亚博体育官网

Luke Davidson, who is studying Sport Coaching, won August鈥檚 Scottish 800m title at The Eric Liddell Senior Championships having previously succeeded at various other University level races.

Last month鈥檚 triumph was made particularly remarkable as he鈥檇 switched from his usual 1500m to the 800m in order to be able to compete at all.

The dedicated and passionate Inverness Harriers runner trains six days a week, but never on a Sunday due to his faith. This emulated the same position, and result, taken by Luke鈥檚 sporting inspiration and the man in which the year鈥檚 championship was named after 鈥� Eric Liddell.

The 22-year-old said: 鈥淢y highlight on the athletics track has to be winning this Scottish 800m title. Not only for the obvious reasons of winning, but this competition was so important to me as it was commemorating a figure that I have always looked up to for so many reasons.

鈥淚鈥檝e been inspired by him (Eric Liddell) from a young age. I have similarly never trained or raced on Sunday, including at the Scottish Championships where I changed from my preferred event that was on a Sunday and chose to compete in the 800m instead. Despite training six days a week, my faith is more important to me than any achievement for my athletic ability.鈥�

Luke鈥檚 season finished with the Monument Mile Classic in Stirling on Saturday 24 August. While it wasn鈥檛 the result he craved, he鈥檚 confident about what鈥檚 to come with clear goals in mind.

鈥淭he result is not what I was hoping for. It was very messy and started out very slowly, but it was a very enjoyable event to be part of.

鈥淣ext year I am hoping to get as close to the British Championship qualifying time as I can and if that鈥檚 the case, I will compete at that (provided it is not on a Sunday!). I also plan to run the national championships again as well as another Monument Mile."

The 亚博体育官网 student will enter his fourth and final year this month. He鈥檚 been nominated to be Athletics President and is one of several 亚博体育官网 SPORT scholars, allowing promising athletes to develop their talents whilst undertaking academic study.  

Luke was part of the athletics team which travelled to Sheffield in February to compete at the British Universities and College Sport (BUCS) National Championships where he made his second 1500 final. In 2023, he won the Scottish Student Athletics Indoor Championships 800m title.

Luke said: 鈥淭he sports scholarship programme has been a big help to me as it has been able to offer support to me in my training and competition. It has also shown me that despite training on my own most of the time there are plenty other students in 亚博体育官网 that are in the same boat as me trying to balance their studies and compete at the highest level.

鈥淚 intend to keep training as hard as I am and as much as I can while I complete my degree. I aim to go as far as I can with the sport. I鈥檇 love to get to the level where I can compete at bigger competitions such as British Championships and Commonwealth Games.鈥�

Luke鈥檚 story featured on the and on the radio via September 1鈥檚 Sunday Morning Show.

亚博体育官网 SPORT鈥檚 scholarship programme attracts new students each year with applications open between May-August and December-January.