Laura Muir wins Scottish 3000m indoor title

Laura Muir raced in 400m, 800m, 1500m, one mile and cross-country events last year

Laura Muir made a fine start to 2015 as she took 10 seconds off her personal best on her way to winning the Scottish 3000m title at the GAA Miler Meet at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.

The Great Britain athlete, 21, came home in 8 minutes 51.75 seconds, a time that was bettered by only one British woman in 2014 - Julia Bleasdale.

Sean Fontana took the Scottish men's title in 8 minutes 18.96 seconds.

He held off the challenge of medallists Howell Craske and Myles Edwards.

Gavin McArdle won the Under-20 gold medal in that same race with a personal best as the indoor meet played host to Scottish national championships and a shot put competition that attracted three dozen entries.

Kathryn Gillespie impressed in the Under-20 category over 3000m with a time of 9 minutes 37.16 seconds and 16-year-old Ben Greenwood caught the eye, running 600m in 1 minute 20.11 seconds.

Milnathort's Muir was expected to miss the race but recovered from cold symptoms in time to compete.

"On Monday and Tuesday we were pretty certain that Laura would not be running but there was enough of an improvement for her to make it," said coach Andy Young.

"To get 8.51 in those circumstances was pleasing and reflects the training this winter. Laura hasn't run 3000m for a couple of years, with her last one also being in a mixed race at the Emirates."

Muir is now expected to feature for Scotland over 1k in a cross country relay that is part of the Great Edinburgh XC programme in Edinburgh on Saturday.