Love on the blocks: Meet the Scottish Commonwealth Games couple who are also relay team-mates

Not only are Rebecca Grieve and Brodie Young members of the host nation’s mixed 4x400 metres relay squad, they are also an item.

They’ve been going out together for around two and a half years and it is a romance that has blossomed far from home.

Grieve and Young were vaguely aware of each other when they both won places at the prestigious University of New Mexico but it was only when they got to Albuquerque that they clicked.

“We knew of each other before we went out, and now we're actually boyfriend and girlfriend,” said Young, who is from Chryston, North Lanarkshire, and is majoring in geography and psychology.

Could the chemistry help Scotland?

“We both do the exact same event. It was really weird because we found out on the same day that we were both going to the same uni. This was before we properly knew each other, so I was like, ‘oh wow, we're going to the same uni, that's such a coincidence’.

“And then we ended up getting to know each other and now we're partners. We've been partners for two and a half years now.”

Grieve, who is from Currie on the outskirts of Edinburgh, said: “It works out really well because, I mean, we're both Scottish, we're both at the same university in America, we both do the same event, so we really do get each other in many different ways, so we can kind of talk about anything,” she said.

So could the chemistry help Scotland in the mixed relay where a botched baton change could cost you a medal?

“Since it's the mixed 4x400, the guy has to be first and third, and girls are second and fourth,” explained Grieve. “So, it'll either be second or fourth. I like second because it's the one that you get to break. So, you run a 100, and then you break on the back straight. That's my favourite.

“I love breaking because I'm a big indoor runner, and that's the main thing in the indoor 400. So, I enjoy that. And fourth is always good because you're anchoring.” The glory run? “Exactly!”

This time last summer, Young and Grieve were starring at the European Under-23 Championships in Bergen. Young won an individual bronze in the 400m and Grieve struck relay gold in the women’s 4x400m.

From Airdrie to Albuquerque

Now they are stepping up to the senior ranks and while they have spent the last few weeks reacclimatising to the Scottish weather, they are both familiar with the Scotstoun track.

“I used to race there all the time when I was younger. It's a really nice track,” said Grieve, who is studying biology and psychology in Albuquerque and wants to go on to medical school.

The pair combine their studies with athletics and both have been blown away by the facilities at the University of New Mexico.

“It's world-class,” said Young, whose home club at Airdrie was damaged by fire a few years ago. “The reason why I moved out there was just to give myself that opportunity to be exposed to these facilities and that level of competition as well.”

The mixed relay final is the penultimate event of the Commonwealth Games athletics meeting, scheduled for Saturday night, with the heats getting under way on Friday.