BRITISH athletics was last night trying to come to terms with the death of one of its most promising young stars after a seizure triggered by a nut allergy.
Super-fit hurdler Ross Baillie, from Clydebank, collapsed during a break in training in Bath on Tuesday.
His parents, Hugh and Sheila, both former athletes, were at the bedside of their 21-year-old son when he died at 11am yesterday.
The young man had been tipped by mentor and world 110m hurdles record holder Colin Jackson as his ''natural successor''.
The athlete's father, Hugh, a former Scottish 400m champion, paid tribute to the staff at the Royal United Hospital in Bath who treated his son. Mr Baillie said: ''The consultants were magnificent. We knew from the start there was little hope. They did not try to kid us at all and they tried everything they could.''
Despite the fact that his son had suffered mild peanut allergic reactions in the past, Mr Baillie said it had yet to be conclusively established what caused his death.
The British athletics team, in Paris for the European Cup, were stunned by the news. Many were in tears. All members pledged to wear black ribbons in memory of Baillie over the weekend events.
The Scottish Athletics Federation announced that, as a mark of respect, it would be cancelling next weekend's national championships in Glasgow. Baillie and his 18-year-old brother Chris, also a very talented hurdler, were due to have competed against one another at the championships.
The Herald revealed earlier this week that the athlete bought a coronation chicken sandwich along with his friend, swimmer Mark Foster, from a shop near their homes in Bath, Somerset. Seconds after taking his first bite, he coughed violently and realised it contained traces of nuts.
When he started to fight for breath, Foster drove him to a doctor at the University of Bath. After an adrenalin injection, the hurdler was transferred to hospital.
Baillie, a member of Glasgow's Victoria Park Athletic Club, did not regain consciousness after being admitted to hospital.
Tim Craft, director of the intensive care unit at the Royal United Hospital, said medical staff fought in vain around the clock to save him. ''The sandwich he ate possibly contained peanut oil and an allergic reaction to that is one of the most severe forms resembling an extreme asthma attack.
''Ross died from complications relating to the allergy, but the family have asked me not to go into detail. He was young and fit so his chances of survival were in-creased, but unfortunately in his case the severe allergy outweighed the benefits.''
Peanut allergy is part of the much wider problem of anaphylaxis, which can be triggered by substances found in food, or such as a bee sting. It claims some seven lives a year in the UK.
Tributes Page 3
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