Lothian Running Club starlet recovers from crash horror to earn GB vest.

Apr 8 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Horror smash left Inglis full of doubt whether she would ever run again but a determination to beat the odds has helped seal a remarkable return to form

SARAH INGLIS feared the worst as she lay in her hospital bed.

A horror car smash had left the promising young athlete nursing severe internal bruising and unable to eat.

Before the accident happened, the 18-year-old was plotting a big push on the national and international front in 2010 but her dreams were shattered on that fateful day in October last year.

Doubts crept in during the early days of her hospital treatment, her internal injuries causing so much pain, that she couldn’t even eat. Was this the finishing line in her own running career?

But as Inglis’ body slowly recovered from the trauma of the car crash, so did her mental strength.

After leaving hospital a week after the smash, she slipped into her running shows once again. Her first short run left her exhausted, her body still battered and bruised from the accident, but Inglis battled through the pain in the hope of getting her dreams for 2010 back on track.

Now, almost six months since the crash, the Lothian Running Club starlet is at peak fitness and is enjoying the best season of her career, culminating in a dream run for Great Britain at the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

For Sarah to be running with a GB vest proudly on her back represents a remarkable recovery, one that even she admits to being surprised by.

“I was in hospital for a week and all my injuries were internal. I was unable to eat for three days,” she explained.

“So, thinking back, I am surprised I managed to return so quickly, as the first time I ran after the crash, I felt very weak.

“During that first week I started training again, I thought it would take me forever to get back up to speed but it came quite quickly over a couple of weeks.

“It has definitely been my best year so far and getting the GB vest was something I never expected.

“If someone had told me that before Christmas, I would never have believed them. I remember thinking after a race in Stirling in February, where I didn’t run well, I was just going to write my season off.

“But training picked up and I started doing more miles and it went from there all the way into the GB team.”

Her phenomenal year began in one blockbuster weekend in January where was selected to run for Scotland — and won the under-20 race — at McCains Cross Country in Antrim, earned her first senior representative vest, made a TV appearance, set a new Scottish record and claimed the Scottish 4k Cross Country title.

Then she continued her remarkable run in the National Cross Country Championships, where she bagged a medal for the fourth year running.

It has been a stunning return to form for the teenager but the highlight for her was being given the chance to pull on a GB vest.

Inglis crossed the line 56th from an international pool of 95 athletes in Poland but she reckons she should have done better.

“I really enjoyed running in Poland – the whole trip was amazing,” said Sarah.

“Before I headed over, I spent a week training at Loughborough and there was a great team atmosphere, which was amazing to be a part of.

“The standard was incredible. The Kenyans, Ethiopians and other Africans were so fast and they started quickly and stayed at that pace all the way round.

“Competing against these guys showed me what level I need to reach.

“The course in Bydgoszcz was really mucky and had a lot of loops. There’s not been anywhere I’ve trained on that was really like that apart from maybe Dechmont Law.

“I felt I got caught up a wee bit in things and started too fast as after a lap-and-a -half I was feeling it a bit.

“Hopefully, I’ll do better next time.”

African athletes filled the first 16 places, with Kenyan runners making up the first four over the line, but Sarah reckons UK runners can close the gap.

She said: “Altitude training is the key I think to winning these big races and it is something UK Athletics are starting to do and one of my team-mates in the GB squad had even spent three months training in Ethiopia.

“The reason Kenyans and Ethiopians are so strong in long distance running is because they train at altitude.

“The oxygen in the air helps create more red blood cells, which helps them get more oxygen to their muscles.”

Last weekend, she was back in action on the Isle of Man competing for Edinburgh University and she reveals she has a packed summer schedule.

“I’m heading over to Portugal for a training camp to get used to running in the heat,” she continued. “The Olympics and Commonwealth Games are my long-term ambitions but this summer the World Juniors are taking place in Canada, so I need to try and get the qualifying time for them, so that is my next real target.

“I also have the European Cross Country Championships in Portugal but to be selected for them I need to do well at the qualifiers in Liverpool in November.

“Now I’ve been in the GB squad, hopefully I can get the chance to go to Portugal.”

Inglis will continue to rack up the air miles this year but she has admitted it can be a hard slog to fund her ambitions.

She added: “It is hard to attend all the races without and help or financial assistance and it would be great if anyone could help with some sponsorship.”