Runner MacKay gets second call to train with Olympian
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British 1500m finalist Stephen MacKay is set for a second overseas trip to train at altitude with one of the world’s leading athletes.
The 27-year-old spent May in Switzerland with Laura Muir and has now accepted an invitation to go to Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees to help Olympic 5000m finalist Andrew Butchart prepare for next month’s World Championships in Doha.
MacKay will leave on Sunday for two weeks at 6000 feet at the resort close to the Spanish border.
The two athletes are already known to each other following a training session when Butchart visited Inverness in 2017.
“It’s very pleasing to be invited again to something like this after training with Laura in May,” MacKay said.
“That was a big benefit to my summer season.
“I improved by three seconds in the 1500m and won a silver medal in the 800m at the Scottish Championships.
“These opportunities not only improve your performance, they also provide a lot of experience by giving you an insight into how full time athletes operate.”
MacKay broke Inverness Harriers’ 1500m club record this summer with 3:47.59 and reached last weekend’s British final. At 800m he got within one second of the Harriers record with 1:50.86 before winning Scottish Championship silver.
World junior para athletics medallist Abbie McNally contests the weekend’s England Athletics Under-20 Para Championships in sprints and long jump.
Inverness Harriers contest tomorrow’s final Division One match in the Scottish Men’s League where they have already avoided relegation. Then on Sunday the club mobilises all of its forces for the final of the regional RAM League in Aberdeen.
