The British athlete talks about her efforts to succeed in 2024
After four months and 12 races in seven countries, Scout Adkin was crowned Mountaineer World Cup champion on October 13 in Italy, edging Kenya’s Joyce Moutoni Njeru by one point for the overall series win.
The thrilling Val Bregaglia Trail, a 23km ‘long’ race with 850m of ascent, decided the final positions after Adkin won the previous day’s ‘uphill’ 3km/1000m+ Lagunc KM Verticale to earn vital points to keep him in the fight for victory.
Each athlete’s top eight finishes counted towards their final total.Adkin finished in second place at the weekend, but his victory in the short race took him into Sunday’s meet, where a third place finish clinched the world title along with bonus points for qualifying for the final.
“I haven’t got my head around it yet,” said the 31-year-old physiotherapist from the Lake District, who finished second in Moutoni Njeru in 2023. “I was trying not to think too much about the whales because it was so complicated, I was just going out to race , as much as I could. On Sunday it was literally.
“When you’ve worked so long towards something and you’ve trained so hard and run so much … I was just desperate for a break and a rest. I can’t quite fathom that I’ve reached the end of the season and it’s even gone better than I expected.”
Scout Adkin (Bobby Gavin/Scottish Athletics)
Hailing from Peebles in the Scottish Borders, Great Britain international Adkin, whose brother Jacob is a former European mountain running champion, was the uphill silver medalist at the European Championships in late May.
It marked the beginning of a hectic travel and competition schedule that was tightly managed around her busy day job; no mean feat when you’re straddling the terrifyingly fine line between exhaustion and exhilaration.
The Moorfoot runner remembers a particular period in July when she was running weekends in Austria, Portugal and France, regularly waking up at 2 or 3am for early flights and returning home in the early hours after the competition.
“The reality is, working in a bar and preparing and traveling and racing, there’s not much going on in my life,” he laughs. you’re at home, you finish washing up, you do the grocery shopping and you go back to work.”
Scout Adkin (WMTRC)
Describing the Mountain Running World Cup series as a test of speed, endurance and strength, Adkin is grateful for the expertise of her coach, Angela Mudge, in helping her prepare physically for the runs, which range from short vertical climbs (the shortest of this series was 3km/1000m climb) to “classic” (up to 21.5 km in this series) and “long” (in the range of 23-32 km). in this series) mountain distances with considerable and varied heights.
The training he does throughout the winter and spring provides a solid foundation in terms of overall endurance, while his consistency and routine, which he calls “pretty tough,” play an important role in overall management.
Scout Adkin (Dave Woodhead)
“I think because I’ve been running for so many years, my body has that good endurance base, but you also have to be pretty strong, so strength work and gym work is important, and you have to have speed and power shorter. for steep climbs while doing longer speed intervals,” he says.
“I’m just trying to cover all areas as much as possible. I try not to worry too much about what other people are doing or the nature of my body. I do what I can. Working out helps a little. I like to have other distractions, or I’ll probably end up overthinking or thinking about things.”
» This feature first appeared in the November issue of AW magazine. Subscribe to AW Magazine herecheck out our new podcast! here or subscribe to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
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