The Brit won the under-23 race at the Liverpool Cross Challenge, which qualified him for the 2024 Cross Country Championships in Turkey.
Do you feel like David Stone is just getting started?
The 22-year-old Briton secured a stunning victory with it season’s Liverpool Cross Challengebeating last year’s European Cross Under-23 champion Will Barnicoat at a muddy Sefton Park stadium.
This marks the return to competition for Stone, who has battled multiple injuries and surgeries over the past few years.
Stone, who trains with Barnicoat at Birmingham University and Tomer Tarragano, the senior men’s champion at Liverpool, will now make his UK debut. The European Championship to be held this Sunday in Antalya, Turkey (December 8).
The Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers’ last full season was in 2019 and despite having to spend a long time away from action, Stone is quietly confident of a top-five finish in the under-23 race this weekend.
Ahead of this year’s Euro Cross, AW caught up with Stone on the road, overcoming multiple injuries and his ultimate goals within the sport.
David Stone (3688) (Gary Mitchell)
How did you first get into running?
I was probably about 10 years old. The first thing I can remember is when my dad was 50 he wanted to start running. I used to play football with him then. We lived near a track in Hendon where Saracens play :
I just went down, really enjoyed it and soon started competing. I did well, but it was hard to tell because I was only competing against local athletes.
I started doing national races and the London Mini Marathon when I was 13. They obviously felt like a huge deal when I got to compete with the best people in the country.
My favorite race has always been the Cross Country Championships, I love it. You’re competing against 1,000 other people on the track instead of just 12. I’d like to run well on the track, but since the last few years, it was difficult.
Are you able to open up about your injuries and how you tried to overcome them?
To begin with, I didn’t grow up until I was 17 or 18 years old. You’d see everyone improve, and it was disappointing. I got injured in 2022, behind Will (Barnicoat). After that, I thought I could really hit :
Then things went from bad to worse on the injury front.I started getting glandular fever and then I had really bad calf cramps that limited me to 30 miles a week.
After that I found out I had bowel issues which made it difficult to eat and run. Both my parents are doctors and they struggled to figure out the problem. I was having trouble eating before I ran , that there were these neuroendocrine tumors in the lining of my intestines that needed to be removed.
The following February I came back and placed well at the BUCS Cross Country Championships. At the time I was in really bad pain in my ankles. Turns out I had this extra bone spur on each side, but when it started hurting I didn’t. can do other than surgery.
It took years to work that extra bone out when I was running. It was only this time last year that I had the first of two surgeries.
David Stone at the London Mini Marathon (LM Events)
What was it like mentally to keep believing you could get through that period?
It was a pretty tough round, but I definitely came out the other side stronger. I would look at all the people I would be competitive with going through the age groups. They were absolutely flying. I would beat myself up about it. I would think, ‘Why are things going so well for them while I’m in this position?’
When I stopped asking “why did this all go so wrong?” I focused on what I could do about it.I realized in my mind that I could only play with the cards I was dealt.
After surgery it was about working from a clean slate and being a better version of myself over the next few weeks and months.I expected this to be a much longer process and while I’m not out of the woods yet with injuries now it is stable.
How was recovery for you?
I wanted to build that aerobic base so that when I was ready to run I wouldn’t lose a year of training that everyone else had.
Even if I can’t run, I’ll do other things. I got a pretty quick workout through cycling. I knew it would be very tiring on the run, so cycling helped me through that period.
Even now, the ankle can still be stiff from May to September.
Dean (Miller), my trainer, was instrumental for me during this time.
Recently our training group went to Font Romeu and I responded really well to the altitude.As well as doing steady runs and hill sessions, being on the bike for five hours at altitude was amazing.
Tarragano, Miller and Stone (Gary Mitchell)
How did it feel to win the Liverpool Cross Challenge?
If you’d told me before the race I’d beat Will, I’d have told you it was amazing. I went hard, and with the likes of Tomer and Will, we all fit together like it was a training run , that I’m realistically going to be in a dogfight to finish in the top six because you don’t know what shape you’re going to be in, so I’ve never expecting the stars to immediately align that way.
It was a bit strange to win, but Willie’s race is in Turkey. He didn’t need to go out and smash Liverpool. Obviously, it was encouraging from my point of view, but I had seen him a little bit cool and course. I am sure he will compete well in Turkey.
Thinking of making your UK debut in Turkey?
I’m just excited to be there to be honest. I think it would be great to be in the top five because I didn’t expect it to happen right away. I just want it to be the start of bigger things :
I’m going to race it to the best of my ability and try to make a positive impact on the race, I think the course and the conditions will be a little different from Liverpool. when it’s a muddy surface and everyone has slowed down a bit, while in Turkey it will be much faster.
I’d like to get a medal and I’ll definitely try to get it. I have high ambitions and low expectations when it comes to things. I didn’t think things would start this well all at once. It seems like a blessing for everything :
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What are your thoughts on 2025 and the ultimate goals of sport?
Ideally I’d like to do an indoor season but I think the extra heels on the track will put a lot of stress on the Achilles. So we might try and do just one indoor 3000m. I’ll also do the Podium 5k in Battersea (December 31st). , and then Armagh 5km (February 13).
I’d also like to focus on the 1500m next season and get that pace back there, I’ve got a lot of cobwebs to blow away on the track.
I’m still trying to figure out what to do in the future. I mean, I’d like to run pro for at least a year or two. I don’t want to look back in 10 years and think, ‘Oh, if I’d closed up a little bit more, maybe I could.’ to do a little better.”
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