REEKIE LIVING THE DREAM FOR REAL
Jemma, growing up in North Ayrshire. Soon, she joined Kilbarchan AAC and later, at the age of 17, came under the tutelage of coach Andy Young.
“I joined the XC club at my primary school – Mrs Duncan was the coach – and I just loved it,” she recalled. “I think my first race was just a 1km in cross country but it still seemed far too long to me! I joined Kilbarchan AAC not long after that.
“There I was coached both by Arthur Smith and Alan Craig. They made me feel so welcome and so did all the girls in the group. I did track sessions at first and then grass sessions at the weekend. It was all about having fun at that age, really.
“I looked up to the likes of Claire Gibson [Scotland 2010 Commonwealth Games athlete] and Gwen Gillham at that time and Kilbarchan was like a family group to me then. I still talk to the coaches and keep in touch with some of the girls.
“I was with that group from the age of nine or 10 through to about 17 and it was hard to leave. But Arthur and Alan were good enough to say to me ‘We can’t take were you want to be’. They could see how I wanted to progress and they felt I would.
“A lot of people were asking me if I was going to go to a college in America on an athletics scholarship or go to Loughborough [around 2015], but as soon as I did the first sessions with Andy’s group, I wanted to grab that opportunity – although I felt I was too slow to join the group!
“I was a little nervous but that first day I bumped into Laura on the way into the track and she was really friendly. So was everyone else in the group. Andy put me at ease really quickly, too. But I was a very long way behind on the reps in the first session.”
Being coached by the man who has taken Laura Muir to five European medals, two World Indoors medals and two Diamond League titles has proved fruitful – for all three.
“After 18 months I went out to South Africa for a training camp with Andy and Laura and we really started to build relationships there,” said Jemma.
“I put my full trust in Andy. I didn’t want to do 1500m, really, because I felt I was coming from an 800m background. I didn’t tell him my reservations and just as well – because it has turned out pretty well for us!”