Banchory Stonehaven AC sprinter Alisha Rees is edging closer to her Scottish record after another couple of fine 60m performances at the weekend.
The Great Britain international posted times of 7.37secs and 7.36secs in two 60m heats at the Loughborough indoor elite meeting.
Rees, who is in her final year studying for a degree in sociology at Loughborough University, holds the current national record of 7.32secs, set at Sheffield 12 months ago.
The 21-year-old is confident she can threaten that mark in her next outing, at London’s Lee Valley indoor stadium next weekend.
She said: “I was happy enough with my runs at Loughborough, although I’d like to have gone a bit quicker. My starts aren’t as good as they should be, so I know the areas I need to work on.
“Also, the track at Loughborough isn’t as fast a surface as at Glasgow or London. On top of that, it was hard to get into a real competition mindset when it feels almost like a training session as it’s the track I use all the time.
“So I’ll go to Lee Valley next Saturday and try to run faster. I’d like to take my Scottish record down a bit and try to get under 7.30.”
There is the added incentive of trying for a place on the Great Britain team for next month’s European indoor championships in Poland. However, the qualifying standard of 7.25secs is extremely high.
Rees said: “I want to run faster than I’ve done before, but I’m not expecting the European qualifying time.
“If I get it and the opportunity comes along I’d probably take it.”
