One of the outstanding performances at the 2023 SPAR European Cross Country Championships just over a week ago was Megan Keith’s victory in the women’s U23 race.
The British runner ran away from a classy field in Brussels to take gold by a staggering 83-second winning margin, by far the largest in the 29 year history of the championships and more than double the previous 'record'.
The muddy 7km course presented a hardcore test of endurance for the continent’s leading off- road runners. But for Keith, it is the type of terrain on which she was nurtured in her native Scotland.
Her father Alec is a successful runner in his own right, and a stalwart of the thriving Scottish hill running scene so the mountainous and rugged local landscape in their part of Britain soon became second nature to his young daughter,
“I started doing cross country races back home in the wind and the rain in the Highlands of Scotland," she remembers from her early days in the sport. “My dad is a very keen cross country and hill racer, so my sister and I would go to races when we were kids. It was a family affair.
“My family were also into lots of outdoor activities and orienteering is one of them. As a junior, I competed for Scotland and Great Britain and went to the junior World and European Championships, so that is what I spent a lot of my teenage years doing alongside cross country.”
Taking inspiration from Farah, Muir and Reekie
Keith has also drawn inspiration from her close proximity to leading British runners.
“We always hosted the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country where there would be the likes of Mo Farah (four-times Olympic champion) at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. I remember being completely inspired by these superstars,” she reminisced.
More recently the successes of Scottish female distance runners including the recently-retired 2012 European 800m gold medallist Lynsey Sharp, Tokyo Olympic Games 1500m silver medallist Laura Muir, 2022 European 10,000m silver medallist Eilish McColgan as well as world and Olympic 800m finalist Jemma Reekie have shown the way for Keith.
It has been particularly impactful for Keith when athletes of such calibre compete at domestic cross country events.
“It’s extremely inspiring to see the likes of Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie turning up to compete cross country with us in the winter and then absolutely smashing it in the summer,” she added.
Now Keith looks like being the latest extraordinary endurance talent to roll off the Scottish distance running conveyor belt.
She first came to prominence in 2021, placing fourth over 3000m at the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tallinn and later that year won gold in the U20 race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Dublin.
But it wasn’t until this summer that she made a real impact on the track by grabbing her first major track title, winning 5000m gold at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Espoo by a big margin.
“That was a special one,” she reflected, thinking back to her U23 gold. “I knew at some point I would be able to translate my cross country form onto the track. But it was special to be able to do it in Finland this summer.”
It was a breakthrough summer in every sense as she then went on to go under 15 minutes for the first time over 5000m when clocking 14:56.98 at the Diamond League meeing in London to gain selection for the World Athletics Championships a month later.
Budapest was her debut at senior international level and although she was eliminated in the heats, it was an invaluable development opportunity for the 21-year-old who still has one more season left in the U23 ranks before she becomes a fully-fledged senior.
“I learned that a whole new different style of racing goes on at senior championships. I was trying to soak up the experience as much as I could."
Cautious optimism after being on the boil in Brussels
And with a huge summer approaching, including both the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships and then the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Keith is beginning to warm to the tasks ahead albeit with sensibly cautious optimism.
“Obviously I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t love to be there [in Rome and Paris] but I try to be as realistic as much as I can and focus on the things I can do, like trying to hit the qualifying time and then if that goes to plan, have a good performance at trials, and then selections are obviously out of my hands.
“I think from my form this winter and from my training, that I can take another step on. I’m excited to do the best I can. That is the plan.”
This year is not the first time Keith has found the recipe for success. In 2015 she also won a prestigious cooking competition in which she became a regional champion.
“There was a time in my life when I was set on being a chef and going on the Great British Bake Off (a UK television show),” she says. “So, I did Scottish Schools Masterchef and I made it to the Scottish final, cooking all kinds of fine-dining dishes. But I realised that the running track was probably more up my street.”
And if Keith can continue her sizzling form through to the summer, then appearances in Rome and Paris could be the icing on the cake for the talented Scot.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics