His image in the eyes of an adoring public as a boyishly enthusiastic innocent who runs for the love of competing and winning having been tarnished by association in 2015 Mo Farah could be forgiven for seeking a fresh start as this Olympic year gets underway.
Where better, then, to start it than in the home city of the most famous New Year celebrations, particularly given that the double Olympic and world champion’s love affair with the wider world pretty much began in the Scottish capital.
Albeit he was already a rising star within the sport, the then 27-year-old served notice of what would come in what was essentially his breakthrough season at the highest level with an impressive performance, broadcast live on the BBC just as Saturday’s meet was, when winning the Great Edinburgh Cross Country in 2011.
Ahead of the race, for all that he admitted to being tired of them, he did not duck away from those relating to what are still unresolved questions about the regime run by his coach Alberto Salazar, telling reporters: “If anything were proven, I’m out, but other than that, I’ll just continue.”
Yet he would not be human if part of him did not hanker back to times that were simpler and in those terms it is worth noting that Farah’s win in Edinburgh in 2011 happened a month before he headed to Oregon to join the Salazar camp, out of which he has enjoyed all his success.
Perhaps, too, there is a recognition that he has work to do in regaining his place in the hearts of the public and even his fellow runners, which he hinted at when recounting the weekend’s experiences in the context of times past.
“Last night I went back to the team meeting and it just reminds me when you get picked for England, Wales and you are in that team meeting, the course, the pens you go through and whoever finishes highest you go at the front. It throws back memories. There are young kids there and I was one of them. As a kid I was so excited to see the senior team and it does throw back memories
again,” he said.
Obviously he is deeply aware of his changed status since that previous visit, but he recognises the opportunity that represents to inspire the next generation.
“It's good to mix it with those guys because it's good to show the kids where we really come from. As a youngster I did cross-country and I went through the whole rankings and through the years I've got better and better and stronger.
“They don't know that because they see you on TV and they are like 'Oh Mo' but this is where I started and it was good to go to the meeting and show them, look I am not just what you see on TV.”
In fairness Saturday’s evidence was that, so far, those who love this sport and know that its future depends on the likes of Farah and Usain Bolt, who is surrounded by all sorts of doping misbehaviour in his native Jamaica, remaining untainted, have yet to hear enough to persuade them that Farah is not still worthy of the adulation that has followed him everywhere since his feature role in the events of the London Olympics and ‘Super Saturday’ in particular.
Farah may not have been able to deliver them the expected victory but for all that the man who beat him is now well now hereabouts since he was completing a Holyrood Park hat-trick, having won over this same terrain in each of the previous two seasons, American Garrett Heath was made aware that he was representing the away team as he surged for the line.
“Being where we are in the world there were a few cheers for me, but there were a lot more ‘Mo’s out there and it felt like he was right behind me the whole way,” the race winner observed.
Heath was among those who had been impressed at Farah’s attitude in turning out for the Great Britain team which ultimately beat the USA and Europe in the team event.
“I appreciate him coming out and he’s a guy who doesn’t have to show up for cross country races, so I was really excited just to have a chance to race him,” Heath added.
It was not just the outcome that signified how different cross country running is from the track as Farah slipped and slithered his way over hill and glen and around some truly treacherous bends.
Technically the two appear to have about as much in common as tennis and squash, to the extent that in observing that it allows him to beat runners against whom he has no chance on the track Heath - who hails from what is, at this time of year, frozen Minnesota – announced that he was starting a campaign for cross country to be included not in the Olympics, but in the Winter Olympics.
It also allowed two of Scotland’s brightest prospects, Callum Hawkins and Andrew Butchart, the chance to metaphorically, in the GB team room and literally, on the course, rub shoulders with British athletics’ most iconic figure and both contributed well to the team win, finishing in fourth and seventh places respectively.
Their compatriot Laura Muir, who is a near certainty to go to Rio this year, meanwhile ran the glory leg as Scotland claimed victory in the inaugural Stewart Cup 4K women’s relay race, beating Great Britain & Northern Ireland into second place.
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