Ovens: Future of athletics looking bright despite facilities concerns

But when it comes to the future of athletics in Scotland and, more specifically, the facilities which enable training and competition to take place, things are far less rosy.

And it’s this worry about facilities that keeps Ovens, who has been chair of the sport’s governing body, scottishathletics, since 2021, awake at night.

The most pressing concern for Ovens is the suggestion that Grangemouth Stadium may close.

The venue is one of the most important athletics’ venues in the country, hosting countless competitions and even more training sessions for both Scotland’s elite athletes and the next generation of talent.

And this is why Ovens is particularly concerned, especially as scottishathletics have no direct control over any of the facilities which are so integral to the current state and future fortunes of athletics in this country.

“Grangemouth is a priority for us – we’re working with partners to make sure it stays open. But you look across the whole country and there’s a lot to worry about - numerous councils are really struggling with their budgets and facilities are an easy target," says Ovens about the threat to the country’s sporting venues. 

“They key thing for us is to protect what’s there already, as far as we can. To do that, we need to influence local authorities and other partners. I’d like to see a pot of money allocated from the Scottish government to allow these facilities to be maintained – it’s easy to build that venues but you then need to maintain them.”

Ovens also, quite rightly, points out that sports facilities aren’t purely of use to those who are aiming to become world-class performers but perhaps even more pertinently, they’re integral to the wider community, which will suffer greatly if sporting facilities are, as has been touted, left to rot.

“To me, it’s really misguided to allow facilities for sport to close,” Ovens says. 

“Sport is what makes communities. When you start to undermine the fabric of that, it’s really concerning.

“Fundamentally, it needs to get onto the policy makers’ agenda and they need to realise the importance to both physical and mental health that sport plays within society.”

There is, however, much to be optimistic about within Scottish athletics.

At grassroots level, participation figures are excellent, with events like the Scottish Cross-Country Championships regularly posting entries well into the hundreds and occasionally, the thousands.

And with athletics, along with every other sport in the country, having taken a hit during the pandemic, Ovens can barely conceal his delight that his sport has recovered so well over the past couple of years with, he believes, more than a few athletes showing the potential to move into the elite ranks in the future.

“Grassroots is looking really good - we’re now back to pre-pandemic numbers with 14,000 members. We’ve got a great club system in Scotland so the grassroots is in a good place,” he says.

“There’s a lot of very good athletes potentially coming through and not just on the middle-distance/endurance side of things but we’re also starting to see athletes emerge in the sprints. And we’ve got a strategy in place to get the field events up there too. We’ve been weaker recently in field events but we’re looking to reinvigorate that side of things.”

Unquestionably, though, the most encouraging aspect of Scottish athletics currently is the standard of this country’s elite performers.

In Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman, Scotland boasts the two most recent world men’s 1500m champions, Laura Muir has won six major championship medals over the past three years and there is a raft of other Scots who are regularly challenging on the world stage.

Josh Kerr (l) and Jake Wightman have both won world 1500m titles in recent seasons

With Paris 2024 now only months away, there is the distinct possibility of one, or perhaps even several, Olympic medals winging their way back to these shores and although Ovens does what he can to keep his ambitions for Scotland’s Olympians and Paralympians in check, he admits he can’t prevent himself getting a little carried away occasionally.

And the importance of that potential Scottish success on the global stage is, believes Ovens, invaluable.

“2024 is such a massive year,” he says. 

“I’ve gone over a lot of ridiculous scenarios in my head when it comes to Olympic and Paralympic medals – for example, there’s a scenario I think about that Jake Wightman, Josh Kerr and Neil Gourley could get three 1500m medals. I know that’s a tough ask but that’s the level we’re talking about. 

"And we’ve got others like Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie who will be challenging too. So we’d definitely hope for a medal or two from Scots at the Olympics and you never know, there could even be three or four.

“Success in Paris will be huge because I don’t think you can underestimate the importance of role models. If young athletes see Scots up there at the very top, they start to believe it's possible for them to get there too.”