Seven years after winning his first Scotland international vest in Cardiff as a late call-up for a similar event, the GB international who finished fifth at the Euro Cross in Lisbon last week is relishing the prospect of racing so close to his roots.

In fact, the King’s Park course really is ‘home turf’ for Dunblane-raised Butchart, who trained in the Stirling park on many occasions a few years ago while coming through the ranks with Central AC.

Fellow GB international, Mhairi Maclennan, will lead the Scotland Senior Women’s team in the Home Countries match with England, Wales and Northern Ireland – with Run Stirling to be streamed live online by BBC and Vinco.

There are a number of other GB internationals within the ranks of this Scotland, selection, too – notably the U20 trio of Hamish Armitt, Cera Gemmell and Megan Keith, who all came home from the Euro Cross in Lisbon with team gold medals with the British squads.

‘I am really looking forward to pulling on the Scotland vest and representing the country once again,’ said Butchart, with around 1000 athletes in total expected to be involved in the whole event which includes the British Cross Challenge.

‘It is good to see an event like this being held in Stirling and well done to all those folk behind the scenes working to pull it all together – including those at Central AC.

‘With the British Cross Challenge element and the international competition, as well as a live stream on BBC and Vinco, it should be a great event and a strong advert for athletics in Scotland.

‘It will be a little surreal for me racing there because I’ve done many a training run in King’s Park growing up as a kid and as a teenager with Central AC.’

Butchart won his first Scotland vest in the Celtic International XC in Wales back in January 2013 – when a late call-up paid off as he finished third as Dewi Griffiths took the U23 gold.

‘It’s a while ago now but I do remember a very long bus journey south on the Saturday,’ he recalled.

‘There was snow and ice in Cardiff but I ran well and got on the podium and actually that selection and performance gave me a bit of push at that time to train harder and try and realise my potential.’

A number of partners have combined to help stage the event including scottishathletics, EventScotland, Stirling Council, British Athletics and Great Run. Butchart’s club, Central AC, are also taking on much of the organisation as host club.

Scotland Senior and U20 teams compete in the Home Countries XC International with England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

And the Scotland U23, U20 and U17 teams compete in the Celtic XC International with Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Senior Men: Andy Butchart, Jamie Crowe (both Central AC), Jonny Glen (Inverclyde AC), Lachlan Oates (Shettleston)

Senior Women: Mhairi Maclennan (Inverness Harriers), Annabel Simpson (Fife AC), Fiona Brian (Metro Aberdeen), Nynke Mulholland (Inverclyde AC).

U23 Men: Ben Greenwood (Perth Strathtay), Jack Leitch (Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds), Max Milarvie (VP-Glasgow), Hamish Hickey (Central AC)

U23 Women: Holly Little (VP-Glasgow), Kerry Macangus (Kilbarchan AAC), Zoe Pflug (Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds), Constance Nankivell (Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds)

U20 Men: Hamish Armitt (Giffnock North AAC), Cameron Wright (Kilbarchan AAC), Kristof Hornyik (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers), Christian Graham (Lasswade AAC)

U20 Women: Cera Gemmell (Team East Lothian), Megan Keith (Inverness Harriers), Eloise Walker (Edinburgh AC), Hannah Anderson (East Kilbride AC)

U17 Men: Lucas Cairns (Inverness Harriers), Andrew McGill (Livingston AC), Sam Griffin (Aberdeen AAC), Harris Paterson (Giffnock North AC)

U17 Women: Anna Hedley (Fife AC), Julia Cash (Giffnock North AC), Meredith Reid (Glasgow School of Sport), Anya MacLean (Garscube Harriers)

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The agreement with the legal firm will run until the end of the 2022-23 season and will conclude with the Lindsays National XC in February 2023 and the presentation of the Lindsays Trophy thereafter.

It’s five years now since scottishathletics entered into partnership with Lindsays for the Lindsays Cross Country Season and it has been a mutually beneficial link-up which will now run to just short of a decade and become one of the longest-running sponsorships in Scottish sport.

The original plan was for three seasons from 2014-15 but that was quickly extended and now, following more discussions, the new four-year agreement to 2023 gives the governing body significant certainty around our XC event-planning and promotion.

Raising the profile of events like the Lindsays National XC and growing participation were clear goals and there’s little doubt those have been achieved.

Photo: Bobby Gavin/scottishathletics

25-year record high for entries

Event entries have been at a 25-year high for the past couple of years and the most recent Lindsays Trophy featured exactly 100 clubs with at least one representative across the three main National XC events in Scotland during the winter programme.

The Lindsays Masters XC Champs in January will now be added to the Lindsays portfolio for each of the next four years to create the following schedule:

October – Lindsays National XC Relays

November – Lindsays Short Course XC Champs

December – Lindsays District XC Champs

January – Lindsays Masters XC Champs

February – Lindsays National XC Champs

May – Presentation of the Lindsays Trophy to winning club

Another four years of support

Ian Beattie, Chief Operating Officer of Lindsays and chair of scottishathletics, said: ‘We’re delighted to be supporting the scottishathletics Cross Country Season for another four years.

‘This is an important sponsorship for Lindsays and we value the opportunity to continue our very successful partnership with scottishathletics.

‘Cross country continues to have a positive impact in local communities across Scotland thanks to the commitment of the clubs, their supporters and members.

‘We’re delighted to continue to play a part in that.’

Helping build a brighter future for Scottish XC runners

Mark Munro, chief executive of scottishathletics, is pleased and feels the partnership over the past few years has helped us as a governing body and the sport itself to advance our Cross Country Season in various ways.

‘We’re really excited to announce this new agreement with Lindsays as our Cross Country Season sponsors,’ said Mark.

‘Sponsorship support is vital for a governing body like ourselves and this new deal means our partnership with Lindsays will run to a minimum of nine years.

‘If you look at recent years, the growth in participation and exposure for events like the National XC Relays at Cumbernauld and the National itself at Falkirk has happened in tandem with the sponsorship from Lindsays. I think the Short Course XC has been a huge success in that time, too.

‘It’s helping us create bigger and better events for our members and grow areas like video coverage, delayed stream and drone footage, which we have had in the past couple of years at Falkirk.

‘The Lindsays Trophy itself challenges clubs to invite athletes to commit to competition and that’s exactly what we want to see.’

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The Loughborough International has long been a proving ground for young emerging talent and also provides a competitive opportunity for established internationals in front of a good crowd at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium. This year’s competition is includes teams from England, Scotland, Wales, GB&NI Juniors, BUCS and Loughborough Students as well as invited guest athletes.

Alongside a packed timetable of sprint and field events endurance fans can look forward to seeing competitive 800m, 1500m, 3000m and 3000SC races.

Young Talent

The start list features some names we expect to be future stars of British distance running. U/20 National XC Champion Amelia Quirk races 3,000m looking to improve on her 2nd place finish last year. The Scottish team features the likes of GB international Eloise Walker. The under 20 has had a fine year competing in the World Cross and running 9:27 to finish 11th Armagh International Road Race. The GB team also includes European Youth silver medallist Anna Burt racing in the 800m.

Sam Charlton competes in the 3,000m having already claimed English School XC and u/17 National XC titles this year. European u/18 3,000m Gold Medallist Thomas Keen features for the GB team and we are also excited to see the continued development of Piers Copeland with both athletes racing in the 1500m.

Bob Smith coached Copeland achieved a fabulous bronze medal in the British Indoor Championships over 3,000m earlier this year. Commonwealth Youth Games Champion Alex Botterill races in the 800m having recently claimed both BUCs indoor and outdoor titles.

Established Internationals

The 1500m race features AFD’s Adam Clarke. The GB International has a PB of 3:38.35 but with an excellent range has run PBs of 4:01.02 for the mile and 29:28 for 10km this year.

The women’s 1500m race includes Holly Archer who place 5th in last week’s Ipswich Twilight 5km with 16:04. England Internationals over 10km Danielle Hodgkinson and Lucy Crookes race in the 3,000m. Tickets are still available should you want to see the action with events taking place from 11am – 18:30.

RELATED: The IAU World 50km Championship team has been announced

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The Scottish 5km Championships take place on Friday 3rd May with conditions expected to be perfect for fast times. The event, organised by Run and Become and Scottish Athletics, takes place on a pancake flat course alongside the Firth of Forth and has traditionally been one of the most competitive events in the Scottish road racing calendar. Maclennan and Jones are joined by the likes of Morag Millar, Fionnuala Ross, Alastair Hay and last year’s winner Lachlan Oates at the head of a sold out 600 strong field.

The Fight for Medals

Mhairi Maclennan will arrive on a high after her recent 2nd place finish at the Brighton Marathon 10km clocked a new PB of 32:59. The Helen Clitheroe coached athlete will expect stiff competition from Fionnuala Ross who retained her Scottish 10,000m title in April and clocked 33:30 to win Leeds Abbey Dash 10km last November.

Whilst last year’s winner Annabel Simpson misses the race due to exams Central AC’s Morag Millar will challenge with a 5km best of 16:14. With the likes of Elspeth Curran, Jenny Bannerman and 2012 Olympian Freya Ross also on the start list medal positions will be hotly contested.

2018 winner Lachlan Oates also retained his Scottish 10,000m title in April in a fantastic new PB of 29:40. Oates will know he needs to be on his best form as he is joined by 13:45 5,000m man Kris Jones who will be looking to make a winning return to racing after a recent Achilles niggle. The Swansea Harrier told FR

“It will be my first race since January due to an Achilles problem, so I am very excited for it. I hope that I will be in the fight for the win, but if I come through the race without a negative reaction from the Achilles that would be a success. I’ve been on an altitude camp in Albuquerque and I’m starting to feel like some fitness is returning, but you never really know how things are until you race.”

Medals are expected to be hard fought Central AC’s Alistair Hay has a fine pedigree over the distance with a 14:07 5,000m best and he will expect to be pushed by the likes of Corstorphine’s Calum McKenzie and Edinburgh AC’s Michael Christoforou.

A Scottish Classic

With 112 runners clocking sub 17 minute times in 2018 the race can rightly be considered alongside the likes of Armagh as one of the most competitive road races on the UK circuit. The course records of 14:17 (Callum Hawkins) and 16:07 (Maddie Murray) and popularity of the race with top athletes including Andy Butchart are testament to the quality of the organisation and course. Alongside the main individual championships medals are on offer for team races and masters categories. More details on the race can be found on the Run and Become website.

Drone footage of Run and Become 5K Scottish Champs 2018 from adrian stott on Vimeo.

RELATED: Records set to tumble in Wales this weekend

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The Glasgow Athletics Association were hosts for an event which is growing year-on-year and there was definitely a sense of déjà vu – or deja blue, even – as Lachlan Oates and Fionnuala Ross sped to gold to repeat their title wins of a year ago.

Oates for his part is on quite a roll in 2019 as he clinched the first outdoor track title of the year to add to theInter-District XC crown he won at Stirling in January and the 10-Mile Championship won at the Tom Scott Road Races at the end of March.

Dundee Hawkhill’s James Donald took silver and Ryan Thomson of Cambuslang the bronze, with all three Men’s setting PBs.

Photo: Bobby Gavin

Women’s racing over multiple heats

Avril Mason was Shettleston’s third medallist, taking a bronze in the Women’s 1-2-3, the in-form Masters athletes making the Senior podium just as she did in the 10-Miler at Strathclyde Park.

In the women’s race the medals were contested over two of the four races on an evening when the conditions were as near-perfect as is just about possible at this venue on a Friday night in April in Scotland.

Photos by Bobby Gavin on Facebook

Mason posted 35.07.28 in her first track outing at 10,000m and a PB for the distance before Ross and Kilbarchan AAC’s Elspeth Curran bettered that in heat two.

‘I enjoyed that and it was good to win in a really good time for this point in the year,’ said Fionnuala, who clocked 33.50.86.

‘As it happens I am about a second away from the PB I set last year at Highgate Night of the 10Ks when I raced for Ireland in the European Cup.

‘I’m not too disappointed to go so close. It shows I’m in good shape and I am looking forward to going back to Highgate in early July.

‘I’ve run about 15 seconds quicker than when winning last year so that’s another positive. I will race the road 5K at Silverknowes – that’s the shorter end of distance for me but I will give it a go.’

Ross has featured in the Fast 10 ‘Class of 2019’ and you can follow the athlete’s journey throughout the year through regular blogs on the Fast Running website. The latest spoke about the Shettleston Harrier’s love of club relays and it’s clearly been a good building block for the start of the season.

Silver medal for Curran on first 10,000m on track

Curran, in her first track outing at this distance, wasn’t satisfied with 34.47.82, but had the consolation of a silver medal.

‘I wanted to see what it was like on the track and I found out! It’s quite tough mentally.

‘But I am on the podium again for a National Champs after winning the 10-Mile gold a couple of weeks ago so things are going well.

‘I’m on a ‘comeback’ over the past couple of years but it has been very steady and that approach has worked well.’

Mason said: ‘I’m running the London Marathon next week so it was great to get a PB for the distance here. Our coach, John Montgomery, asked for some goals for the season so I made one of mine to run a 10,000m on the track for the first time!’

Photo: Bobby Gavin

Strong evening for John Montgomery’s training group

Montgomery’s good night was to continue in the men’s race as Oates took the win on a night when a couple of others in that training group ran PBs. With conditions conducive to good performances, and very solid work by the pace-makers, the PB ratio was high – 35 from 51 finishers.

Oates followed pacer Adam Craig, who will be racing the Monument Mile Classic in May, to create a gap before halfway and the outcome wasn’t in doubt thereafter – although U23 athlete Donald worked hard to get back into the medal mix and then push on for silver as Thomson tried manfully to close over the last 2000m or so.

‘I’m delighted to get a PB by eight seconds  – that was the target,’ said Lachlan.

‘You don’t race 10,000m on the track all that often and I’ve decided against Highgate this year.

‘Up until last year I was finishing second and third in National Championships, so I’m pleased with a bit of progress on that front and defended my title here. Stirling in the Inter-District XC and Strathclyde Park in the 10-Mile Champs also went very well.’

Donald for his part was thrilled with a PB of around 25 seconds as he dipped under 30.15.

‘I’m really pleased with that and am happy with the run,’ said James.

‘I’d hoped to go through halfway in 15 minutes but had thought the second half might drop off a bit. I’ve kept it together pretty well and I didn’t want to look round and give Ryan any more motivation over the last few laps.

‘I’m studying in Edinburgh now and being coached by Mark Pollard and it is a good arrangement.’

*Many thanks to the GAA, the pace-makers, our scottishathletics Officials and all other volunteers involved at Crownpoint.

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In athletics, the mention of relays conjures up images of chaotic changeovers and dropped batons, anchor leg runners standing with their hands on their hips awaiting a baton which will never arrive, or Usain Bolt eating up a deficit in the home straight before gliding effortlessly through the line to claim another gold medal in front of a packed stadium.

Yip, 4 x 100m or 4 x 400m on the track can be full of drama and can produce some wildly exciting racing.

But dig a little deeper and you’ll soon find there’s more to relay running than these crowd pleasers.

With the recent inclusion of mixed relays in global cross country events, DMRs (distance medley relays) at world track events and the continuing Japanese tradition of Ekiden road relays, it could be said that the profile of relay running in general terms has never been higher.

Throw runners of differing abilities into the same team and the potential for exciting racing and changes of placings throughout a race increases no end!

However, personally, until recently my own exposure to any sort of relay event had been limited. Through my younger years relay running never really formed a part of my racing calendar, while during my university years in the US, my focus remained very much on individual events (although the overall team element of various meets was clear to see).

In truth, the first relay event I recall being a part of came about within weeks of arriving in Scotland for my final year of study to complete my Masters degree at Glasgow University back in 2013.

Scottish relay running

At this stage, it’s probably worth pausing to give a bit of historical context on Scottish relay running. It’s become apparent to me that the tradition for relay running in Scotland, particularly on the roads, stretches back a long way with countless events filling the autumn and winter race calendars back in the day (or so I’m reliably informed!).

Photo: Bobby Gavin

With the increase in vehicles on traditional race routes most of these events have, to the despair of many a Scottish runner, fallen by the wayside, mired in health and safety issues, risk assessments and increased policing costs.

The Daddy of them all in these parts was the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay (or the E to G as it was known), an eight stage race between the country’s two biggest cities which took place from 1930 through to 2002. If you’ve got the inclination, a trawl through the online archives of the race will throw up the names of some of Scotland’s greatest distance runners.

It was in preparation and hopeful qualification for the E to G (usually run in April) that many road relays sprang up, used as testing grounds for clubs to piece together their strongest teams through the winter months for an assault on ‘the big one’.

My relay beginning

But getting back to me (!!!), it was one of these ‘traditional’ relay races I found myself a part of back in 2013, the McAndrew Relay, courtesy of an invite to my home club, Armagh AC.

Without going into too much detail, it didn’t seem like too much fun at the time running the hilly course on tired legs, coming as it did six days after my marathon debut!

If memory serves me right, I ran an ok time in the circumstances with our Armagh team coming in a few places behind a Glasgow University team containing an emerging Laura Muir and a couple of my, as yet unknown, future Scottish clubmates (note to self… should have pushed for a place on that team with Laura as I’d just started studying there).

That was it. I’d done the relay thing. Until a couple of years later…

This time round, having joined Shettleston Harriers in Glasgow, I found myself on the opening leg of the 2015 Scottish National Cross Country Relay Championships. A change of surface, but another very traditional Scottish event and part of the early season cross country calendar which encompasses regional and district races, all of which I’d bypassed.

In the event, once again a speedy Miss Muir disappeared off into the (middle) distance as I tried desperately to hang onto her coat tails. Still, this race seemed a much more enjoyable wee outing on my favourite sort of terrain.

And then… nothing. Three years passed and not a single relay. The bug hadn’t yet bitten.

But it soon would

Fast forward to late 2018 and I found myself standing under a dripping wet gazebo actually looking forward to running the first leg in the West District Cross Country Relay Championships in a soggy Irvine on the Clyde Coast.

Suddenly it never seemed to matter that the rain was pouring down. Or that the course was super hilly and ran up and down sand dunes. I was going to run my heart out for my team! The friends/clubmates I was running with were relying on me to set them up for a high finishing position and I felt ready to take on the responsibility.

Running is a pretty selfish sport and most of the time I’m happy to admit I’m doing it for myself only, racing to finish as high in a race as I possibly can (though in individual events, placings are obviously important in terms of the count for team standings).

But in relay races, the focus shifts. Your team are depending on you and you on them. If you crash and burn or don’t finish, they crash and burn or don’t finish! It’s an added pressure, but, as I’ve now discovered, an enjoyable one.

I ran a lonely first leg out ahead of the rest of the field that day which did give me that personal ‘leading the race’ sort of buzz, but I also found a surprising (to me) sense of pride in how hard I’d worked to benefit my team, not just me. We medalled and the bug had bitten!

In recent months, in between the odd cold and niggle, I’ve found myself part of the Shettleston team at a couple more relay races. The first of these was the Allan Scally Relay, one of the few remaining ‘traditional’ road relays, a race organised by Shettleston Harriers which was in danger of joining the growing list of road relays consigned to the archives just a few short years ago.

After changing home a couple of times, it’s now run over a more traffic-friendly, health and safety-conscious course than before, but the vital ingredient of relay racing remains. You get out there and give your all for your mates!

Thankfully, in this one they’d given their all for me, and as the last leg runner, I was given a nice lead to carry through to the finish line, with a palpable sense of home club pride coursing through all of us as we took the win!

A few short weeks later and the race situation was completely different as I anchored our team at the Scottish National Road Relay Championships on a challenging, hilly course while buffeted by strong winds throughout.

In the absence of the E to G mentioned earlier, this race is now at the top of the relay tree North of the border (though some may disagree!).

In the race itself, setting off in fifth position with a pretty big deficit to make up on the girls ahead of me, I managed to run a decent leg and haul us up into the medals, eventually taking silver behind a strong Central AC team.

Again, the sense of personal satisfaction at how I’d run was more than matched by the feeling that we’d performed well as a team and had each put all we had on the line for each other (I was particularly impressed to find out that, running aside, one of my teammates had driven for three hours to get to the race to run her 20 minute leg, before driving another three hours home afterwards!).

I kind of get them now

I suppose what I’m maybe saying in a roundabout way is that where relay events were previously a bit of a mystery to me I think I kind of get them now! Although I’ll always be a running individual in the strictest sense of the word, I now fully understand what being an integral part of a relay team means.

With club relay events like the ones I’ve raced in being a constituent part of the running fabric up here, it’s great to see them all being supported in big – often record – numbers, in line with the positive growth in competitive race participation overall in Scotland.

These relay events are part of the rich tradition and lifeblood of Scottish running (and still form a significant part of the calendar elsewhere in the UK and Ireland) and need supported and valued, bringing as they do a heightened sense of camaraderie often missing in some elements of our sport.

If someone like me who often runs with blinkers on – even when with others – can discover a ‘new’, exciting and enjoyable strand to the sport, who’s to say you can’t do the same?

I’m sure many of you reading this already get the sort of enjoyment I’m banging on about but, if not, take one for the team!

Fionnuala Ross features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share her running journey. You can follow Fionnuala on Twitter and Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

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The post Taking one for the team appeared first on Fast Running.

Scottish athletes savouring a record representation at Glasgow 2019 are reaping the rewards for many years of hard work – and coaches and clubs have played a huge role, too.

That’s the verdict of Stephen Maguire, Head of Performance and Coaching at Scottish Athletics.

Andy Butchart, Zoey Clark, Eilidh Doyle, Neil Gourley, Guy Learmonth, Eilish McColgan, Laura Muir, Chris O’Hare and Jemma Reekie are the nine top athletes selected by British Athletics for the fast-approaching Emirates Arena event on March 1-3.

It is the best representation for Scots on a Great Britain and NI team in more than 50 years for the European Indoor Championships.

“Congratulations to all those selected – it is a tremendous achievement,” said Maguire. “I think for Scottish athletes to compete for GB and NI in a Scottish venue in front of a home crowd will be even more special.

“Nine is a very strong group and representation and, in terms of the numbers, I don’t think we really could have asked for any more.

“Most of these athletes have been competing since the age of 13,14, 15 and have been building towards this with their coaches and the clubs over many years. It’s not an overnight success. That just does not happen in athletics.

“It is lots of miles, lots of technical work, lots of hard graft and lots of sacrifices. That’s what takes you to this point of selection with GB and NI for a European Indoors.

“I think we have true international class athletes here in Scotland – we’re seeing repeated evidence of that in recent performances.”

One look at the history books would suggest that Scottish medals at the European Indoors invariably only number one or two per event (although three athletes did win four medals in Belgrade in 2017).

‘Medals will be hard to come by at Glasgow 2019, for sure,” added Maguire. “There’s talent there in Europe and we’ve seen that in the indoor performances and the rankings.

“But we should not be afraid of what we’ve got. I do think the crowd will be supportive of every GB athlete and I absolutely know they will take the roof off for the Scots.

“One or two medals? My aspirations might be a little bit more than that but indoor athletics is hard to predict. But I’d be very confident that Scots can perform very well indeed at the Emirates Arena in a couple of weeks.”

You can watch the full interview with Scottish Athletics’ Head of Performance and Coaching below.

RELATED: GB name team for Glasgow European Indoor Championships

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The post Stephen Maguire praises Scottish athletes selected for Glasgow 2019 appeared first on Fast Running.

Scottish and Welsh athletes head indoors this weekend to compete for national honours in Glasgow and Cardiff.

The FPSG Scottish Senior and Under-17 Championships takes place at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena on Saturday (January 26), while the Welsh Senior Championships are over two days at the National Indoor Athletics Centre in Cardiff.

Stephen Maguire, Head of Performance and Coaching at Scottish Athletics, insists the Scottish indoor championships can carry great significance for athletes and coaches looking ahead to the 2019 outdoor season.

“No matter what happens this weekend or the age group, be that Seniors or U17s, my own view is that it is special to win a national championship medal,” said Maguire. “To win your own country’s championship, indoors or outdoors, is a huge achievement for any athlete.

“I am really looking forward to it. Indoor competition at the Emirates Arena is exciting – there will be battles on the track and head-to-heads in the field and it is a great chance for athletes to show their early-season form.

“Usually that is coming off winter work and then the likes of the FPSG National Open. We should now see if people have progressed and stepped up a couple of weeks further down the line.

“I want to sit in the stand and watch it unfold – trying to figure out tactically and technically where athletes are at. There will be big learning to had for coaches, too.

“Ultimately, in both the Seniors and the U17s, trying to win those Scottish titles, or make the podium, should be a big aim.”

Among the 600 entries for the Scottish indoor championships is GB international and double world relay medallist, Zoey Clark, who will race in the 60m and 200m.

Other prominent names on the start-lists for the seniors include Michael Olsen, Alec Thomas, Katy Wyper, Lewis Brown, Sandy Wilson, Fraser Angus, Chloe Lambert, Mhairi Hendry, Philippa Millage, Stephen Mackay, Kane Elliott, Erin Wallace, Sarah Warnock, Che Richards, William Falconer, Carolyn Harvey, Nikki Manson, Emma Nuttal, Lewis McGuire, Hannah Lawler and Jax Thoirs.

There is also a host of visiting athletes from Portugal, Ireland and England, including GB international 400m runner, Cameron Chalmers, who is from Guernsey.

Live coverage of Welsh Senior Indoor Championships

Some of Wales’ top athletes will battle it out at the National Indoor Athletics Centre in Cardiff over the weekend.

Among those competing is the fastest man in Wales, Cardiff AAC’s Sam Gordon, who will be looking to kick start his indoor season over 60m, while fellow Welsh sprinter, Hannah Brier, will hope to go even quicker after opening her season with a 7.39 clocking over 60m last week.

They’ll be joined by the best all-round athletes from across Europe as the event hosts a Combined Events international match between Great Britain, France, Poland, Spain and the Czech Republic.

The two-day event in Cardiff will be streamed live online at runjumpthrow.com.

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Scottish Athletics has taken steps to explore the possibility of competing as an independent nation rather than GB at European competitions.

The sport’s national governing body has written to European Athletics to enquire if the home nations could compete at continental events independently.

This includes the European cross country championships, and the indoor and outdoor championships.

Scottish Athletics chief executive Mark Munro said: “This has been a topic of discussion by home nations and UK Athletics for the past 18 months or so.

“We recently launched our new strategy document entitled Building a Culture of Success. Enshrined within that document is a principle to try and create more opportunities for Scottish athletes to compete as Scotland at European level.

“Our chair, Ian Beattie, and I attended the European Athletics Convention in Lausanne recently and in writing to thank them we asked if the possibility could be explored for Scotland – and England, Wales and Northern Ireland – to compete at the likes of the Euro Cross Country Champs (every year) and the European Champs (indoors and outdoors, every two years).

“The landscape in sport is always changing and there are other models in British sport of Scotland competing at European level and then contributing athletes/players to GB teams – so we will look at how that framework applies, too.”

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Scotland has named teams comprising of 20 athletes to represent the nation at the British Athletics Cross Challenge at Sefton Park in Liverpool on Saturday, November 24.

Although there is no international team race in Liverpool, Scottish Athletics regard the cross country fixture as an important international opportunity for Scotland’s athletes.

The next fixture in the Cross Challenge series incorporates the British team trials for the European Cross Country Championships in December, and a number of Scottish athletes will be vying for GB vests, including Mhairi Maclennan and Luke Traynor.

Inverclyde AC duo Adam Craig and Andy Douglas have been named in the senior men’s team along with Shettleston Harriers’ Lachlan Oates and Giffnock’s Traynor.

RELATED: Andy Douglas: “A happy runner is a well performing runner”

Joining Maclennan in the senior women’s team are Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds’ Steph Pennycook and Central AC’s Morag Millar.

The U23 men’s quartet comprises of Cambuslang Harriers’ Ryan Thomson, Edinburgh AC’s Alex Carcas, Dundee Hawkhill Harriers’ James Donald and Keswick Jacob Adkin, while the women’s selection features Sale Harriers’ Megan Davies and Zoe Bates of Edinburgh AC.

Edinburgh AC pair Freddie Carcas and Joe Arthur, Kilbarchan AAC’s Cameron Wright and Fife AC/Glasgow Uni’s Tristan Rees make up the U20 men’s team, while Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds’ Anna Macfadyen, Kilbarchan AAC’s Kerry McAngus and Constance Nankivell of East Sutherland/Edinburgh Uni will represent Scotland in the U20 women’s race.

Scottish athletes have performed well in Liverpool over the past few years and performances later this month will also have a bearing on selections for the Great International XC at Stirling in January.

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