Olympic Games athlete Megan Keith explained how running came to the fore when she excelled in the sport of orienteering.
The 22-year-old will be going for glory along with her Team GB and fellow Scot speedster Eilish McColgan in the women’s 10,000m on Friday, August 9 in the Games in Paris.
She’ll be aiming to put in a sparkling performance in front of 80,000 fans in the Stade de France within a field of 29 runners.
Keith is a former European and World Youth Championship gold medal winner in orienteering, a sport which combines running and navigational skills.
Keith’s strength was always running
The Inverness Harrier, who studies sports science at the University of Edinburgh, told the Press and Journal what made her opt for distance running without the maps or a compass.
She said: “I was quite strong in orienteering, but I don’t think I was ever built to be a rower, although I did enjoy that for a while.
“When I was channelling more of my energies into orienteering, it was the running part of it where I was strong.
“The navigational capabilities were what was holding me back. That was maybe when I thought I should focus more on my strengths.”
History-maker with feet on ground
Keith has flourished on the track in recent years. She sets off for France this Wednesday fresh from winning bronze at last month’s European Championships in Rome.
Last year, she won gold in the Under-23 European Championships in Finland and in the Under-23 Cross Country Championships in Belgium.
In May, Keith’s passport to Paris was rubber-stamped when she won the British title over 10,000m at Highgate – and won the over Night of the 10ks Women’s race.
It means she becomes the Harriers’ first Olympian athlete, an accolade she wasn’t aware of until recently.
She said: “I’m relatively new to the sport, so I didn’t realise there had been no-one before me, but it’s really exciting, and to see everyone get excited around me.
“There has been a buzz around the club and with family and friends, which has been nice.
“It does in a way make it slightly more challenging, so I have been zoning in on the training over recent weeks. There is excitement around Inverness.”
European medal boosts confidence
Keith knows the past two years leading up to these Games have required strong consistency and she’s proved it with results and medals.
She said:”I was happy with my achievement at the European Championships in June.
“I didn’t necessarily perform to my absolute capabilities, but I did what I could on the day, and it has definitely given me confidence on the senior stage going into the Games.
“There have been bumps along the way, but I do feel over the past few years there has been a continual improvement, which has been nice.”
School scrapbook revealed dreams
Keith hasn’t any specific inspirational athletes in mind who she ever aimed to follow to the top of her sport.
However, she shared a memory of what she wrote as a kid, perhaps dreaming of being a running star herself.
He added: “My mum and dad dragged out a ‘Hope and Dreams’ scrapbook from primary school where I apparently wrote I wanted to go to the Olympics one day.
“However, in recent years I’ve always enjoyed watching it on TV, and you cannot help but be inspired by athletes like Mo Farah, but it was never something I related to in terms of me following them to that level.”
Coach Cairns praised for home prep
Keith has based herself in her home city of Inverness to get ready for Olympic action and paid credit to her coach Ross Cairns for planning for that.
She said: “Ross is pretty phenomenal in terms of what he knows and makes happen, such as training for the Olympics here in the Highlands.
“It’s perhaps not the preparation set-up you’d perhaps picture, but Ross makes these things work for me.”
The women’s 10,000m final is set for August 9, starting at 7.55pm.
Her friends, family and club-mates who are not in France will be watching the drama unfold on TV with a party at the city’s Fairways complex.
