Athletics: Patience pays off for Keith Hood

Keith HOOD has learned that good things come to those who wait. The Corstorphine athlete will win his first East vest in tomorrow’s Inter-District races, part of the Great Edinburgh Cross Country event – at the age of 39.

He is oldest of five Corstorphine runners in the East team, alongside Kris Berry, Michael Crawley, Douglas Selman and Michael Breen.

Hood has been running since his early 20s but in recent years his times have been steadily coming down. “I was quite surprised to get the call-up,” he admitted. “I was happy with the way I ran at the East District Cross Country Championships in Aberdeen last month where everything just seemed to click and I finished fifth.

“I’d never been in the top ten before so I suppose I thought I had an outside chance of making the team.”

On tomorrow’s match, he said: “I just want to do myself justice, and hopefully beat a few of the younger runners!”