31 October 2013

Jamie Bowie (coach: Piotr Haczek) joined World Championships 800m semi-finalist Laura Muir (Andy Young) at Shettleston Harriers in Glasgow to launch the 2014 Glasgow British Athletics International Match, the second time it will be held at the state of the art Emirates Arena.

24 year old Bowie, who represented GB & NI in the heats of the 4x400m relay in Moscow in August, was delighted to be involved and attempt to inspire the next generation of athletics champions.

He said: “We answered some questions from the kids, they asked about our training, how we started out in athletics and what some of our highlights have been so far.

“This is why I started my athletics career as a young kid. I was really keen and enthusiastic and meeting people like Chris Bailey, even Michael Johnson and Jamie Baulch, and seeing their journey really inspired me on to greater things. Hopefully by being here today I can inspire people to believe in themselves and take their athletics to the next level.”

The Inverness athlete has come a long way in 2013 and admits that it is still a shock to think about the progress he has made since embarking on his athletics career over ten years ago.

He continued: “It’s a bit of a shell shock to think that I started as a bit of a gangly 12 year old running cross country and doing my primary school sports day, I didn’t think in a million years that I’d get to a European Under 23 Championships let alone a World Championships.”

With the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow in July of next year, 2014 is a big year for Bowie and he is relishing what lies ahead. Having joined British Athletics’ World Class Performance Programme for the first time this year, Bowie is confident that he will be able to keep progressing.

“Funding will have a huge impact,” he said. “I don’t even think I’ve managed to contemplate how big a difference it will make. At the moment I’ve been working and now I can go part time and balance my athletics. In terms of having that medical and physio backup is reassuring as well as knowing that the finances are there and you won’t have to scrimp and save. You can prepare well and just focus on training and competing well which is a huge benefit.

“It’s refreshing to think what’s ahead for me in 2014. I’m in week three of winter training and already the body is aching a bit. On the back of Moscow and the momentum from that along with what lies ahead in 2014 and the funding from the National Lottery and British Athletics shows that people believe in me which inspires me to take it to the next step.”

Before the outdoor season though, Bowie will take to the indoors as he prepares himself for another important year.

He said: “I’ll do a short indoor season to bring myself up to speed, I’m a bit of a slow starter when it comes to starting my season. It’s a busy season next year with the Commonwealth Games and Europeans and other things.”

When the Commonwealth Games do arrive in Glasgow next summer, Bowie believes that his home country can rival the experience of the home Olympic Games in London in 2012, something that gives him added motivation to perform well.

“It’s a really exciting year to be a Scotsman. I got a couple of tickets to the London Olympics and I was there for Super Saturday; seeing Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford all win medals within an hour and hearing the crowd – I can just imagine a crowd of Scots being just as noisy if not more noisy. That really inspires you to make sure you get training and preparation right for next year.”

For tickets to the 2014 British Athletics Series, click here.