Ploughing through the mud in Liverpool’s Sefton Park yesterday, Laura Muir maintained a sure footing to produce a performance that ensured she will be included in the British squad for next month’s European cross-country championships on France’s Mediterranean coast. Just one more medal shot secured for Scotland’s brightest athletics prospect.
However her victory in the Under-23 event at the trials was delivered in the wake of a scathing critique of the support offered to the world 1500 metres finalist by her coach Andy Young. And the former internationalist claims Scottish Athletics – and Sportscotland – are responsible for a talent drain that has seen numerous homegrown performers decamp for pastures new due to a lack of infrastructure provided for those with the ambition and talent to reach the very top.
Young retains a full-time job while nursing a number of track hopefuls on the side but has vowed to secure private sponsorship to establish an endurance academy in Glasgow. With UK Sport last week gaining a surprise increase in its central government backing, Muir took to Twitter to call for her mentor to receive extra assistance but was rebuked by Scottish Athletics chief executive Nigel Holl in an email seen by the Sunday Herald.
And that, in turn, has sparked Young to respond with a call for an overhaul of the high-performance structure which, its critics argue, has spread the cake thinly to pursue Commonwealth medals rather than investing in those with the potential for global success.
“What we have in Scotland is just not up to task,” said Young in an open letter to the governing body. “Which might be acceptable if the Scottish Government and National Lottery were not providing fantastic financial support which was meant to be spent on this very purpose.
“At the risk of sounding extremely arrogant, working with Laura over these past four short years in Scotland, we have achieved more than had been achieved by any Scottish-based track and field athlete on a global stage in the last 24 years, and this is despite the lack of suitable support being provided by Sportscotland.
“So do I have a right to voice this opinion, that the 16 million pounds a year in High Performance Funding provided to Sportscotland is not being well spent, or maximising our athletes’ chances of achieving success on a Olympic stage? I would suggest I certainly do. The athletes, coaches and indeed general public who are funding this deserve better.”
With Muir now placed in the elite tier of Lottery funding in the wake of her performances in 2015, Holl insists it is the responsibility of UK Sport’s world-class programme to provide the necessary backing. “There is far more resource available to athletes through UK Sport and UK Athletics than through scottishathletics or sportscotland,” he said.
Elsewhere in Liverpool, Gemma Steel edged out Kate Avery for victory in the senior women’s race with Scotland international Steph Twell, who came third, revealing she is set to focus exclusively on gearing up for next summer’s Olympics once the Euro Cross is done. “My coach might throw a few tests in,” she said. “But I won’t go for the world indoors in Portland.”
Ross Millington pulled off a late burst to win the men’s title from Dewi Griffiths but Scottish champion Andy Butchart faded to 13th despite taking an early lead.
Edinburgh AC’s Maddie Murray’s third place will see her join Muir in the Under-23 line-up in Hyeres while Luke Traynor’s last-minute decision to jet back from university in Oklahoma paid off as the Glasgow-born prospect all but cemented his place in the British squad by coming fifth in the Under-23 event.
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