The new 800m women’s national title holder Holly Manning says a scholarship by MCL Construction has renewed her goals on the international athletics stage.

Manning returned from studying and running in the USA in August 2021 and was unsure of her running future due to international border lockdowns, travel costs and access to high performance training.  However, a HBCFCT Strength and Conditioning scholarship was an auction item at last year’s Rotary Charity Auction, which was bought by local construction firm MCL Construction.

The search began to find a worthy recipient with both HBCFCT and MCL promoting the opportunity and Holly being the successful applicant.

“I was already doing strength and conditioning training at the EIT Institute of Sport and Health which I was funding myself. My back-up was a makeshift gym at home with some equipment loaned to me by a former rugby player.  When I heard about the scholarship, I thought it would be a great opportunity to cover the costs of using the awesome facilities at HBCFCT under the guidance of S & C Coach Angus.  Strength training certainly lifts my confidence going into a race,” she says.

The MCL  funded support has already paid off with Manning running a personal best time of 2 minutes 3.76 seconds to win the New Zealand 800m title on her home track.  She has now set her sights on a last ditch bid to qualify for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and is heading to Australia to compete in the Australia National Championships and Brisbane Track Classic at the end of March.

MCL director Philip Mitchell says the team at MCL are thrilled to be part of Holly’s ambition to continue running on the world stage. “We thought the scholarship may have been for an up and coming athlete but actually we’re really excited that we are partnering with Holly, and helping her reach her goals.  It’s incredibly tough for athletes like Holly, who train like a professional athlete and dedicate many hours on the track and in the gym but make other sacrifices to do so, such as only being able to work part time.”

S & C Coach Angus says that Holly has made huge progress in the Performance Gym with a programme focused on improving her physical performance, giving her greater confidence in race preparation as well as protecting her from the risk of injury.  “Like all our athletes, Holly is on our Athlete Development wellness platform, which provides us with a really good sense of how athletes are feeling physically and mentally and her physical performances are regularly measured across specific tests.  Holly works hard, she has the right attitude, and always has a big smile on her face. We can see the hard work is paying off.”