Ivy League puts O’Hare on track for a fine return
THE fancy Ivy League surroundings may occasionally cause Chris O’Hare to shake his head in bewilderment. He seems a little more at home in the wind, r ain and mud of Scotland.
For one of the toughest metric milers in athletics, though, the decision to move to Boston and train at the impeccable facilities of Harvard are about more than just comfortable surroundings. This is his finishing school, the place where he’ll learn the lessons needed to achieve his aim of winning Olympic and World Championship medals.
O’Hare, who has a European Championship bronze to show for his efforts in the incredibly tough world of 1,500metres running, is back on home soil this afternoon. He is looking to build up strength as he competes against an elite field in the Great Edinburgh Cross Country event at Holyrood Park.
On his radar this season are the European Indoor Championships and, later in the summer, the World Championships at Beijing’s famous Bird’s Nest stadium.
All of this looks more possible since teaming up with coach Terrence Mahon’s select group in New England. The former National Collegiate Athletic Association champion — who has been back in Scotland for a year since finishing his studies in Tulsa — is already seeing the benefits.
‘It’s a great set-up because we use Harvard University’s facilities,’ O’Hare said. ‘That speaks for itself. They’re not going to waste money on sub-par facilities.
‘And training is great. Terrence really knows what he’s doing. Certain aspects of my training had been neglected, not on purpose or because of a lack of knowledge, but there are so many people in a university programme that it’s difficult to get those one per cents that all add up.
‘Terrence is very scientific in his training. I already feel stronger than at this point last year.
‘There are four other guys and seven or eight girls, so it’s a goodsized group. The difference between college and professional level is that everyone is trying to help you.
‘At Tulsa, none of the other students were willing to point things out. With me being NCAA champion, they probably didn’t feel confident telling me they’d spotted something wrong. Now I’m among my peers — and it makes for a more constructive environment.
‘What’s Harvard like? The campus is a beautiful place. And Harvard students are exactly as you’d imagine — whether that’s good or bad! I don’t come in contact with them that much.’
Today’s event pits O’Hare against some outstanding talent, with Glasgow 2014 champion James Magut and the legendary Asbel Kiprop — a double World Champion and Olympic gold medal winner — taking part in the men’s 4k, just one of four elite senior events in a packed programme.
Despite managing to finish only sixth in the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow coming just too soon on his return from a hamstring injury, O’Hare definitely belongs in such exalted company.
The 24-year-old views his bronze from Zurich a couple of weeks later as ‘just another step’ on his road to greater things, explaining: ‘I can’t be elated at a bronze medal because there’s two better than that.
‘When you’re close enough that you have something material to hold on to, it focuses the mind on getting the gold at future events.
‘The bronze is something I’m very proud of but it’s just another step.
‘Beijing is the goal. The European Indoors is a step towards that — and Beijing is a step towards Rio and the Olympics next year.’
O’Hare is on familiar territory at Holyrood. The Edinburgh runner competed there in his youth, but insisted: ‘They’ve softened the course since I was a youngster. They used to have it go all the way up and round Haggis Knowe, but now it’s just a little bump beside the Knowe.
‘I remember doing it in my first year at the distance, I think I was about 17 and I was up against the great Kenenisa Bekele. I was three minutes behind him, maybe more.
‘I’ve wiped most cross- country from my mind. It’s more of a trauma than a memory!’