Slimmed-down Glen back in pursuit of ex-room-mate Kerr

Room-mates upon their arrival at the University of New Mexico, Jonny Glen and Josh Kerr left Scotland with ambitions to firstly conquer America and then take on the world. The latter is now among the middle-distance elite. His former colleague has gone from teenage prodigy to the periphery of the fray.

Yet in coming second at Saturday’s Lindsay’s Scottish cross-country championships in Falkirk, the 23-yearold can peer ahead with confidence rather than despair.

Outpaced by title winner Jamie Crowe in horrendous snow and rain, Glen has renewed his ambitions to play catch-up with Kerr.

“Josh was always phenomenal and he taught me a lot,” he said. “People can look up to him. I was running really well when I went over to the States and it didn’t really go the way

I wanted to go. I put on a lot of weight. It was tough without my parents there. I just didn’t seem to get better.”

Reunited with endurance guru Mark Pollard and establishing a career as a personal trainer, he has shed kilos and upped the ante. A possible switch to the steeplechase beckons in the summer.

“I’ve got my diet sorted and we’ve got big plans for the future,” he proclaimed. “Trying to make it back into GB teams or a Commonwealth Games. But these things take time. It’s been a lot of hard work since I came back. But I’m happy with where I’m at and that it’s started to pay off again.”

Crowe paced Central AC to a tenth men’s team title in a row while Annabel Simpson drove Fife AC to women’s supremacy in coming second to Great Britain international Mhairi Maclennan. It was hard not to admire every participant in Callendar Park.

“It’s absolute madness,” Simpson admitted. “But you have to do it.”