STAYING THE DISTANCE SARAH MCDONALD

I train with a great group of girls and my coach, David Harmer and I have worked so well together and I have come up the ranks to cement myself as a world-class middle distance runner with his help.”

STAYING THE DISTANCE

BY SARAH MCDONALD (06-11)

Since my last article in 2016, things have

been pretty crazy. Elite sport is very much a rollercoaster which I’ve learnt over the past three years.

2017 brought my first British title in the 1,500m, my first World Championships (which were hosted in London), my first European medal and a new set of personal bests (PB) over all the distances. In April 2017, I made a bold decision to change coaches and my training set up. Although this was a risky move, it was one I was prepared to take with the World Championships on the horizon and now I couldn’t be happier. I train with a great group of girls and my coach, David Harmer and I have worked so well together. As a result, I have come up the ranks to cement myself as a world-class middle distance runner with his help.

Going to the World Championships was a pivotal point in my career, running in front of a home crowd of 65,000 in the Olympic Stadium led me to make the decision to put my medical studies on hold and focus on my athletics dream.

2018 got off to a rocky start. With a hamstring injury causing me to miss the World Indoor Championships, I put all my focus on the Commonwealth Games in Australia, where I finished eighth. After returning from the Gold Coast, I raced round the European circuit gaining PBs in the 800m, 1,500m and mile. I came short of my own goal of making the GB team having finished third at the trials, however, this certainly added some fuel to the fire...

I’m writing this having won the British Championships only two days ago to secure my spot on the World Championships team for Doha! This summer has been amazing so far. I broke the big two minute barrier in the 800m running a PB of 1.59.91 recently and I ran 4.00.46 in the 1,500m which ranks me at No.6 on the British all-time list. I’m in the shape of my life and I’m ready for what Doha throws at me –watch this space.