17th June 2013 11:25
But the young star from East London has an important request if Great Britain win the European Athletics Team Championships in Gateshead on Sunday evening: “Don’t throw me in the steeplechase water”. Tradition has it in this competition that the winning skipper is picked up by their teammates and carried across to just before the home turn and dunked in as part of the celebration. “Oh, no!” said Shakes-Drayton. “My hair. I don’t want that. It will ruin my hair. I’ll scream.”
She was laughing as she answered the question because that is in her nature and it is why Peter Eriksson, the head coach of British athletics, has nominated her to lead the squad for one of the biggest events on the track and field calendar.
Shakes-Drayton has a personality rich with enthusiasm and a determination to succeed, as she has proved over the last year. She failed to make the final of the 400m hurdles at the Olympic Games in London and then returned, unbowed, with even greater desire, to win two gold medals at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Göteborg in March.
Behind the smiles and the jokes, there lies a woman of steel, the perfect person to captain a side on a weekend when the individual part of athletics is replaced with the need to score points for a team.
Shakes-Drayton is only 24 and she will be there every step of the way – both on and off the track.
She said: “I will just be myself and I hope that I am seen as an approachable person.
“There are a lot of youngsters on the team and if they just want somebody to answer questions, maybe even ‘where to go for lunch?’ or ‘where do the buses pick us up from to go the track?’, I will be there for them to talk to.
“I am proud to be captain and I am happy too. When Pete told me, he said it was the fact that I had a big turnaround since the Olympics disappointment and had such a good indoor season. I feel honoured.”
One of the other key roles that Shakes-Drayton will face on Friday night, just hours before Britain take on the other 11 nations in what should be a fabulous competition, is the ‘captain’s speech’.
Which could become quite daunting when she stands up in front of a squad and looking up and listening to her will be the likes of Mo Farah, Greg Rutherford and Christie Ohuruogu, all Olympic champions.
Typical Shakes-Drayton, she will just take it all in her stride.
“They are experienced athletes,” she added. “I am sure what I am going to say, they will probably agree with. They will see me for whom I am.
“People tend to see me as a smiley kind of athlete, like a friendly face, but I don’t think they need to be told in terms of motivation or encouragement.
“I am a natural leader anyway. I am the eldest out of four, always looking after my two brothers and sisters. But I don’t think I am bossy. I just say that I am simply ‘being helpful’.”
There can be no greater natural leadership than others following your example and it is why Shakes-Drayton will be determined to win her event, the 400m, on Saturday afternoon.
It was over this flat 400m that she triumphed in Göteborg before securing her second gold in the 4 x 400m relay and though she is a hurdler by trade, this new distance could become her forte.
Russia are the defending champions from Stockholm in 2011 when they won with 374 points with Britain back in fourth with 291.
And what is Shakes-Drayton’s prediction?
“Can we win?” she said. “Of course we can. Yes. You have to be optimistic. We are a strong team.”
The steeplechase pit awaits.