CALLUM Hawkins got the full returning warrior treatment as he returned to the Team Scotland camp with a clean bill of health yesterday after an ordeal which Rodger Harkins, the scottishathletics performance director, said was a throwback to the darker days of distance running.
“I’d like to say a huge thanks to all the medical staff at Gold Coast University Hospital for their care over the last 24 hours," said the 25-year-old from Elderslie, who is thought to be staying on in Australia for a few days while most of the team return. "It’s great to now be back with my teammates."
Harkins, present at the finishing line at the Southport Broadwater Parklands, was as horrified as anyone by the scenes which unfolded in the final mile of a race which became a grim battle to survive amid 30-degree temperatures at the height of the hottest day of the year in this corner of Queensland. Hawkins was kept in overnight at the Gold Coast University hospital after collapsing twice in the closing stages of the race and surrendering his lead to native Gold Coaster Michael Shelley. As shocking as it was to witness a world class runner like Hawkins in such a state, it was a story Harkins had seen many times over.
“I’ve not seen that for years – and it is hard to watch,” said Harkins. “We were all just hoping Callum was OK. The marathon starting a bit later than normal probably had some effect. But it had the same effect on everybody, if you see what I mean. Lots of the front runners were falling back and Robbie Simpson was able to pick them off.
“Would I rather have seen an earlier start?" he added. "It’s unfair because you don’t know what the weather is going to be. It’s hard to predict it.
"We’ve been out here for six weeks and Callum has been doing a lot of really good training. So there’s no blame to be apportioned, in that respect. It’s just one of those things – but something I’ve not seen for a long, long time.”
It almost goes without saying with an athlete of Hawkins’ class that you can’t keep a good man down for long. “Without a shadow of a doubt, he’ll be back,” said Harkins. “Callum is an absolutely awesome athlete. He will be disappointed on reflection. But he is an amazing athlete who will definitely bounce back.”
In addition to five weeks acclimatising out in the Sunshine Coast, Team Scotland's support network had freshly chilled hats and drinks at each aid station. It remains unclear why Hawkins went a stretch of the race without a hat on and didn't take any water at the final station.
“There was meticulous preparation,” said Harkins. “The hats were there to cool the athletes. They had drinks and a cold hat to put on at the drinks stations. It was about keeping your head cool. We weren’t sure how it would work. But we got feedback, saying that when they took the caps off, they were still cool.
“He was only 200 metres away from an aid station when it happened," he added. "But, when that happens to people, they used to call it hitting the wall. When that happens, it’s horrible. Just horrible to watch."
As dramatic as it all was, it remained important that the storming run of Robbie Simpson for bronze wasn't overshadowed. Indeed the fact that the 26-year-old, much of whose best work has been done in endurance events like mountain running, came through only proves how tough the conditions were and how well prepared the Scotland team was. He too had been training with Hawkins for five weeks.
"It’s fantastic for Robbie," said Harkins. "I spoke to him when we were travelling to the race on the bus. He said he was just going to feel his way into the race and see how things developed. For Robbie, that was crucial and beneficial.
"Where other people were looking to push on and maybe make a difference, he just stayed and went Steady Eddie all the way through. While we all hoped that Callum was OK, I don’t want to take the shine off what Robbie’s done.
"Scottish Athletics have an endurance programme that’s been running a number of years now. It was initially led by Mike Johnson and the mantle has been taken up by Mark Pollard, who has been absolutely instrumental in getting Scottish middle distance and long distance where it is now."
Simpson's bronze was athletics fifth medal of the games, one more than they got in Glasgow. This was no mean feat considering that three of our top medal hopes - Laura Muir, Andy Butchart and Hawkins - for one reason or another were unable to contribute.
"When you consider that Laura was out, Andy Butchart was out, Jax Thoirs had to withdraw from the pole vault injured, there are some at home who could have come here and challenged, as well," said Harkins. "The athletes here have done themselves, their families and their countries proud.”
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