PLANS to create a series of domestic athletics events will get the support of leading stars. Laura Muir has predicted.
New UK Athletics chair Ian Beattie has made the idea a priority to follow the lead of the likes of France and Germany with a packed schedule throughout the year.
Glasgow’s Emirates Arena is primed to be one of the main stops on the circuit with European Athletics awarding February’s DNA Indoor Meeting to the venue.
And with a target set of a minimum of five world ranking events, including London’s Diamond League showpiece, Muir believes the country’s A-Listers will be game to give it their backing.
Speaking at a Muller event, the Olympic 1500 metres silver medallist said: “Some athletes compete more than others. It depends where, where they're based, how easy it is for them to get there, so many variables. But generally we want to compete on home soil and there’s nothing better.
“You saw that last weekend at Scottish cross-country with me, Jake Wightman and Andy Butchart competing. Kids get to see people in person. I know there's talks of a few new domestic competitions next year. We'll have Commonwealths as well which is great.
“So the more competitions you can have at home, then the better, because it just gives that exposure to the sport in the country itself, and also for the people that actually physically go along and watch it as well.”
Muir has opted to drop her traditional pre-Christmas training camp in the heat of South Africa in favour of a winter stint at home in Glasgow.
Sub-zero versus a sun tan, it is a choice few would have made. “I just wanted some time at home,” she underlines.
It does not mean she will venture to Dublin next month to hunt the European cross-country title with indoor outings in February likely to be her next competitive excursion.
But there was something appealing about returning to her roots last Saturday in the mud of Lanark in the company of old friends and young admirers and sensing the sisterhood that exists among Scottish runners.
“It's quite a niche sport in that running is so accessible to so many different people and anybody can run in a lot of different events as well,” the Dundee Hawkhill Harrier said. “It’s part of the real beauty of the sport that anybody can do it. And it incorporates so many different abilities. And that's why I love it so much.
“Regardless of how well I do, it's still athletics, it's still running. So it was so nice to be back running alongside so many different people with different abilities, which is really nice. It really lit up on social media, which is fantastic. And it just highlights how diverse athletics is - incorporating people from all the different backgrounds.”
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