Huge congratulations to South Ayrshire athlete Kayleigh Haggo who broke the World Record and got a Personal Best in the RR3 100m at the European Championships in Poland last week (Friday 4th June).
It was a long day of travelling for Kayleigh and coach John Owens who arrived in Poland late on the Tuesday night. Wednesday and Thursday were spent trying to relax ahead of the race on Friday, along with a couple of light training sessions each day.
Race Day is always nerve-wracking, and this was not helped by the race not being until 7pm in the evening. During the day Kayleigh had a long lie, tried to chill while watching some of the live streaming of the event and then taking a nap. All nerves go for Kayleigh when she arrives at the venue and goes through the call room procedures and warm up. Waiting around for this is the worst part of it all.
About 10 minutes before the race, it started to rain which made it feel more like Scotland. Kayleigh was feeling relaxed on the start line as knew she had done everything she could and just had a job to do. You can be as prepared as you can but never know what other people may do on the day. As soon as the gun fired it was head down and go. Once crossed the line was just sheer delight that all the hard work had paid off.
The process is very rushed after the race with Kayleigh being whisked off for photos and media. Its then quickly to collect all her belongings from the track, then a quick change before for the medal ceremony which was the best feeling.
Early flight home the next day to self-isolate for 10 days (with the exemption from British Athletics for training purposes) so still feels like it hasn’t sunk in. Next up for Kayleigh is continuing to train and looking at competitions to compete in locally over the next few months.
We are all so proud of Kayleigh, just goes to show hard work definitely pays off!
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