Eight Scots picked for World Champs in Budapest
Ross Cairns has been one of the key constants in Megan Keith’s steady-yet-stunning rise to the top.
The mileage put in by both coach and athlete, metaphorically and physically, has been significant over a decade or so and their story is the very opposite of overnight success.
From a remote base in the Highlands, the Inverness Harriers athlete has made a huge impact on European events in cross country in track and in 2023 that has developed to a World Cross appearance in Australia and now a forthcoming trip to the World Champs in Budapest.
We’ve reported in the past on Megan’s roots in the North District XC League that helped her towards Euro Cross U20 gold in Dublin in 2021 and Euro Cross U23 silver in Turin in 2022.
Now, though, Ross has highlighted the wider Scottish development system as the right pathway from grassroots to elite for those who can combine talent with application and dedication . . .
‘Megan can be a role model or an inspiration to any athlete in Scotland,’ he told us, with Megan one of eight Scots selected for the World Champs.
‘It doesn’t matter if you come from the north of Scotland – or anywhere else – it is about how hard you have worked and how good you are.
‘Scotland is small . . . in a UK sense we’re the size of an English county. But if we pull together, standards rise.
‘The main thing for all of us that we all kind of know each other. Coaches know each other, athletes race each other regularly across Scotland and across different disciplines (in endurance).
The athletes know each other at 15, 16, 17 or through the education system. If we all pull for each other, that helps. That kind of ethos has helped Megan and countless others to progress.
‘There was London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 and that influenced a generation of athletes at a young age, too.
‘Realising your ‘heroes’ come from not too different a background to you makes a huge difference. It makes you think things are achievable.
‘Megan has seen athletes come through at Scottish clubs and then move further up to become very prominent on the global stage.
‘It has been absolutely amazing to see Megan develop and then give the performance in London which brought her the qualifying standard for the World…
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