North-east youngster Rhian Birnie would love to follow in the footsteps of her favourite athlete, Laura Muir, by competing at the Olympic Games in the future.
The 13-year-old Inverurie Academy pupil, who has been making her mark on the local running scene, was thrilled to meet the Great Britain middle distance star after an indoor international meeting at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena last year.
Rhian said :”It was really good to meet her after her race. She was very nice and she said I was doing well and that I should keep going with my training.
“My ambition is to become a professional athlete and go to the Olympics.”
Rhian fully understands that there’s a long way to go before that dream can be turned into reality. For now, she’s happy to simply enjoy her running and to take matters one step at a time.
She showed good form last Saturday when taking top spot in the women’s division of the Huntly Room to Run 5k when she recorded 19min 53sec to place 10th overall from a field of 161 runners.
She said: “That’s not my fastest time as I ran 19:06 last March, but I reckon it’s my best achievement so far.”
The teenager is coached by Mark Wylie BEM, who took her under his wing a few years ago.
Wylie is a former runner, originally from the Shetland Isles, where he used to train with Olympic marathoner Pricilla Welch in the early 1980s.
He said: “Rhian is one of the Young Meldrum Running stars and has been a member since I started the club in 2017.
“To begin with there were only a handful of youngsters, but it has really grown and now we put on eight sessions each week for up to 145 runners aged 5-15.
“Rhian trains with the club twice every week and also attends Jog Scotland Meldrum twice a week. In addition, Rhian will train on her own.
“She really missed being able to compete when events were cancelled due to Covid, but now she’s savouring new challenges in races from 1k to her favourite distance, the 5k.
“As well as her weekly group session at her club, she is well supported by both her parents, who always encourage her and take her out for runs.”
Rhian said: “I really enjoy going to training. It’s a really good group and everyone is nice and supportive.
“I enjoy doing sprint work, especially hill sprints, as that makes a big difference. We also do longer, slower runs to build up the miles.”
Rhian put her love of running to good use recently by embarking on a successful charity fund-raising venture to support her friend Marie Dobson, a former Scottish championship 400m medallist, who is suffering from secondary breast cancer.
Throughout August, Rhian committed to run 5k every day with the aim of raising £250, but by the end of the month she had attracted almost £1,500 of donations.
Rhian said: “I met Marie at some of the runs she has organised over the past few years. I got to know her and we have stayed in touch.
“I really didn’t expect to raise so much. I got to my £250 target within the first day, so I was very happy about that and it motivated me to keep it going.”
Rhian will aim for another good performance in this Saturday’s Fyvie Castle 5k.
She’ll then turn her attention to the following week’s Rayne North School 5k, then the River Ness 5k on October 3.
She said: “I finished second overall and first female the last time I ran at the Rayne North race.
“I’ve done the River Ness race before and I’ve always ran well. It’s a big event with a lot of good runners.”
Rhian also plans to compete for Ellon AAC in this winter’s North District cross country league, in which she’ll run in the under-15 age group.
Tole shrugs off lay-off to take Braemarathon victory
Jim Tole scored an emphatic victory in his first race for 20 months.
The Metro Aberdeen runner led the way home in the Braemarathon half marathon, completing the testing Deeside course in 1hr 14min 44sec. Richard McGaw was second in 1:19:28 and Ryan Cannon third in 1:21:10.
Janet Dickson won the women’s race in 1:28:07, and she was followed by Chloe Gray (Metro Aberdeen), 1:32:46, and Ailsa Webster, 1:38:51.
Stonehaven’s Michael Barker was a clear winner of the accompanying 10k in 36;29, with Callum Ewen runner-up in 40:52 and veteran Ian Thom (Metro Aberdeen) third in 43:53.
Claire Smith (Metro Aberdeen) was first woman in 45:34, while Jane Leckie, 48:34, and Ailsa Barker, 4928, filled the other podium positions.
Metro Aberdeen’s Winter Proms dates
The Metro Aberdeen Winter Proms 3k race series returns to the fixture list next month.
The first race is on October 1 with the others on November 12, December 3, January 7, February 4 and March 4. Each runner’s three best times from the six races will count towards the overall results.
Entries must be made in advance at entrycentral.com
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.