh Schools competition at the David Lloyd Tennis Centre in Cardiff.

But it is athletics that occupies much of Marinus’s spare time, with full support from his dad Andrew, who at one time was a 10.9 sprinter over 100 metres. His mum, Heather Nixon, also comes in for the highest praise as she is a ‘brilliant chauffeur’ and a great help to him in all he does.

Younger brother Rowan (11) is also a keen athlete and already a member of the Pembrokeshire Harriers.