Gareth Starr

WelI my profile is a little different to most as having attended at Windwhistle Primary school I was quite a fit lad in those tender 5 – 11 years. However on progressing to Broadoak School my eating habits changed. I piled on the pounds tipping the scales at 15 stone (Yes I did say fifteen) with a 44inch waist at it’s peak – Not Good!!!

You can imagine the comments at school, bullying was par for the course often reducing me to tears. However from a very young age I had always had a keen ambition to join the Police. Knowing this was the case I made a concerted effort in my last year of secondary school to lose some weight, as I knew fitness for the Police would be key. During my exams eating well was easy as I did not see me school mates so they did not realise I was dieting. With a balanced diet, exercise and some good timing, I lost 3 stone in 3 months. I then attended Weston College for a couple of years and completed a City & Guilds in Sports and Recreational studies before completing a PE Certificate course. On leaving College I was too young for the Police so joined the Midland Bank PLC making the mistake saying ‘I wouldn’t be here for long!!’

After a few failed attempts at the Police application process, 4 years as Special Constable, I finally joined Avon and Somerset Police in March 1992. I have worked at Taunton, Filton and Avonmouth, before getting promoted in June 2002 to Weston as a Sergeant, where I am still stationed. My career to date has involve uniformed Policing and during this time I have been a Beat Manager in Lawrence Weston, Team Sgt, in charge of new recruits to the Force, Neighbourhood Sgt and now back at this time to a team Sgt. I have always enjoyed sports (even during the fat years). The one sport that I did take up was bowls and something I luckily had a gift for. Winning the Weston tournament singles title in 2000. I represented Somerset at Worthing in 2002, the home of the National Championships and beat a commonwealth gold medallist in first round of the fours competition, losing in the third round to a team from Cornwall who lost in the final. I have won numerous club competitions and represented Somerset in the Middleton Cup. I retired from Bowls in 2004 and took up Golf, for a few years until the expense got in the way but did manage to get my handicap down to 15. I now just play every so often.

I took up running just after I joined the Midland Bank as a colleague was organising a half marathon with the RNLI and I thought it would be a good idea. My aim was 10 minute miles. All was going well till I hit the wall at 9 miles and I then had to walk/jog to the finish line, finishing last but one. I vowed that if I ran a race again I would not walk!!! So far that has held true as I have completed some 10k’s including the WSM Christmas Cracker/Hangover/Clevedon, the WSM Prom Run, 3 x Half Marathons, and a sprint Triathlon. My best year to date was 2005 with some good times set. Due to a knee problem I had to stop running for almost 2 years but over the last 12 months I have been getting back into it. Over the years I have raised money for various different charities including Cancer Research UK, Meningitis Trust, Water Aid and Diabetes UK, which has involved me cycling or running.

My Dad recently passed away in July 2013 aged 71, having suffered with Diabetes for 30 years and we have just raised £1097.29p for them from a Charity Bowls Match, football and golf events. The RNLI were kind enough to cast Dad’s ashes to sea and so my next challenge is run the new Two Bays Tough Ten on Feb 9th 2014 to raise much need funds for the RNLI.

So the training has officially started this week having clocked up 23 miles!!! I am also looking at cycling to Bournemouth and onto Worthing in April 2014 as this has special memories for us as a family with the aim to raise more money for Diabetes UK. My eldest Thomas is looking to take part with some work colleagues. I have never been good at Football but have always enjoyed it and am a lifelong Liverpool Fan (mainly due to growing up when they were successful in the 70’s). As a result of my love of football I have taken to Coaching and currently hold my FA Level 1, FA Youth Module 1, FA Level 1 Goalkeeping certificates. I currently manage Uphill Castle FC U15’s (http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/uphillcastlefc/) and have a coaching business, Foundations In Football, which I run with a friend, Matt Bazell, aimed at 4 – 7 year olds to give them the Foundations to enjoy and have fun with football.

(http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/foundationsinfootball/) They say behind every successful man is a woman, so I am extremely lucky to have married Bridget and have 2 lovely boys, Thomas aged 14 and Matthew aged 9 to show for it. All 3 of them support me whether it’s football related, running or cycling. I believe in Teamwork as this can help you to achieve many things. As football is a team sport one of my favourite quotes came from Ian Wright in his program ‘Football behind Bars’ – Ian said and I quote ‘YOUR ONLY AS GOOD AS THE WEAKEST PLAYER’ I believe this is very true, 1 player does not make a team, the team makes the player.