Inverness Harriers athlete Stephen MacKay impresses in 800 metres race in Glasgow
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Four weeks of altitude training in the United States with one of Scotland’s Tokyo Olympic finalists is now paying dividends for Scotland internationalist Stephen MacKay.
He posted his second top class indoor performance in a week at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena on Saturday.
MacKay ran an impressive 1 minute 50.85 seconds in an invitation 800 metres race for leading Scottish distance athletes.
This saw him go head to head with Falkirk rival Kane Elliott who edged the win by just 0.08 seconds. However the Inverness runner’s time, the fastest ever by a Highland athlete indoors, takes him him straight into third place in the Scottish indoor rankings.
The previous weekend he posted another personal best of 79.65 sec for 600 metres.
These performances over shorter distances should now be a major asset as he prepares to address his main event, the 1500 metres.
Before Christmas, the 29-year-old spent a month in Arizona as the altitude training partner of Olympic 1500m finalist Jake Wightman.
The expedition followed earlier spells abroad with other leading British runners Andrew Butchart, Jemma Reekie and Olympic silver medalist Laura Muir.
This latest trip was assisted by High Life Highland’s Athlete Travel Awards Scheme and he is sure that it is now paying dividends.
“I was actually quite tired when I first got back home, but now I’m feeling the real benefits of the work I did out there,” he said.
“It’s certainly made a difference to what will be short indoor season before going outdoors in the summer. In particular, I’m really pleased that I’ve been running fast even over shorter distances which is hopefully promising for 1500m later on.”
MacKay returns to the Emirates yet again on Saturday for his first indoor 1500 metres of the winter where he hopes to benefit from the sharpness he has already shown over the shorter distances.
