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Hamish Carson
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Hamish Carson of Wellington Scottish set a meet record at the Capital Classic in Wellington recently, breaking Ben Ruthe’s 2007 record of 8min 10.03sec. Carson said that he was really pleased to get his second national title and lower his 3000m PB by nine seconds. He said “To come away with the meet record was an extra bonus.”
“The race went perfectly to plan. I figured there would be a few guys looking to push the pace and that I just needed to stick to them until as late as possible in the race. As it turned out the pace didn’t really heat up until Hayden McLaren made a move with 600m to go.”
And it was nice to see him taking control with 200m to go, crossing finish line clocking 8min 6.70sec, from second placed Hayden McLaren who recorded 8min 9.86sec.
He says that his training was going really well up to the Capital Classic. “Arch (coach) had me doing a solid build-up after having to take eight weeks off with a fibula stress fracture, which I got at the end of the road season.”
He doesn’t have any plans to race another 3000m this season, “…so I’ll have to wait until next season to break 8 minutes.” He says his favourite racing distance is “the goldilocks distance – 1500m.”
The big domestic race of the season where he is aiming to do well was the ITM, which was replaced by Track Meet 4 Christchurch , held in Wellington, where he raced the mile in an international class field. He said “It should be a great chance for a new PB.” Hamish was fourth in 4min 10.00sec.
Carson thinks that his most well known race is probably the 3000m champs last year when he was second to Nick Willis, as Nick drew a lot of media coverage at that meet.
He has focused on running for about eight years now. He started children’s athletics when he was six at the local Paraparaumu Track and Field Club. He says “I never really ran that much until college, as I was into inline and field hockey till I was 14, and also did a fair bit of downhill and cross country skiing.”
What he likes the most about running is the feeling of complete exhaustion after a long run in the wilderness.
Apart from training and running, he completed his first year of an MSc (Ecology & Biodiversity) last year. This year he has decided to put his studies on hold to fully pursue athletics, with the aim of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. He says “Over the summer I have been working as a research assistant for one of my professors at Victoria University. I also work for the regional council on forest restoration and monitoring projects.”
“I would just like to acknowledge the massive amount of support I’ve received from my club Wellington Scottish Athletics over the two and a half years I’ve been a member.” |