Such is the confidence and character of Callum Hawkins and Andrew Butchart these days that it was barely a shock to see the Caledonian crusaders matching each other, stride for stride, at the head of the field in the European cross-country championships in Chia.
The two have journeyed in unison through such winter wonderlands as Cumbernauld and Falkirk to make favourable impressions on their respective Olympic debuts in the sunny paradise of Rio. And although it was Hawkins who was left to write the historical footnote of becoming the first Scotsman to ever land a senior medal at this event, both concluded 2016 with another substantial addition to their bodies of work.
In a four-way break at the front of the field, it was Butchart who faded first. Hawkins dug in but was eventually dropped by the Kenyan-born duo Aras Kaya and Polat Kemboi Arikan who drove clear to complete a 1-2 for Turkey.
“I felt like I was losing time over them, but when I got back on the flats it was about trying to break the two Turks,” Hawkins, 24, admitted. “But they were too strong for me. They got a gap on me going into the second long lap and I held up, but I didn’t have the gears to get back on.
“I think between me and Andy that one day he’ll probably beat me and the next I’ll beat him – it’s that even between us, but we both went for it. We’ve both only really been at it properly in the sport for 4-5 years too, so we’ve still got a long time left in our careers.”
Still, Butchart picked up a team gold for his efforts as Great Britain and Northern Ireland topped the overall standings with a total of ten medals with every member of the 36-strong squad making a trip to the podium. But the Olympic 5000m finalist regretted rien of his valiant attempt to pursue victory.
“Callum delivered a medal and has put a lot of work in, but I definitely think if you want to beat the top guys you have to go for it, and for us to be that close to them and compete properly against them is great to see,” the GB&NI team captain said. “You never want to come off that course and think ‘I could have given it that bit more’, and I think that myself and Callum have both killed ourselves out there. He’s got a medal and we’ve won team gold, so it’s amazing to see that.”
The controversial issue of Turkey’s exploitation of international transfers was further highlighted by the victory of Kenyan-born Yasemin Can in the senior women’s race where Steph Twell came sixth to land the 14th Euro Cross medal of her career. The 27-year-old, whose 2016 peaked with European 5,000m bronze on the track, lost out in a four-way tangle for bronze but had the consolation of team silver.
“I think the girls thought we had a different race going on and that was quite enjoyable as we could battle with one another,” the Scotland internationalist said. “Can is an athlete we have to compete against regularly so it is about judging where you are now and pushing harder.
“I haven’t raced too much recently so this was a good indication to see where I am,” she said. “I am over the moon with my year as a whole; I’ve performed well at all four championships I have gone to so I couldn’t be happier.”
Edinburgh AC’s ten prospect Josh Kerr was 14th in the men’s Under-20 race where Mahamed Mahamed came third to lead GB&NI to team bronze. There were also team golds for the women’s Under-20 and Under-23 line-ups with Harriet Knowles-Jones and Alice Wright earning solo bronzes while the Under-23 men secured team bronze.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here