Last updated at 16:36, Thursday, 02 August 2012

THERE will be loud cheers going up and earplugs required all around when Chris Thompson steps out on to the track at the Olympic Stadium this weekend.

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The 31-year-old 10,000m runner will take on the best in the world with vociferous backing in the town where he was born.

Many members of Thompsons still live in Barrow – two aunts, two uncles and numerous first cousins, second cousins and third cousins and his godparents.

And come 9.15pm on Saturday, they will all be united in willing him on in the biggest race of his life.

Thompson’s aunt and uncle, Ken and Joan Roberts, of Jarrow Street, will be among their number, keeping their fingers crossed everything goes well and that maybe – just maybe – he can repeat his medal-winning feat from the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona.

“We will all be going to my daughter’s to watch the race there and have a barbeque,” said Joan, 72.

“There are a lot of us, another aunt and uncle and all their children and grandchildren and our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“They all follow Chris when he is running and will watch him on the TV and we will all be supporting him.”

Ken, 75, added: “I’ll have to put the ear plugs in if he gets anywhere near the front, because there will be so much noise.

“We’re very happy he’s going to the Olympics, but we have always known he’s a damned good runner. It has just been a pity that bad injuries have knocked him back in the past.

“He’s a hell of a nice lad.”

As well as in the Roberts household, Thompson will be cheered on in Chandlers pub, on Barrow Island.

His cousin Paul Robinson is the landlord there and will be showing the race on the big screen, with he and his regulars backing the Barrow boy on the big stage.

They will all be showing pride in a man who has never forgotten his roots, despite leaving town as a young child.

“We’ve known him since he was born. We haven’t seen a great deal of him in later years, because they moved down south, but we are in touch all the time,” added Ken, part of Chris’s dad Pete’s side of the family, most of whom remain in the area.

“His brother and sister are younger than him and weren’t born here, but he always prides himself on the fact he was born in Barrow.

“He is very proud of his Barrow roots.”

Joan added: “When Barrow won the FA Trophy final at Wembley, he was training and he had to keep nipping in to see the score.”

It will not just be relatives backing Thompson during the biggest 27-and-a-half minutes of his life on Saturday.

His godparents Graham and Julie Twyford met the athlete for the first time when he was only hours old in Risedale Hospital.

Since then, they have watched him develop into a natural sportsman and the elite distance runner he is today.

It will be a proud moment for them when he competes in the London Games and they are looking forward to the big moment.

“It is fantastic that he is going to be running at the Olympics,” said Graham, 55, who went to Barrow Grammar School with Pete, Chris’s dad.

“There was the little hiccup and it was touch-and-go with his back injury, but we were delighted when he realised he had come through that. We will be watching on the TV.

“The last time it was Chris and Mo spurring each other on and we will certainly be looking out for him and hoping for the same.

“There is a lot of pride. It was like watching the Grand National when he was running in Barcelona, so it is going to be even more for the Olympics.

“I knew he was a world-class runner and after the silver medal, I’m not surprised he is here at the Olympics. It would be astounding if he could win a medal. I’d be delighted for Chris, his family and this whole town.”

Graham has always believed Chris had it in him to succeed at a high level, but had seen injuries blight his career and stop him reaching the heights he was capable of.

But in recent years the talent has been allowed to shine and he added: “It’s been absolutely amazing how well he has done.

“In 2009, I was asked to do a column for the Evening Mail and they asked me who my favourite local sporting hero was.

“It was always Barrow footballers and rugby players who people put in, but I thought ‘there’s Chris. I’ve just heard he’s getting through his injuries.’

“We had just heard he was starting to run again after all his problems and he had gone to America. That’s when I started to get excited.

“About a year later, he got the silver medal in the Europeans, so we were all really geared up and excited by that, watching him on the TV.”

First published at 16:22, Thursday, 02 August 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk