WSEH sprinter Deji Tobais brought the curtain down on his 2011 season in star-studded style by rubbing shoulders with Jess Ennis and Jenny Meadows at the UKA Awards Dinner in London on Saturday.

The 20-year-old was a guest at the season finale dinner as part of the Spar Sprint Stars Programme, enjoying a night out with the great and the good of British athletics at the impressive Park Plaza Westminster Hotel.

Tobais endured an up-and-down summer picking up a slight hamstring niggle but forming part of the British 4x100m relay team at the European Under-23 Championships in the Czech Republic.

He ran in the heats but not the final as Britain claimed silver and, despite admitting to struggling upon returning home from Ostrava, Tobais insists the year gave him plenty of food for thought.

“In my season I had a blip and then I continued on a downward spiral. It was hard to pick myself up both mentally and physically to compete for the rest of the year but overall it wasn’t a horrible season,” said Tobais, who runs for Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC.

“Representing Britain is still a great achievement for anyone and I can’t knock it. Obviously I would have been happier going to the European Under-23s as an individual but everything is a learning curve for me.

“I got a slight injury at the trials for the European Under-23s but I’m not using any excuses. If you’re used to injuries, you know how to deal with them better in the future at least.

“And I’ve definitely learnt how to be patient this year, when you rush things that’s when silly injuries happen. You learn how to recover from those things when you take your time.”

As well as a trip to Ostrava, Tobais was also given a behind-the-scenes insight of the senior European Indoor Championships in Paris back in March – courtesy of the Spar Sprints Stars Programme.

And with that experience still fresh in the memory, Tobais admits the chance to begin the new indoor season for himself can’t come soon enough.

“Being on the Spar programme has helped me a lot this year. I wouldn’t have been able to go to the European indoors otherwise and see all the athlete’s different techniques,” he added.

“Training is going well and I’m happier. We’re going to see where I am physically in the next couple of weeks going into the indoor season and then see what events I can take part in.”

Brought to you by SPAR, Official Sponsors of UK Athletics, for more information visit www.spar.co.uk