Buoyant Boyek back on track with cross-country triumph

AFTER spending two lean years at Loughborough, Cameron Boyek returned to his North East base where he has linked up with his former coach David Lowes.

And the partnership hit it off straight away as the Shildon athlete stormed to victory in last weekend’s Scottish Short Course (4k) CrossCountry Championships in Kirkcaldy.

The former European Junior and Under-23 1,500 metres international did contest the recent Sherman Cup race in South Shields and, after tracking eventually winner Carl Avery for two-thirds of the way, drifted back to eventually cross the line in 11th place.

Happily, however, that was just a minor setback before taking on the Scottish event where Boyek showed a clean pair of heels to a number of fellow internationals.

“Naturally, I was happy to win the Scottish Short Course title after my disappointment at Temple Park, though I knew why I cramped up in the second half of the race,’’ said Boyek, Cameron Boyek breaks the tape in Kirkcaldy; inset, Boyek en route to victory Cameron Boyek whose next outing is this weekend when he races over 2,000m indoors in Sheffield. “I had just completed a course of antibiotics before the Sherman Cup race, and while I felt comfortable in the early stages I started to get pains in my chest which forced me to ease back.

“I don’t think I would have got the better of Carl though even if I hadn’t eased off for he was really strong.

“That, though, didn’t get to me for I knew I was in decent shape with training going really well with David now advising me once again.

“Hopefully, the short course win will be the springboard to a good winter, for I feel I’ve lost a couple of years in my time in Loughborough as a full-time athlete. I’ve a part-time job back home now and I feel in a much better place. There’s plenty to look forward too in the coming weeks, starting with an outing indoors this weekend in Sheffield.

“If I run well then it could well put me in good stead for a place in the GB team for the European Cross-Country Championships next month where there will be a 4x1,500m relay.

“Then at the turn of the year there is also a 4x1k relay at the big Edinburgh Cross-Country International, a race I was part of the winning Scotland team in January.

“So, there’s a lot happening now and if I can recover the form I was showing a few years ago then you never know I may find myself in the GB team for the Indoor World Championships!’’