Muir enjoys the mother and father of all homecomings
THERE was an emotional homecoming at Glasgow Airport last night as Laura Muir was reunited with her parents Alison and Crawford as she returned to Scotland with two World Championship medals.
You will have read no doubt by now plenty about the 24-year-old’s nine-hour taxi journey through the snow on Wednesday evening to get to the Arena Birmingham where she won 3000m bronze medal and 1500m silver, but less wellknown is that her mum and dad, granny and great Aunt were unable to join her.
Having just about managed to get enough supplies in to keep them going for the weekend, all four watched the events from the family home in Milnathort after a series of cancelled flights on Thursday morning caused a last-minute rethink in their plans to fly down to the venue.
“It was completely unexpected. I didn’t expect them to be here,” said a tearful Muir. “You think Birmingham would be an easy one to get to but it didn’t really turn out that way! The four of them were all due to go down so at least they were all together. Like everyone else they managed to stay indoors.
“She didn’t get any flowers on the podium so I thought I would bring some myself,” said her mum Alison, who came straight from dropping her two elderly relatives back up in Dundee.
“I am so proud of what she has achieved, it is all down to hard work and the sacrifices she has made. She has had to restrict her social life and she never even has puddings, we all feel bad when we have her over to dinner and we are all having them!”
Still 24, Muir has time on her side to collect many more medals, but her priority is returning to her veterinary training. Her coach Andy Young will give her the week off, but in general she will continue running six times a week along with her studies.
While Young has helped bring Muir on leaps and bounds, she too paid tribute to the sacrifices made by her parents.
“I guess I progressed more when I was at Uni and a bit more independent, but I guess even that all stemmed from my parents taking me to athletics clubs between the ages of about 11 and 18,” she said.
“They would take me training three times a week, maybe stay in the car and do a little bit of work. There would be competition every other weekend and be out stand out in the rain at cross country, in fields with the wellies on and making sandwiches. They were always very supportive.
“You know when I was younger, I wasn’t winning races. I was coming last and things like that, but they were always very supportive no matter what.
“I never really thought back then that I was going to make a profession out of this, that I was going to be champion.
“I just did the sport because I enjoyed it. It is nice now to have the results which go along with the enjoyment. It is nice to get the recognition and be able to let them enjoy performances like this weekend.”