The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
MacLennan hoping to return with big impact
Mhairi MacLennan admits she has no idea how she’ll fare when representing Scotland in the Great Britain European cross country senior women’s team trial at Liverpool tomorrow.
The Inverness Harriers club member has taken part in just one race and one parkrun since ending her track season in July, but Scotland’s selectors have shown faith in the Edinburgh-based athlete, who has been a consistent performer at international level in recent years.
The Scottish cross country champion’s only serious competitive outing this season came earlier in the month when she finished 13th in the British cross challenge race at Milton Keynes.
MacLennan said: “It’s always an honour and privilege to pull on a Scotland vest... I have a track record of producing good performances when it matters.
“But it’s difficult to know how it might go at Liverpool. Until I went to Milton Keynes, I was hoping I’d have a real chance of making the GB team for the European
Championships in December.
“But I had a bad race there, although I had some personal stress a couple of days beforehand which had an impact on my run. My head just wasn’t in it.
“However, I know the performance isn’t representative of where I feel I am at the moment.
“I know from the times I’ve been getting in training that I’m close to being the fittest I’ve ever been. I’m obviously not race fit, but I’ve put in a lot of hard work.
“So I might go there and find I’m not as fit as I think I am, or the opposite might happen and I’ll have a great run. The pressure is off me to some extent as there’s no great expectations on me.”
Looking further ahead, MacLennan has her sights fixed firmly on the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
At one point she contemplated a bid for marathon selection, but is leaning towards 5,000m or 10,000m on the track.
MacLennan said: “The marathon is too soon for me. I haven’t even run a half marathon yet, although I’m planning to do one in the first few months of next year.
“I’m going to Spain for a training camp in January and I’m looking at a 10,000m in Portugal at the beginning of April with the aim of getting a quick time on the board early on in the season.
“Then there’s the British championship 10,000m at Highgate in May.
“The intention is to train for 10,000m plan and see what happens at 5,000m.
“I run better off endurance work, so if I train for 10,000m I might also run faster over 5,000m.
“My 5,000m PB is closer to the Commonwealth qualifying standard than my 10,000m PB, so we’ll see.”