OBAN marathon runner Susan Partridge is adamant she could have gone even faster despite yesterday recording the best result of her career at the World Athletics Championships.
The 33-year-old arrived in Russia ranked 95th in the world but quickly made a mockery of her standing as she climbed to 22nd at the 20km stage.
And despite the blistering Moscow heat, Partridge did not let up, continuing through the field to cross the finish line in the Luzhniki Stadium in 10th in 2:36.24.
This was only Partridge's second World Championships outing and, having finished 24th in Daegu two years ago, the Scot was able to toast a job well done in the Russian capital. But despite breaking into the world's top 10, Partridge, who splits her time between training and working as a researcher at University of Leeds, believes her Russian adventure could have been even better still.
"I started off and I was way back and for a minute I did wonder if I had been a little bit too cautious," she said.
"But if I had been too cautious, I knew I could come back more quickly as I know from experience - having done so in Korea two years ago, and Barcelona, which was a really hot one - that the heat doesn't hit you fully until later on in the race.
"So for me it was just getting my rhythm going and I didn't really think about the times or even paying attention to the kilometre markers - it was all about looking at the next person in front of me and trying to get past them. It was a proper race in that sense.
"People were telling me where I was in the race but I was still quite surprised - but obviously really happy too. There were bits that I wanted to run harder but I felt that I had run within myself and that there was more there.
"But it is not the same in the heat. You try to push a bit harder and you kind of wilt a little bit, like there is nothing there, so it was probably not far off what I could have done. Maybe I could have gone a little faster but that was really good."
There was plenty more for the Scottish contingent to shout about yesterday as Eilish McColgan ran a personal best to set a national record of 9:35.82 minutes in qualifying for the final of the 3000m steeplechase on Tuesday.
Having failed to reach the final at London 2012 and after a season hindered by a shin injury, the 22-year-old was delighted with her Russian bow. "I'm so happy," she said. "I honestly couldn't have asked for any more than just to be at the start line after the year I've had with injury. I knew I was catching them the whole way and I've run a PB. So it was worth all those months of lying around and all I want to do in the final now is go out there and run another PB."
Ben Baker
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