Jamie pays tribute to coach John after Scottish 10,000m title joy

Saturday 29th April 2023

Our Men’s medallists in the Scottish 10,000m as Jamie Burnes in flanked by silver medallist Michael Ferguson of Aberdeen and Inverclyde AC’s John Bell (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Results on Power of 10

Jamie Burns turned his 25-lap debut into a golden run at the Scottish 10,000m Champs on his home track in Glasgow.

And then the Shettleston Harriers athlete handed the credit to highly-regarded coach, John Montgomery.

It was a double for John, in fact, with the Women’s winner from Glasgow Uni Hare and Hounds, Sophie Chisholm, also one of his current charges.

Burns won an exciting race after a great battle with Michael Ferguson which saw both run under 30 minutes with the winning time 29:46.95 and the Aberdeen AAC athlete – no doubt with emotions strongly focused on the late Joyce Hogg – at 29:52.37.

John Bell took the bronze in a tight finish with Ryan Thomson with both at 30:02 and separated by only 14 hundredths of a second after half an hour of running.

‘It’s the first time I have run the 10,000m on the track and my first Senior Scottish gold in any discipline,’ said Jamie.

‘I’ve been in the sport since I was a young lad at Shettleston and been close once or twice before. So I give all the credit for that win and a big PB to my coach John Montgomery.

‘John has so much experience and knowledge and is a great coach. He’s coached multiple Scottish champions and medallists over many years and I don’t think he gets the recognition he deserves.

‘Fraser Stewart, of Cambuslang, is one of his athlete and Fraser is picking up road race medals now. He also coaches Sophie, the Glasgow Uni athlete who won the Women’s race tonight.

‘Michael went ahead of me with about four laps remaining but the gap wasn’t too big and I manged to claw it back.

‘When I went beyond him with just under 800m left, I felt I had to really make it a significant lead or he would just sit on me (as he did earlier in the race). The tactics paid off.’

Chisholm clocked 37:05.42 to win the Women’s gold with silver for Jill Smylie of Giffnock North with 38:48.11 and bronze for Lisa Finlay of Dumfries at 40:00.42. There were Masters golds there for Jill at W40 and Lisa at W50.

‘It was great to have a pace-maker there for much of the race and he (Mark Docherty) did an excellent job,’ said Sophie.

‘I fell off a bit towards the end because I have actually never run on the track in spikes! I think I will try some shorter ones now like BMC meets, maybe 3000m.’

Women’s winner Sophie Chisholm (Glasgow Uni) is joined by silver medallist Jill Smylie (Giffnock North) (on right) and bronze medallist Lisa Finlay (Dumfries RC)

Good turnout and good pace-making once again made this meet, organised by the Glasgow Athletics Association and under the auspices of the British Milers Club, the perfect venue for the Scottish 100,000m Champs.

Making it feel very much like covering the country were a couple of athletes racing in Stornoway RAC colours.

Jonathan Fairgrieve actually flew from the Western Isles on Thursday for the race and flew home on Saturday.

‘We don’t get too many 10,000m track race opportunities in Stornoway,’ he grinned.

Bobby Young was grinning again, too, as the Clydesdale Harriers athlete collected M75 gold. Bobby clocked 46:26.70.

‘How many Scottish Athletics medals is that?’ he was asked.

‘Well, that’s Number 92,’ he said. ‘I’m definitely aiming for 100 medals but I am not taking anything for granted.’

Forever Young, in fact . . .