DESPITE coming an outstanding ninth in the Olympic marathon in Rio, Callum Hawkins is hungrier still. The recipes that have delivered a string of successes, admits the 24-year-old, are no longer fit for purpose. Come the New Year, cometh the revamped diet.

“You’ve got to have a few treats to keep yourself sane,” he smiles. “But it is something we’re looking at, to make sure I get the right foods and see if I can train harder. I’ve spoken to nutritionists to see what I might introduce and that’ll be something I go for next year.”

He might reward himself with a large pizza tomorrow for old time’s sake, however, if his final outing of a 2016 to remember pans out. Bound for Sardinia and the European cross-country championship, Kilbarchan’s young pup will now be expected to leave a lasting impression, such has been his ascent into the continental elite and a post-Brazil form that saw him installed behind only Mo Farah in the UK’s all-time half-marathon rankings.

To stand still would be to regress, he acknowledges, which he is why he, his father and coach Robert, and his distance guru – the former marathon world record holder Steve Jones – will seek out the vital increments he needs to climb higher still by the time next summer’s world championships in London arrive.

“I’m always trying to talk to other athletes and coaches to see what they’re doing,” confirmed Hawkins, who this week became the first Briton selected for the showpiece. “Everyone’s different but it is good to share ideas and if anyone asks me, then I’ll explain how I go about things.

“Sometimes you pick up small aspects which you try to see if they work. If they do, you keep them, if not you put them to the side. I found quite a bit of that when I was over in America at college. And same from working with Steve Jones – particularly with race tactics. The training sessions he does, I’ve incorporated into what I do. I’ve taken a lot from him, not to set limits, not to constrain yourself, not to put yourself into a box. I’ve run race plans past him to see what he thinks of them.”

Likely to be somewhere close in Chia will be his fellow Scot Andy Butchart. The pair have so often duelled in the mud in recent years, their winter labours in cross-country providing the springboard to summer speediness. With the British team aiming to top the overall European standings for a 14th straight year, there is likely to be a battle within the war between them to see who comes up trumps.

“I don’t think we’ll be talking tactics,” Hawkins affirms. “We want to beat each other and hopefully that will be spur us both on to do the best we can. I see this as a major championships. The field this time is one of the strongest at a Europeans there’s been for quite a while so you have to treat it with respect. The British team, outside of Mo, is as strong as it could be. But the Spanish will always be strong and we’ll be up against something similar.”

Having landed three junior titles at these championships, Steph Twell will chase an elusive senior podium while Josh Kerr, Edinburgh AC’s middle-distance prospect, forms part of a talented crop in the Under-20 race. For all concerned it is the start of a new Olympic cycle but one which, for Hawkins, might also pass through the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia where he will have the potential to contend.

“It is something I’m aiming at, to be up there,” he said. “There are other runners though who could move up to marathon and it could be quite strong.”