Irrespective of whether Megan Keith is announced in the Great Britain team for the World Cross Country Championships later today, the Inverness Harrier can consider her winter season to have confounded all expectations – not least her own.
The 20-year-old has had a relentless cross country calendar, which has seen her challenge some of the very best runners the UK and Europe has to offer.
In Scottish competition, the Edinburgh University student has led the way at every turn. She was part of the winning team at the Scottish Cross Country Relay Championships in October and, the following month, she took the National Short Course title after finishing 24 seconds ahead of her nearest challenger.
The Scottish Inter District Championships in Perth last month saw Keith claim another routine victory.
Keith’s exertions internationally have brought her most acclaim in recent months, though.
A silver medal at the European Under-23 Cross Country Championships in Italy, and a third-place finish at the Lotto Cross Cup de Hannut in Belgium have now seen the Invernesian stake a strong claim for a place at the World Cross Country Championships in Australia later this month.
To give an idea of the calibre of runners Keith was up against in Belgium, the two athletes who finished ahead of her – Eritrea’s Rahel Daniel and Sweden’s Sarah Lahti – both ran at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon last year. So Keith is certainly in some esteemed company.
With UK Athletics (UKA) selectors having met on Monday to deliberate as to which 16 athletes will compete for Great Britain Down Under in just over two weeks’ time, Keith’s performances will surely have merited some discussion.
The final decision lies with Stephen Maguire, UK Athletic’s technical director, along with Chris Jones, the governing body’s endurance strategy manager, and Steve Vernon, the endurance performance manager.
Keith admits the World Cross Country Championships in New South Wales were not initially factored in to her competition plan, devised by her coach Scott Cairns at the beginning of the cross country season.
But having put herself in with a shout of selection for the competition on Saturday, February 18, the two are unlikely to have any qualms with adjusting training in preparation for what would be the biggest competition of Keith’s career.
“The main bit is about planning out the second half of the cross country season now. I obviously did as well as I hoped I could do at European Cross Country Championships, which kind of makes the World Cross Country Championships a hopeful possibility. But that’s completely out of my control with selection.
“I hope the performances I’ve put in over the last three months will be enough to give me a chance, but you just don’t know until the start of February.”
End-of-year break re-energised Keith
Keith, who is studying for an undergraduate degree in sports science, explained a mini-break over Christmas has helped her enter 2023 with the same vigour which took her to the podium at the European Cross Country Championships in December.
She said: “We don’t take Christmas as an end-of-season break, because there’s another half of the season to come, but we take our foot off the gas a bit, and that’s quite nice because you’re at home with family and you can let what you’ve done in the last two months sink in, and then also begin to feel a bit re-energised for the second half.
“If you kept your foot on the gas pedal throughout Christmas, it would begin to feel like a long season, which would drag. I’m keen for that not to happen.”
North athletes perform well at Scottish Combined Championships
With the cross country season nearing its climax, the indoor season is also up and running, with the Scottish National Combined Events Championships taking place in Glasgow’s Emirates Arena.
Athletes from Aberdeen, Banchory, Elgin, and Inverness made the journey in what was the first indoor national championships of 2023, with both the Scottish Senior Championships, Scottish University Championships, and Scottish Age-Group Championships still to come.
Perhaps the stand-out performance from the weekend came from Aberdeen’s Finn Bryce, who took a silver medal in the U17 boys’ heptathlon after scoring a total of 4,205 points.
In a two-day battle consisting of seven events, the youngster set lifetime bests in five disciplines – the long jump, shot put, high jump, pole vault, and 1,000m – to take the silver behind Liverpool Harriers’ Corey Beechall.
There was also success – and a first ever Scottish title – for Banchory Stonehaven youngster Harry Cook, who took the gold medal in the U13 boys’ pentathlon, winning four out of the five events to surpass his opponents from Shettleston Harriers and Central AC.
In the U15 girls’ category, Elgin’s Holly Whittaker saw off more than 20 fellow multi-eventers as she took another national title.
The 60m hurdles was the stand-out event for the teenager, but Whittaker also produced a personal best in the final event of the day, the 800m, to win by more than 100 points from Bury’s Evie Elliott.
Over in France, Alisha Rees continued her indoor campaign in preparation for the UK Indoor Championships later this month, running 7.36sec and 7.37sec over the 60m in Nantes’ World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting.
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