Dom James is hoping to go one better than he managed last time out when he competes in this year’s Cheltenham Half Marathon.

And if he does – this year’s race is on Sunday 29th September – that would be some achievement for the 23-year-old because he finished second in the 2018 running of the race behind his Cheltenham Harriers team-mate Ben Price.

And what made James’ performance all the more impressive close on a year ago was that he had only be running seriously for a handful of months.

“I always preferred playing football,” admitted James, a youth support worker who lives in Cheltenham. “I played quite a lot at Coventry University, I liked the social side.

“I was a ‘leftie’ so they put me on the left wing because I was quite fast, I’m quite a good sprinter.

“It was quite a good standard, I played mainly in the 2nd team but I also played a few games in the 1st team.

“I used to run in straight lines but the more I played the more I realised I wasn’t built for it, it was quite physical.”

James had done a bit of running when he was a pupil at Sir Thomas Rich’s, a school where he also played football, cricket and rugby.

“I did a bit of cross-country at school but only because I was good at it,” he said. “It wasn’t something I was really keen to do, I always thought running was a bit of a loner sport!”

That’s all the more surprising when you consider that his dad Chris was a keen runner. Chris was also a keen cyclist and swimmer and although he wasn’t a member of any clubs James junior says his dad is “naturally gifted”.

It’s fair to say that James junior is a natural runner too because when he ran the Cheltenham Half a couple of years ago he completed in a time of one hour, 19 minutes.

That’s pretty decent in anyone’s book especially when you consider that James had done little or no training.

And it was enough to convince him that he should start to take the sport a little bit more seriously, so in January of last year he joined Cheltenham Harriers and it’s fair to say it is one of the best decisions he has ever made.

“Cheltenham Harriers are a great group to be part of,” he said. “Every Tuesday whatever the weather, 25 or 30 turn up to training, everyone is in good spirits.

“There’s lots of people to drive you on, it’s quite competitive. There’s a friendly rivalry. Even though they are your mates you still try to smash each other.”

James reckons he’s running about 100 kilometres a week every week in training and while that is clearly hard work the rewards are obvious because he is making rapid progress in the sport.

He ran his first race as a Harrier in June last year, recording a time of 33 minutes, 56 seconds in the Chepstow 10K.

“I went off too quick,” he said, “I blew up, it was a learning curve. Racing is all about learning. You need to know your body, how you feel at certain distances and what’s the best speed to go off at.”

James’ rapidly improving times suggest that he is a fast learner. He has run a number of 5Ks, 10Ks and half marathons and has a best in the half marathon of one hour, eight minutes, which he clocked at Reading earlier this year.

That was two minutes quicker than he went round Cheltenham last year and a full six minutes quicker than when he won the Warwick Half, also last year.

He enjoyed winning at Warwick, of course he did, and he’d love nothing more than to be first across the line at this year’s Cheltenham Half.

“Last year was great although I was obviously disappointed to come second even though Ben is a tough guy and an amazing athlete,” said James. “Then there’s Alex Lee and Phil Beastall, they both run for the Harriers and are top athletes too.

“But I’ve told myself I want to win it this year. That’s one of my priorities.”

He also believes he can run a lot faster.

“We’re very lucky at Cheltenham Harriers to have Andy Prophett as our team manager and Dave Newport as one of our coaches,” James continued. “As long as I’m coached by Dave I reckon I can run 64/65 minutes.

“That may be optimistic, but with training it’s all about consistency. I think I’ve got the potential to go a lot faster.”

Ultimately, he thinks he’ll become a marathon runner even though he has yet to run over that distance.

“I think the longer distance is my forte,” he said, before adding with a laugh, “even though I want to be a 1,500-metre runner!

“I want to do the London Marathon but that’s a different ball game. I’d want to nail the training, you’d need to be running 160 kilometres a week to build up the strength in your muscles.”

That’s for the future of course. More immediately he wants “to nail” the shorter distances and he’s got the Cheltenham Half in his sights and, of course, a place as the main man on the podium!

The Cheltenham Half starts at 9am and is hosted by Cheltenham Racecourse.