Steve Cram is no stranger to a fierce domestic rivalry. The Englishman was, after all, one third of one of the most competitive rivalries the British athletics scene has ever witnessed when the Cram- Seb Coe- Steve Ovett triumvirate in the 1980s saw all three win Olympic medals.

It is this experience that makes Cram’s take on the current battle that is going on in the event the 57-year-old won the majority of his major championship silverware, the 1500m, so intriguing.

As things stand, Britain’s men’s 1500m contingent is the strongest of all events in the country. And thrillingly for Scottish athletics fans, the majority of these men hail from north of the border.

Over the past few years, five men have been battling ferociously for the title of best British 1500m runner. The four Scots, Jake Wightman, Chris O’Hare, Josh Kerr and Neil Gourley are accompanied by the lone Englishman, Charlie Da’Vall Grice and with only three places available in the British team for major championships, much is at stake every time these men take to the track.

Each runner has had his ups and downs this summer, but for Cram, it is Wightman who has emerged with most credit having won bronze medals at both the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships before ending his season last weekend with victory in the New York Mile. It is Wightman’s proficiency at getting it right when it really matters that has so impressed Cram.

“It’s been a great year for the Scottish guys but Jake has been the stand-out in terms of championships performances,” he said.

“I think Jake is, in some ways, better suited to championship running than the other guys. He judged his season well. You have to plan your season around what’s important to you. Running fast times at the Diamond Leagues isn’t the most important thing if you’re trying to win major medals.

“Jake is really strong and he’s got great 800m pace, which is everything you want in a good 1500m runner. It means you’ve got the strength to get through the rounds in a championship and also if the rounds are tactical and slow, you’ve got the weaponry to get out of those rounds. He’s got good tactical nous.”

There were significant highlights for the other three Scots as well though, with O’Hare finishing the season as British number one having run 3 minutes 32.11 seconds at the Monaco Diamond League, as well as becoming British Champion. Kerr broke the NCAA record in America while on his way to yet another college title while Gourley won bronze at the inaugural Athletics World Cup.

There are few nations in the world who have such an intense rivalry within one single event and there must be times when the Scots wish they had things a little bit easier. But Cram knows first-hand what battling ones compatriots for top spot can do to push individuals careers on and he urges this current batch to embrace this rivalry and appreciate what it is doing for each of them in the long-run.

“I think it’s such a good thing having such a fierce rivalry,” said Cram.

“It raises standards, for sure. With such strength-in-depth, you know that if you want to do well on the world circuit, you’ve got to be able to beat the people in your own country and if they’re the best in the world, that raises your own level.

“That’s what happened to me as a youngster – for me to get on the British team, I had to improve. That’s a very positive thing because it makes you really strive to get better. The problem for these guys though is that at major championships, you can only take three athletes so you have to learn to cope with that.”

And Cram reveals that however hard it was for him having two of the world’s greatest middle-distance runners on his doorstep in the shape of Coe and Ovett, he was able to appreciate even at the time quite how valuable it was to his career.

“I absolutely enjoyed having that rivalry,” he revealed.

“It was tough, but I really think competing at that time made me better than I might have otherwise been.

“So if I was the current guys, I’d embrace this rivalry and use it to make myself better. I’d focus on being the best of the Brits because if you can be the best in this country, that’s going to push you up on the world stage.”

To date, the Scots have yet to take the next step up which would see them competing for silverware in the global arena. At 27-years-old, O’Hare is the eldest and so they all have a significant proportion of their career remaining. And Cram is optimistic that in the coming years, we could well see at least one of these men snatch a place on the podium at a World Championships or Olympic Games.

“The thing with 1500m running is that you’ve always got a chance,” he said.

“What they need to work on, and what Jake is very good at, is that you’ve got to be able to run 3:32s, 3:33s but also be able to run a 1:44s 800m. And you also have to have the tactical nous to do well at major championships. They’re not far off that.

“Jake has probably shown more than anyone that he’s capable of that and that then gives you a chance, even at the World Championships and Olympic Games.

“You have to get to the final but once you’re in the final, the race isn’t run like a Diamond League – it’s tactical, there’s no pace makers and these guys all have an opportunity.”

It is not only male 1500m runners that Scotland has produced though. 2018 saw Laura Muir win gold at both the European indoor and outdoor championships, as well as a victory at the Diamond League finals in her last outing of the season.

Cram has a particular interest in the women’s event with him coaching one of Muir’s rivals, Laura Weightman, but that has not dampened the Englishman’s admiration for the Scot.

“Laura’s done great this year,” he said.

“She’s learning all the time, which is important. I think she knows herself that when she’s had opportunities over the past few years, she maybe hasn’t always made the right decisions. But that’s not easy to do.

“She’s got the respect of the other athletes now and that’s a big thing. The 1500m is a very tough event at the moment but the athletes she’s up against know what Laura is capable of and she can use that to her advantage.

“She’s got a very exciting couple of years ahead and if she can plan that correctly, and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t, she’s got an good opportunity to do very well.”