Getting the better of his captain Andy Butchart to lead the British team to victory in the European Cross Country Championships last weekend has capped what Callum Hawkins regards as ‘the best year of my life’.

The 24-year-old Kilbarchan AC runner finished the senior men’s race in Chia with a bronze medal behind Turkish pair Aras Kaya and Polat Kemboi Afrikan with Butchart and London 2012 10,000 metres finalist Andy Vernon occupying the next two places, which meant Ben Connor’s 16th place was sufficient to fend off a powerful Spanish team that packed it’s four counting athletes into sixth, seventh, eighth and 11th places.

The quality of the collective effort was such that another Olympian, Ross Millington, was the last of the six man team home in 32nd spot overall, feeding the growing belief that for all that Mo Farah, African born like Turkey’s Kaya and Afrikan, has led the way, a new golden age of homegrown British distance may be upon us.

“I think that is the strongest senior men’s team we’ve had, maybe ever,” Hawkins suggested afterwards.

“We have four Olympians and in our top four we had a sub 13:10 guy (over 5000m), a sub 61 guy (at half marathon) and two sub 28 guys (at 10km). It is a really strong team and we are really pleased to come out with the gold.”

In terms of maximising interest domestically, particularly in Scotland, his friendly rivalry with Butchart meanwhile has the potential, if properly marketed, to add an extra dimension.

A quick check of Scottish Athletics records makes the score 4-4 between the two at senior level and it has been very much tit for tat. In 2014 Butchart won the Leeds Abbey Dash over 10K while Hawkins got his revenge at the British Cross Challenge trials in Liverpool soon afterwards. Hawkins also won that year’s Scottish Cross Country Championships ahead of Butchart who reversed that the following year, while at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country Butchart finished ahead of Hawkins only for it to be the other way around last year.

There is, of course, little prospect of that taking on a latter day Ovett-Coe dynamic since their summer disciplines are so different.

Butchart made his mark over 10,000 metres last season while Hawkins got the BBC pundits all of a fluster when he led the Olympic marathon before going on to show just how strong a front runner he can be when winning the Great Scottish Run over half marathon distance, in spectacular style in October.

However there is bound to be increasing interest whenever they are pitted against one another while any success either of them achieves is likely to help drive on the other, not least by boosting confidence that they have emerged from an environment that is still capable of producing elite athletes.

Their willingness to take it to the very best meanwhile once again generated misplaced consternation in the commentary box on Sunday when they set a fierce early pace in seeking to challenge the Turkish pair, Hawkins admitting afterwards that the way team captain Butchart had set out had caused him problems before he then came on stronger in the second half of the race.

After years of African dominance of endurance racing the lead Butchart quite literally offered may not have been rewarded with the personal glory he was targeting, but reinforced the impression of the change of mindset that his compatriot’s audacity in Rio had signalled both during the race and afterwards when the Central AC runner explained that the only way to beat the top runners is to have the courage to go for it against them.

Both will doubtless learn from Sunday’s experience, but there is a sense that they have even surprised themselves in the past year as Hawkins indicated.

“2016 has been the best year of my life,” he said.

“At this point last year when I was trying to get the Olympic qualifying time, I could never imagine all this would have happened. Ninth in the Olympics, running a sub 61 half Marathon and a medal here… the last few months have just been incredible.”

With brother Derek also having made it into the Olympic marathon field Hawkins paid tribute to the contribution of dad Robert who coaches them.

“It has been a long time coming and three years of really hard work. I’ve always been headstrong but I’ve probably got it from my dad. His mentality has certainly rubbed off on me,” he said.

And even if it has not been of the overnight variety his success is now breeding success in terms of gaining the sort of recognition that allows him to be more strategic in his planning as he seeks to make the New Year - which may well see him in action in Scotland right at the outset at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country meet – just as memorable.

“Getting the pre-selection last week for the London 2017 World Champs marathon was a big boost to me,” said Hawkins.

“It was just a big weight off my shoulders because now we make all the plans around August next year, rather than the London Marathon in April. I said all along I really wasn’t keen to do two marathons in London in quick succession so I was really pleased when we were told by British Athletics that the selection had been secured by finishing top ten in Rio.”