Inverness Harriers athlete looking for success at National Masters in Dundee
HELEN Leigh is looking to put herself in contention for national glory this weekend after being crowned North Cross Country League champion.
The Inverness Harriers athlete is set to make her debut at the National Masters Cross Country Championships on Saturday after meeting the age requirement of turning 40.
The firefighter, who works in Inverness, but lives in Dingwall, is looking to push on from her success of winning the North Cross Country League women’s championship for the first time.
She was dominant throughout the season as she won all four races she competed in at Evanton, Peterhead, Nairn and Forres to take the overall title.
Now Leigh, who is originally from Blackburn in Lancashire, is looking forward to finding out how she fares against top runners from across the country.
She said: “I am preparing for the Scottish Masters in Dundee on Saturday and it will be nice to know where I stand against the speed merchants.
“I would like a shot at the title, but we will see how things go. I will go all guns blazing.”
Leigh says she is going into the competition full of confidence following her success at the North Cross Country League. She won the women’s title with East Sutherland Athletics Club athlete Ross Gollan winning the men’s title.
She says each race presented different challenges, but her background in hill running gave her an advantage during the season.
She said: “I was quietly hopeful that I could be successful.
“I have had a good year of training, but there are some really fast girls in the league and you never know who is going to rock up at some of these races.
“I never thought that I was definitely going to win, but after the first couple of races that I won, I was confident that I could win.
“Nairn is always a joy running on the beach into a headwind which always makes it a tough. But it suited me as I come from a hill running background.
“The fact the courses are not cross country like suits me. They are strength related which puts it in my favour.”
Leigh was an accomplished athlete in track and cross cross country running at junior level before switching sports to rowing.
She then returned to triathlon and hill running which she has been doing for the last decade.
Since moving to the Highlands two years ago and joining Inverness Harriers, Leigh says that the club has helped improve her as an athlete.
She said: “I train with coach Ross Cairns at Inverness Harriers and have gone from strength to strength. I didn’t expect to get this fast again and it is going well. I am not sure where it is going to land but I would like to get my 10k time down.
“Being with the Inverness Harriers has brought me on so much and training with Ross has made me astronomically faster.
“I am training with a really good group and it has made me faster.”
Read: Nairn hosts over 200 runners in the fourth round of the North Cross Country League race
