Commonwealth Games athletics hopeful backed by 100-year-old fan who has already starred at Scotstoun

The fan in question is no stranger to the stadium and even delivered the match-ball when Glasgow Warriors played Benetton in March. Rugby is his main sport but on this occasion, athletics will be the focus, as Keith explained.

“I have a 100-year-old grandpa, he's going to be in the front row on the finish line,” said the Inverness runner. “He's mainly a rugby fan, he's a big Warriors supporter, so he was a bit upset to see Scotstoun being shredded to become an athletics track again!

“His name’s Murray Kirkwood. He was at Scotstoun for rugby in March and then he'll be there again for athletics in July, so he's looking forward to it.”

He’s not the only one. Keith’s family will be out in force, led by mum Gilly Kirkwood and dad Alec Keith, both with a running background, in cross-country and orienteering. Keith, 24, also orienteered in her youth before moving into cross-country.

Late to the track

She was relatively late to the track but quickly adapted, the high point coming in the 2024 European Championships in Rome where she won bronze in the 10,000m. She admitted it was tough at first to adapt to the monotony of lap running after being used to being in a more scenic setting. She tried to qualify for the 2022 Commonwealth Games but fell short.

“I gave it quite a half-hearted qualification attempt last time but I was very new to track running,” she said. “I was mainly an off-track runner, cross-country and that sort of thing. So I had a couple of shots at the standard but didn't really fully commit to it.

“It's funny, there's only been one Commonwealth cycle since and I wouldn't have been able to picture any of this.

“I'm very new to the event. I thought it was something I didn't ever really want to do because 25 laps of a 400 metre track is quite monotonous.”

As she says, “things can change pretty fast” and her success in Rome two years ago marked her out as a serious contender but she feels she has only scratched the surface.

“The medal's really exciting, but I don't think I raced to the best of my potential that day. So I'm excited to have another Europeans coming up this summer and technically it's at home, it's in Birmingham [in August].

“So I think there's lots of room to build on that performance, which is exciting. Because again, a medal was the most I could have, or a bronze medal was definitely the most I could have hoped for that day. But then in the end, I obviously wasn't disappointed, but the way I raced to win the medal, I think I could have done a lot better.

“So that's exciting, knowing that it wasn't maxed out when I did that. So yeah, hopefully more to come.”

She will have her chance on Monday at Scotstoun when she flies the flag for Scotland in the 10,000m track and tries to emulate compatriot Eilish McColgan. McColgan’s victory in the 10,000m at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games was one of the great Scottish sporting moments but she announced on Saturday that she will not be able to defend her title due to a toe injury.

Keith said she had been inspired by McColgan and doesn’t view the Dundee runner as a rival.

“I think Eilish is phenomenal. She's obviously incredibly inspiring and I think everyone in the Scottish athletics community and Scotland as a whole was inspired by that moment. But it didn't make me go, ‘in four years time, I want to be in that one!’

Don’t see it as a rivalry

“I don't see it as a rivalry. I still see Eilish as where I would like to get to, but she's, I would say, miles beyond in just the time period she's been so successful for.”

Keith pre-qualified for the 10,000m and has also been selected for the 5,000m event in Glasgow. She tuned up for the Games by breaking the 3,000m Scottish record at the famous Bislett Games meeting in Oslo and now will try to navigate her way through a potentially tumultuous few weeks, from the Commonwealths to the Europeans.

“I didn't want to have to prioritise,” said Keith who combines her athletics with studying for a masters in public health at the University of Edinburgh. “Throughout the year so far, we originally started with the priority leaning towards Europeans. But I've just got kind of swept up in the excitement around Glasgow and now my eyes are fully on that. And then Europeans are more of an afterthought, although that balance will keep shifting.

“But we're lucky that because they're so close together on the calendar, it's not like you had to prioritise one to peak for, because the idea is that you're ready to go at Commies and then it's just two weeks of recovery and getting ready to go again. So fingers crossed the master plan will work out.”

Glasgow stepped in to host when the Australian state of Victoria pulled out and the fact that it’s a home Commonwealth Games has spurred on Keith.

“For sure, I think I would have had a different answer to the list of priorities if it was still in Australia,” she said. “I think I really wanted to compete at the Commonwealth because now more than ever, I think we know their future is not certain. And everyone wants to say that they've been to Commonwealths and they've represented Scotland there.

“So I definitely would have still had it on my list of things I want to do, but now it's at home, you can't really avoid it. It's where everyone wants to be this summer.”