Neil Gourley was in no doubt regarding the scale of the challenge confronting him if he is to get to major events in future after just missing out on a podium spot at the British Championships in Birmingham but his reaction reflected the attitudes that are serving Scottish athletics well.
On a weekend that saw 18 Scots win medals, the 22-year-old Glaswegian who is based at Virginia Tech in the US, was among a further five who took fourth placed finishes while there were 29 top five finishes overall and while he accepted that three compatriots – Chris O’Hare, Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman - filling the podium in his discipline makes even a place in the Scotland team for the Commonwealth Games a remote prospect, he was clearly thrilled.
“Three Scottish boys one, two three. I couldn’t live with them today but it’s absolutely fantastic,” said Gourley.
“If you’re going to get beaten by anyone it’s these guys. I’ve known them for a while and they all work so hard, especially Jake. We’ve been rivals for a long time and he’s running fantastic so it was brilliant to be a part of it. Josh has got the better of me every time thus far, too. He’s been flying this year, a bit of a breakthrough year for him and it’s good to see him doing so well.”
Delighted as he was for his colleagues and as satisfied as he was with his own performance, he joked about considering a change of event.
“Outside of Kenya it’s the toughest 1500m team to make for sure,” he observed.
“I’d even half thought about the 800, because at the moment in the 1500 I’m not going to get picked. That’s just the strength of Scottish middle distance running right now, it’s incredible.”
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