Last male winner Scott hails increased competition from both genders

Tom McKean, it has been a strange

old decade in men’s athletics.

Just once in that period, all of eight years ago, has the Scottish athlete of the year award been handed to a male runner as women have dominated

the scene.

As that solo representative Allan Scott – the former sprint hurdler who is now an apprentice coach – reckons, it is not something that should generate the slightest concern or even surprise preferring, as is the modern coaching way, to accentuate the positive in noting that: “During my time as an athlete our best and most consistent athlete was Lee McConnell.

Eilidh Doyle followed on from there and then in the last few years Lynsey Sharp and Laura Muir have had fantastic success too.

“I don’t think there is any one explanation why women from Scotland have had comparatively more success than the men over the last few years.”

“To get to the top in a sport like athletics is very difficult whether you’re male or female and from a small nation like Scotland we are never going to have a plethora of talent at the top at one time. The fact that women have dominated the last few years is down to some exceptional individuals and not anything wider than that.”

While the presence of three men on this season’s shortlist is not in itself overly significant by those standards, then, he is, to the point of commendable self-deprecation, hugely encouraged by the fact that it has had to be extended to accommodate the range and quality of contenders.

“I think the most interesting thing for me is how much the depth and the quality of athletes has grown over the last few years,” said Scott.

“When I competed at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 we had four Scots make the team, two women and two men. Then five in London in 2012, all female. Now in Rio, to have 15 make the team is just unprecedented and with that increase in number has come a more even balance in representation, seven men and eight women.

“It was a remarkable achievement and it wasn’t just making the team, we had real medal opportunities. There were six that made their respective finals and of course Eilidh [Doyle] picking up a fantastic bronze as part of the 4x400m team. When I look at the strength and depth on both the men’s and women’s side I’d have been struggling to make the shortlist with my 2008 performances.”

Far more important than gender, then, he sees surrounding athletes with people who have the right mindset and knowhow as key to building on this year’s successes.

“I don’t think the environment required is any different based on gender. The environment required might be slightly different for each individual but I feel some fundamentals must be there; you’ve

got to have a knowledgeable coach,

like-minded training partners and

a support team around you that you trust completely,” he explained.

“I was fortunate when I came through I had Chris Baillie who was European junior champion and a few years older than me to help push me on in the early days under Bob Sommerville. Then later I had Paul Hession and Nick Smith, both Olympic sprinters, who worked under my coach Stuart Hogg. Yet there were others, in both those groups, that didn’t have as much success on the track but were still vital in creating that right environment.

“I think if you want to be successful in this sport then you will search those environments out and I’m sure that regardless of gender the one thing our current top athletes will have done is find the right environment for their talent to flourish.”

He also believes that being able to rub shoulders in training and competition with so many Olympic and Paralympic athletes can only be beneficial for future generations.

“I think that’s vitally important,” said Scott. “For the youngsters to see people getting to a level that they aspire to, who have walked the same path that they’re currently on through age-group athletics in Scotland, can only motivate them and show them what is possible through hard work and dedication.”