A decorated retired athlete turned MSP has hailed Ayr’s new sports arena as a ‘godsend’.
The Riverside Sports Arena, at Craigie in Ayr, was officially opened last week offering athletes and aspiring sporting stars brand new indoor and outdoor training spaces to excel in a variety of sports.
The £8.5 million facility includes an eight-lane 400m running track, a six-lane 60m indoor running track, a field events area and a 3G all-weather pitch.
Olympian MSP Brian Whittle, who was born and grew up in Troon and ran with Ayr Seaforth, has represented Great Britain 45 times, including at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
He bagged gold medals in the 4x400m relay at the 1986 and 1994 European Athletics Championships and is probably most famous for running his leg of the 1986 Championships with only one shoe – while still managing to achieve a personal best.
Brian, now a South Scotland MSP and athletics coach, said of the new Riverside Sports Arena: “This is a bit of a godsend. It’s a great facility.
“Everybody is a winner out of this.
“Ayr are getting a much better facility in terms of a stand and everything; a track that is much more user-friendly, and an indoor facility which these days you need.”
Brian said the new facilities and the option of an indoor track will allow athletes to train in the winter, something he was only able to do by travelling some 40 miles away to Coatbridge back in his competing days.
The dad-of-three said: “When I started training I was at Troon and the track was a grass track at the bottom of the rugby pitch - and that was where I trained in the summer. In the winter we just ran around the roads.
“I can remember them discussing putting an all-weather track at Dam Park, and initially it was planned for a six lane track and we were joining the fight to get eight lanes so we could have championships and competitions at it.
“Before they had the all-weather track there, the first time I trained on a track in the winter I used to have to travel to Coatbridge. I used to go to Coatbridge once a week, and it was before the M77.
“Then when Dam Park opened it was a bit of a godsend for us.
“I’m sad to see it go, it had to happen - but it means I don’t have the track record anymore!”
Recalling that infamous moment which lumped him with the nickname ‘One-shoe Whittlet,' Brian said: “It’s so long ago but every single day I still get someone saying ‘have you got both shoes on big man?’
“I was actually a reserve - so was Kriss Akabusi.
“As Akabusi was giving me the baton he stood on the heel of my shoe, ripped it off and that was it. You had no option but to go.
“Thankfully it turned out okay and got us the first major medal. It was 1986, but I still remember everything we did.
“The legacy of all that has been a long term friendship.”
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