Winter runs had promise of much to come

North-east distance runner Cameron Strachan was aiming for a track breakthrough this summer after fine winter performances.

However, the wholesale cancellation of competitions because of coronavirus put the Scotland international’s aspirations on hold.

Strachan set a Metro Aberdeen club indoor 3,000m track record 8:15.12 when finishing fourth at January’s Scottish championships in Glasgow.

In an outstanding run at the Armagh international 5K road race in February he recorded 13min 58sec, the fastest time ever by a north-east athlete.

The previous fastest by any Aberdeen runner on any surface was Ian Matheson’s 14:18.90 on the track in 1989.

He said: “I was looking forward to building on these performances. I was going to focus on the track and get some good 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 races under my belt. I was even going to try a 1500 just to help with my speed.

“But none of it happened. I’m just glad I was able to get a few races done at the beginning of the year.”

There is still great uncertainty as to when regular races might return but Britishathletics has confirmed that its track and field championships will go ahead in September at Manchester Sports City.

Strachan said: “There’s a 5,000m there but I don’t know if I’d get a place. The qualifying time is 13:57.50, while my Armagh time is 0.5 seconds slower than that. And because my time was on the road as opposed to the track, it might not count.

“I’ll look into the possibility, but it’s not one I’d say I’ll definitely be doing.”