Scotland captain leads by example as Inverness athlete wins 5000 metres junior title at Manchester International
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MEGAN Keith won gold for Scotland when she took the 5000 metres junior title at the Manchester International on Wednesday night.
The Inverness Harriers athlete claimed victory when she crossed the line in 16 minutes 10.35 seconds.
Keith (19) was eight seconds ahead of England’s Phoebe Anderson who claimed silver recording a time of 16:18.75.
England’s Pippa Roessler was a distant third as she finished in 16:50.39.
Keith was also racing with the senior women at the same time where she was second overall, one second behind Beth Kidger of Wales.
She says it was good to run alongside the senior runners and was pleased with her own performance over the distance.
“The five kilometre race combined the seniors and juniors into one race which made it really exciting,” she said.
“It was close in the end and it was good for me to see how I matched up to the seniors. The race panned out differently than I thought it would as I thought the seniors might want to go and chase a fast time and I would hang on to their coattails and see what I could come up with.
“But due to the conditions not being the nicest, everyone bunched up early and ran as a group and not moving quickly through the first few kilometres.
“Having people to chase over the last two laps really helped get the extra bit out of me.
“I have only done one other five kilometre race this year and I was only two seconds off that time so I was really happy.”
Keith was also named as the Scotland under-20 squad captain at Manchester which she said was an honour.
“It was a nice surprise as I was only told at the team meeting the night before.
“I didn’t get put on the spot with a speech, but I really enjoyed that.
“Sadly I had to leave before the event ended to get to the airport, but I made sure I did cheering and pep talks for anyone who would listen. I was told to check in with people if they wanted advice so if anyone wanted motivation I was there.”
Keith is now planning to take a break for a couple of weeks before competing in the cross country season and is happy with how 2021 has gone.
“It has been so far so good running wise this year,” she said.
“I have definitely seen a huge change in how I approach and perform in racing from the start of the summer until now so I am happy with what I have done.”
