Perth sprinter Lois Garland has earned her first Scotland selection at senior level.
Garland will travel to the Loughborough International this weekend to compete in the 200m at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium.
Six teams will compete, with Scotland pitted against the hosts of Loughborough University, England, Wales, GB and NI U20 and a select from the National Athletics League.
“Lois will be competing in the individual 200m and is a member of the 4x100m relay pool,” explained Perth sprint coach Alan Erickson.
“Lois had this opportunity down as a silent goal for the season and is extremely grateful to Scottish Athletics for the opportunity.
“This has been seven years of hard work and commitment from Lois on the track.
“It’s never a straight line to success but we have managed to navigate and manage the journey through her love for sprinting, her resilience and her tenacity.”
Garland, a UHI Perth student and Perth Strathtay Harrier, impressed through the winter indoor season and is well-placed to attack the summer.
“Over the winter, we were getting some great feedback in training, working on weaknesses and building on our strengths,” Erickson added.
“The indoor season brought some pretty quick times over 200m which brought our training into realisation and we have been trying to build on that over the last few weeks.”
While Garland has represented Scotland at age-group level before, this step up is sure to be a positive learning experience.
Erickson told the PA: “Lois has previously represented Scotland at under-20 level and this is a natural progression on the development pathway.
“Lois is very honoured to be selected and she will learn a lot and gain a lot of experience competing at this level.
“The Scotland team features a number of Commonwealth Games 2022 athletes and Lois will relish this opportunity. I also read somewhere that Katarina Johnson-Thompson will be there.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Athletics said: “We offer our congratulations to our selected athletes and their families, coaches and the clubs who have helped in their development over the years.”
