Aberdeen AAC’s Jane Davidson surprised herself as much as anyone else by blasting to victory with a record-breaking performance in the 60m hurdles at the Scottish senior indoor championships in Glasgow.
The 16-year-old Hazlehead Academy pupil clocked an impressive 8.80secs, which smashed her club’s under-20 age group record of 8.98 set by Grace Carter two years ago.
It’s also the sixth best time ever recorded by a Scot in this age group.
On top of that, she came within a whisker of the Aberdeen AAC senior record of 8.79 which Catriona Pennet established 15 years ago.
Not bad at all considering this was the first time Davidson had tackled the senior hurdles.
The teenager, who returns to Glasgow this weekend for the Scottish under-20 championships, admits the outcome surpassed her expectations.
She said: “I really wasn’t expecting it. It’s the first time I’ve competed in this event and I was amazed when I saw the clock.
“It was really only meant to be an opportunity for me to get a run out and test myself before going to the under-20 championships and I wasn’t expecting to do much at all.”
“It has definitely boosted my confidence and I hope I might be able to go even quicker this weekend, but we’ll see.”
Davidson has the fastest time of all competitors in the line-up for this Saturday’s race, but she is taking nothing for granted as the field also includes English athlete Amy Carter (Middlesbrough), who has a best time of 8.96.
She said: “The English girl is a sub-nine sec runner so it will be a competitive race, but I think that will help me to run better as well.
“We’ll have a qualifying heat before the final and I’m happy with that as it’s always good to use that to test everything is fine.”
Davidson, who excels across a range of disciplines, has also entered the long jump and 60m at the two-day championships.
She said: “Unfortunately I probably won’t be able to do the long jump as it is scheduled to be taking place at the same time as the hurdles on Saturday.
“But I’ll definitely be able to do the 60m as it is on Sunday so I’ll hopefully get a good run in that.”
The fifth-year pupil, who doesn’t celebrate her 17th birthday until July, will be able to get a long jump under her belt before the end of the indoor season.
She said: “I’ll be doing the long jump at the Scottish schools championships later in the month.
“I don’t want to do the hurdles at the schools meeting as it would mean switching to the younger age group specification and I don’t want to have to adjust to that.
“I really enjoy the hurdles, especially when it’s going as well as it is, but I’m keeping my options open about other events.
“When the outdoor season comes around I’ll be focusing on the 100m hurdles, which is another step up for me.
“But I’ll be doing a range of events when I compete for Aberdeen in the leagues.”