Jane Davidson has already broken one of Olympian Zoey Clark’s Aberdeen AAC sprint records, but the 19-year-old sports science student has never competed in the same race as her illustrious clubmate – until now.
The duo are scheduled to run in the same 60m heat in Saturday’s Scottish open meeting at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena and there’s little doubt Davidson is relishing the prospect of going toe-to-toe with Clark.
She said: “I’m excited to be racing Zoey for the first time. She is such an inspiration for us as she has shown you can get to that level while based in Aberdeen.
“She’s down at the track on club nights, so everyone can see her training. It makes it more realistic for all the younger athletes and it motivates us to believe we can achieve similar goals.
“For me, I’m not sure what to expect this weekend. The aim is simply to find out where I’m at, as I haven’t raced for so long.”
Clark, who represented Great Britain in the mixed and women’s 4x400m relays at last summer’s Tokyo Olympic Games, is also using Saturday’s meeting to gauge her winter form by stepping down from her favoured distance.
But she is no slouch over the shorter sprint, her best 60m performance of 7.42secs being the sixth fastest of all-time by a Scottish athlete.
And she’ll also test herself over 200m, competing against some decent male opposition.
Davidson is keen to make up for lost time as the pandemic wiped out her 2020 outdoor season and the 2021 indoor campaign.
She showed her undoubted potential two years ago when winning a sprint double at the Scottish under-20 indoor championships, taking the 60m hurdles and the 60m titles.
And, notably, her 60m time that day of 7.68 broke the Aberdeen AAC under-20 age group record previously held by none other than Clark, who clocked 7.69 back in 2013.
Davidson enjoys running on the flat, but she’ll also be tackling her preferred event on Saturday – the 60m hurdles.
She said: “I enjoy doubling up when the timetable allows, and I’ll sometimes do the long jump as well. But the hurdles is my main focus.
“It’s just great to be competing again. I was on such a high in March 2020 as I’d had such a good indoor season and I was looking forward to progressing, but then Covid came along.
“So I’ve had very few competitions since then and I missed most of my time at under-20 level.”
“I feel I’m a lot stronger than I was two years ago, but it’s the technical work which has suffered as there have been long periods when we didn’t have access to facilities.
“I tore a hamstring in September, but I’ve had a good block of winter training since then.
“It helps that we have a good group of young hurdlers at the moment, including Briagha Cook and her sister Coirilidh, who is now studying at Robert Gordon University. We are all working with coach Bob Masson.”
After this weekend’s fixture, Davidson has her eye on three major indoor championships over the remainder of the winter season.
She said: “I also have the Scottish championships later in the month, when I’ll do only the 60m hurdles. Then, in February, I’m going to Sheffield to do the hurdles and long jump at the British universities championships.
“And hopefully I can finish off the indoor season by getting a place at the British championships at Birmingham in March.”
Myles miles ahead in Metro Proms standings
The Metro Aberdeen Proms 3k road race series enters its fourth round tomorrow (Friday), but Myles Edwards has already secured the men’s title.
Each runner’s three best times from the programme of six races count towards determining the prize winners and Edwards has put himself in an uncatchable position by winning the first three runs – and twice breaking his own course record.
The Aberdeen AAC man clocked 8min 35secs in October, 8:39 in November and 8:31 last month for an overall series record of 25:45. That’s a 42secs improvement on the previous record he established in 2014-2015.
Edwards went on to win the Scottish indoor 1500m title that season and he’ll be hoping history repeats itself.
He has entered this year’s championship race, which is scheduled to take place on January 22 at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena.
Edwards said: “I had hoped to run in the Scottish indoor 3,000m championships, which was to have been held on Monday, but it was cancelled because of the current Covid restrictions. I was also meant to be doing an indoor 1500m this weekend, but that’s not happening either.
“Hopefully, the championships will get the go ahead later in the month.
“I’m not sure if I’ll do the Proms race as it depends on other commitments.”
Among those bidding for the other Proms podium positions are the Metro trio of Martin Mueller, Paul Knight and Matthew Maciocia. Michael Barker (Cambuslang Harriers) is also in the mix.
Teenager Aimee Tawse (Aberdeen AAC) leads the women’s competition at the halfway stage, but it’s too early to say who might ultimately come out on top.
Second-placed Elaine Wilson has improved her time in every round so far, but it’s unlikely she can make up the ground on Tawse.
Others who could still make a bid for top spot include Hannah Taylor (Ellon AAC), Kayleigh Jarrett (Shettleston), Julie Hoyle (JS Kintore) and Rosie Hislop (Metro Aberdeen).
