Perth runner Ben Greenwood retained his Scottish 800m title in style.
The 23-year-old stormed to National Senior Championships success at Aberdeen Sport Village on Sunday.
Clocking a time of 1:49.01, the Perth Strathtay Harrier finished clear of second-place Seumas MacKay (Shetland AAC) and Sam Brown (Edinburgh AC).
Taking his place on the start line as the reigning champion could perhaps have added pressure to perform but Greenwood ran a cool and composed race.
“I race against a lot of these guys and I know where I’m strong,” Greenwood said.
“I didn’t feel any extra pressure. I’m usually the one putting the pressure on myself so as long as I get on top of that, I know I’ll be absolutely fine.
“The main thing I wanted to do was sit in behind anyone who wanted to take it on and then really go for it with 300m to go. I did everything I wanted to tactically and executed a good race for a change.
“It was the last race of the season so I didn’t want to put any pressure on running times. We’ve put in a lot of hard work this summer and in the winter before that.
“It was nice to keep the title and show that you’ve put the hard work in to stay there.”
Greenwood was not all that far away from making the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and, after missing out, was determined to finish the season on a high.
“It was a season of two halves,” Greenwood explained. "First half we were chasing that Commonwealth Games time.
“The focus changed as soon as we didn’t get it and that was quite difficult. We had to find a new focus for the season, but I still think I managed to run some decent races.
“Having watched the Commonwealth Games, I feel I wouldn’t have been out of place in those heats. But if you don’t run the time, you can’t really say anything.
“I was definitely fitter and faster than I’d been the season before. From mid-June to two weeks ago it was quite hectic and we were racing everywhere we could. It was good to finish on a high.”
Greenwood will now take a short break from the track before returning for bundles of hard work heading into the winter months.
He told the PA: “I’ll have two weeks where I’m going to cycle and get my head away from running.
“Then it’s a lot of months of double runs a day, gym sessions and plyometrics. We’ll try and get as much running in as we can this winter to take everything up to the next level again.”
