Athletics: City middle distance pair race for a place in American Collegiate Final

They once trained together with the same coach at Meadowbank and competed for Edinburgh AC but later today in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, Chris O'Hare (Tulsa) and Kris Gauson (Butler) will clash in the same semi-final as they vie for a coveted place in the American National Collegiate (NCAA) 1500 metres final.

Both men are on athletics scholarships in the USA and have already enjoyed a fine indoor season. O'Hare finished second in the NCAA Indoor 1500m Championships after setting the second fastest mile time ever by a Scot indoors (3:56.48) and Gauson also dipped inside four minutes (3:59.74) in an indoor race though he did not qualify for the Indoor finals.

The two former clubmates, who first started training with Dave Campbell a decade ago, have reached the championships at Drake University today through contrasting routes, O'Hare via the West regional qualifier in Eugene, Oregon, where he clocked 3:46.33 for 1500m, and Gauson via the East qualifier at Bloomington, Indiana where 3:48.38 was good enough to see him through.