Five Tayside athletes get international recognition

FIVE Tayside athletes have been called up to the international stage, representing Scotland and Great Britain at the world’s biggest championships.

Team GB track trio Eilidh Doyle, Laura Muir and Eilish McColgan will head to Birmingham next month to compete in the World Indoor Championships.

Dundee gymnast Sofia Ramzan and Montrose squash player Lisa Aitken have also been added to Scotland’s 211-strong travelling party for April’s Commonwealth Games in Australia’s Gold Coast.

Dundee Hawhill Harriers Muir and McColgan will both race in the 1,500m and 3,000m events, while Kinross-shire hurdler Doyle runs in the 400m and 4x400m relay.

Muir will be looking to build on her double European indoor crowns with more podiums at Arena Birmingham from March 1-4.

A further five Scots make up the British team, over a quarter of the home contingent.

“It’s really good to see that there are some youngsters coming through on the coat-tails of some of the more established athletes and thinking, ‘I’ll have a piece of that as well’,” said Scottish Athletics performance director Roger Harkins.

“We would hope that we could win a few medals but it’s really interesting to see the British team and the proportion of Scottish athletes in that. It’s really impressive.”

Late additions to Team Scotland Aitken and Ramzan trained with the rest of the squad in Dunblane today for the final camp ahead of the games.

Ramzan took three individual silver medals, including the all-around at the 2017 Scottish Artistic Gymnastics Championships and joins up for the Women’s Team Event.

With Gold Coast her first experience of Commonwealth Games competition, she will look to build on recent international success. She won three medals at the Malar Cup International plus a gold and bronze at the Stormarn Cup in 2017.

Jon Doig OBE, Team Scotland Chef de Mission said: “Today has been a fantastic opportunity for athletes and staff to get to know each other and come together as one team before heading to Australia over the coming weeks.

“The information they have received will stand them in great stead for Gold Coast.”