Matthew Hansen.

Matthew (Matt) started his running career at age 14 after a long background playing football/soccer. He played at a very high level from age 12 and absolutely loved it. It was his dream as a young athlete to play professionally and thought he was on track to achieving this goal. Unfortunately, Matt snapped his collarbone and wrist which sidelined him for some time. During the recovery, Matt started running as a way to clear the mind whilst maintaining fitness. It was evident that Matt possessed natural ability, and from then on, he ran.

Matt puts his success down to his work ethic and longevity. Never leaving a stone unturned. He is willing to do whatever it takes to run as fast as he can. From blood lactate testing, to seeing the best physios, working alongside the best exercise physiologist, taking every supplement under the sun and obviously working incredibly hard. “I want to be good so bad”. What separates Matt is his longevity. Having seen countless competitors go in and out of the sport, suffering from injury and burnout, that is one thing that has never affected Matt. “I know that I am in it for the long run and I know I will be here for longer than them.”

“Motivation ebbs and flows. If we did everything fully based on motivation we would only be training a portion of the time. I am business like in my approach, I clock in and clock out no matter how I feel or how motivated I am.”

5 years from now, Matt sees himself running professionally. He puts a substantial amount of his time and energy into his social media presence. He identified that brands sponsor runners as a measure to advertise their products and their brand. “I want to provide any company I have the privilege to work with as much engagement as possible. Running fast is no longer all it takes.”

Matt says his favourite workout is the double threshold. He loves the feeling of running that comfortably hard pace for a long time. He usually does his double threshold days with over 30km of running and it is one of the most satisfying feelings ticking those days off and enjoying lot’s of food!

Matt’s biggest obstacle was rapidly bursting onto the scene, running his first track nationals in his debut year (14 years old) and cross country nationals in the same year. Running an impressive 15:12 over 5km things looked to be heading on the up. 2 years later, his 5km only improved to 15:10. He expressed this time to be a very difficult period. Going from the highs of his first year of running to the low of seeing no real improvement in 2 years. This took a major mental toll. He is extremely grateful for this period however. Matt expressed that he learnt so much about not only himself but his ability to persevere. He learnt that he loves to run. No matter at how fast he is, he will always be a runner.

“You have so much time. Everyone wants to be great right this split second. The real progression in this sport comes with time and that is something I really wish I knew as a youngster. The runners who win nationals as a 14, 15, 16 year old often are not even running by the time they are late teenagers. Use those formative years to just enjoy the process and enjoy all the other things in life. You have so much more time than you think.” - Matthew Hansen, 2024.