Great Scott - Richmond and Zetland harrier qualifies for team GB!
On Saturday, Marc Scott the University of Tulsa based athlete from Northallerton ran himself into the Great Britain and Northern Ireland U23 cross country team for the European Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria.
Marc requiring to complete the course in the top 4 under 23 athletes to guarantee selection, duly delivered with a fantastic controlled run and was the third U23 over the line. The race was run to include the senior men at Sefton Park in Liverpool making the run even more remarkable as he ran himself to 9th place overall and all this for a 20 year old who has two years still at this age group.
The race was run over a 9.8km, three lap course. Marc started well and settled into the leading group of 30 runners, during the second lap the pace quickened and some gaps started to appear with a few athletes finding the going tough, leaving around 10 athletes to contest the all important qualification spots. The last lap was a nail biting affair with only 4 U23’s were left at this stage, but Marc held his pace and style to bring himself home as the third U23 to seal qualification and that all important GB vest!
Speaking after the event Marc’s coach Ken Harker of Richmond and Zeltand Harriers commented ‘this was such a fantastic achievement for Marc, all his hard work over the years has paid off with the honour of running in a GB vest at such a prestigious International competition’.
Head Coach of the Harriers, Shaun Purkiss commented that Mark was the product of the youth programme at the club and his talent was evident from a very young age. Commenting Shaun said ‘this is the culmination of an outstanding year for the club which continues to go from strength to strength. Currently, we are over subcribed in our junior section and have a waiting list to train with us. The senior section continues to grow in strength and quality, we have athletes who are current internationals in their age groups and also the 2014, first ever Yorkshire winner of the ladies title at the Yorkshire Plusnet marathon.’