Maclennan called up to world championship squad
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Mhairi Maclennan has been called up to the Great Britain squad for the World Cross Country Championship.
The Kirkhill athlete has been named in the 24-strong team which will compete at Aarhus in Denmark later this month.
Having competed in a Great Britain vest previously, this will be the first time she has represented her country on the world stage.
Maclennan said despite an impressive cross country career, she never thought she would receive the call-up to compete at the world championship.
“I always had it in the back of my mind and I thought it would be great to be selected and get to go.
“But I never thought that I could do it.
“I have raced for Great Britain before.
“But that was at an Edinburgh International and the selection is a lot more informal.
“But this selection involved me having to qualify to get into the team.”
Maclennan will be running against a world class field in Denmark on Saturday, March 30.
Despite saying she doesn’t expect to be one of the main challengers to win it, she says the course will suit her running style.
“The course looks brutal as over 10km there will be 25 hills.
“I have looked at past results and seen where other British women have finished and what I think would be a realistic aim.
“I would like to finish in the top-50.
“It looks like a course that will suits my strengths. “Hopefully that will help me have a good result.
“This will be about soaking up the experience and learning as much as I possibly can from all of it.
“I am not going for individual medals or team medals.
“There will be people from Europe who I will want to beat. I know where I should or shouldn’t be in European standards.
“But in world standards having a good race in that depth of a field, you want to learn as much as possible.”
This year Maclennan is aiming to break into a track career.
She hopes her cross country performances can help her achieve that aim.
“2019 has been a big learning curve where there have been good races and not so good races.
“I’m riding the wave and learn from every race. I am looking at cross country as a solid building block towards track this year as opposed to me putting too much emphasis on competing in cross country.”
