Secunda training helps Olympian smash records
Laura Muir came to train in Secunda for the good weather and high altitude in December and her training has already paid off.
SECUNDA – Clear skies, sunny days, high altitude and a tartan athletics track all play a part in making Secunda the unlikely training ground for an international Olympic athlete.
Laura Muir (23) is a Scottish middle distance runner who specialises in the 800m, 1 500m and 3 000m races.
For a few weeks in the summer, Laura has been coming to South Africa, and Secunda in particular, with her coach, Mr Andy Young, and other athletes from Great Britain, including Jemma Reekie and Martin Hayes, to make the most of our good weather before the January athletics season begins in Europe and the United States.
Laura participated as a member of team Great Britain in the 2016 Rio Olympic and was glad for her training in South Africa.
“The weather was very similar and thanks to my time in Secunda, I was not only fit, but I was used to the warm weather.”
Laura is a student of veterinary medicine at the University of Glasgow and broke the national record in the 1 500m in Paris in 2016 with a time of 3:55.22.
Her personal best in the 800m is 2:00.67.
According to Mr Young, he discovered Secunda and the Lillian Ngoyi Stadium on the Internet.
The average altitude in Glasgow is 39m above sea level, whereas Secunda is at an altitude of approximately 1 598m above sea level.
“The high altitude and the fact that there is an athletics track here, caught my attention.
“I also found the Secunda parkrun online and spoke to some of the runners there and we decided that we should come here to train.
“The Scottish weather in December is not really suited to outdoor training, so coming here for a few weeks helps, because you know you have good weather most of the time and you can focus on training.”
Laura and her fellow athletes have a full year ahead, with the Scottish National Championship, as well as various other regional and international athletics championships lined up for the 2017 season, but they believe the time they spent in Secunda will benefit them all and if possible, they want to return for further training.
The training seems to have paid off, as Laura broke the UK indoor 5 000m record in Glasgow on 5 January.
In an interview following this race, she metioned her time in Secunda.
“The training stint in South Africa went really well and I could tell from my training when I got back, that I was doing PB sessions over the 5 000m training, so I knew things were looking good.
“But you never know until you race on the day.
“It is great to put down that marker.
“It is great to begin the year like that and hopefully it will continue.”
The full interview is available at www.teamgb.com.
