NEXT Sunday, Andrew Lemoncello will pull on a Great Britain vest in the World Cross Country Championships in Holyrood Park. It is the third time he has flown the flag at a global event, but the 25-year-old from St Andrews receives not a penny in funding from those who dish out the gratuities.
"You just use it to get motivated and have it as a positive, rather than as a distraction." Having spent the past four years based in the United States, three on scholarship at Florida State University, he is well used to operating outside the establ
ished lines of engagement.
Since flying back from the US, where he has been training in Arizona with a group overseen by respected coach Greg McMillan, Lemoncello has been working under Professor Ron Morrison, his long-time mentor, who will help implement McMillan's vision for 2008, one which all involved hope will culminate in an Olympic steeplechase final.
America's collegiate system has prepared him for the challenges ahead. "I was never over-raced, I never had pushy coaches," he reflects. "The programme was designed to make you better."
McMillan's approach is one in which all his charges train in unison.
"Ron ran back in the day when Lachie Stewart was around and even to get in the team at Shettleston, you had to have a time trial every week. They ran together but they had four sub-29 minute 10K runners on their squad so you had to fight it out for a place the next week.
"I find training with people helps. People might want to do something different. But when I was at Stirling University, I'd get the train through to Glasgow to train with Shettleston, or to go to Central AC, rather than doing it on my own which is harder.
"You learn more about the sport, pooling ideas. Liz McColgan's trying to make that happen. And so many of those older runners are still about. We could learn so much from them."
The organisers in Edinburgh will be grateful to have a present day icon to push forth, particularly given the spate of high profile absentees from Team GB. It was an event which, as soon as it was awarded to Auld Reekie, Lemoncello was determined to run, despite being under-strength from a recent illness and cross country not being his forte.
"A lot of my training is on the track," he says. "Being on a soft surface requires a different style. Since I got back here, I've tried to do all my work on the grass to get used to that feeling underfoot. Everyone will have the same conditions so it's a case of going out and battling around."
The full article contains 465 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
