scottishathletics have vowed to continue to support some of the country’s top athletes ahead of Glasgow 2014 after they missed out on central funding from UK Athletics and UK Sport.
Marathon runner Freya Ross – who posted a Glasgow 2014 qualifying time in Japan last weekend; Delhi medallist Steph Twell; and new mum Lee McConnell are three high profile Scottish athletes no longer receiving financial backing through UK Athletics and UK Sport.
But the governing body for the sport in Scotland, together with partners sportscotland, has pledged to find ways to maintain support such as medical help and training and competition opportunities for the trio – with McConnell looking to compete in the Commonwealth Games for the fourth time in her medal-laden career and Ross tipped to follow up her fine performance in the marathon at London 2012 when she was the top Brit.
Ross clocked 2.35.19 in Yokohama to get inside the 2 hours 40 minutes asked of Scottish women for Glasgow with Susan Partridge, who was 10th in the World Champs, ranked highest at the moment.
Hayley Haining and Joasia Zakrzewski both also have the standard and, in fact, there are no fewer than seven Scottish women in the top 13 in Britain for marathon for the calendar year.
‘I am still training full-time,’ said Ross, who felt she could have run better in Japan.
‘Support from the sportscotland Institute of Sport, scottishathletics and sportscotland has been very good and there are services available to me. Funding obviously helps but the physio and medical support, things like that, have been great. And scottishathletics funded me for altitude training in America.
‘All of them have really helped get me to where I am now.’
scottishathletics significantly supported Twell some 12 months ago when she lost central funding and Director of Coaching, Stephen Maguire, believes there is a burden of responsibility to assist.
‘ We will seek to pick up the slack on people like Freya and Lee – just as we did before with Steph Twell,’ said Maguire.
‘The way we have done it before is look at every athlete’s plan and look to see what is their focus. And then how we can maybe help with that. Boulder in Colorado has been perfect for altitude training for Freya and Susan Partridge via their coach, Steve Jones, who is out there.
‘We’ve helped fund that in the past and we’ve helped with her coaching needs. With Lee, we’ve a close relationship now with her coach, Rodger Harkins. We will meet and talk with both of them and see what their plans are now Lee’s a mum to a baby boy (Ethan). We will pick what slack we can.
‘Both Lee and Freya are with the Institute of Sport anyway so there is excellent service support to them there. If there is additional help required then we will look at that, too. We did that with Steph towards the end of 2012.
‘We have a responsibility for our better athletes regardless of whether they are on or off a UK Athletics funded programme.
‘scottishathletics have to make sure these athletes and their coaches know their plans for the year ahead and where we can help – we will help.’
The run by Ross in Yokohama was one of a series of encouraging signs by Scottish athletes around the globe over the weekend.
British 1500m champion Chris O’Hare, who made the World Champs final in Moscow, won his Midwest region cross country event in the NCAA in his last year at Tulsa University.
Matt Gillespie, of Shettleston Harriers and Iona College, was second in the Northeast region with both men now through to the NCAA finals.
Meanwhile, in Leeds, Scottish men and women performed well in the Abby Dash 10k. Josh Lilly (Ron Hill Cambuslang Harriers) and Callum Hawkins (Kilbarchan AAC) were only a second apart in second and third in the race with Lilly’s 29.25 the best by a Scot for the distance in 2013.
In the women’s race, four Scots were placed between fourth and seventh with Beth Potter (Victoria Park-Glasgow) the highest placed with her 33.46 taking her third in Scottish 10k rankings for 2013.
The Leeds event also featured a first Scotland vest for Shettleston athlete, Tewolde Mengisteab. The Eritrean qualifies on residency rules and finished eighth in Leeds on 29.40. In all, five out of the eight Scots selected recorded PBs.
