In the wake of Eilidh Child’s nomination for European Athlete of the Year, the 400m hurdler’s father has revealed his deep sense of pride at her best ever season.
But it is not just the four major medals in 2014 at World Indoors, Commonwealth Games and European Championships and a maiden title win at the British Champs which pleases Ronnie.
It’s the mental strength displayed by his daughter at Hampden and Zurich that really thrilled Eilidh’s proud dad.
“I am happy for Eilidh on how she has run and the medals she has won but I think actually we’re proud of her most for the way she has handled it all,” said Ronnie, a former police officer at Kinross.
“There’s been an expectation on her over the past couple of years as her performances improved and she represented Team GB. And, with the Commonwealth Games being in Scotland, there was always going to be hype for home athletes with medal chances.
“But Eilidh accepted all that and took it on board with a mature approach.
“She always stressed she couldn’t control what others might do in a race she just wanted to make sure she gave a performance she was happy with and she did that this season.
“We are very proud of her. I am totally biased, of course, but I think she’s such a nice girl in the way she conducts herself. She hasn’t forgotten where she has come from, put it that way, and she makes a point of remembering people and acknowledging their help along the way.
“We are so pleased for her because she has put in the miles over the years in training.”
The Scot, who gave up her teaching job at Perth Grammar to focus on her athletics full-time, has been nominated for European Athlete of the Year as one of a dozen shortlisted for the women’s award.
She is the only Brit in the female category with votes to be cast by October 3 via the website www.european-athletics.org
In addition to the medals mentioned, Child finished second in the prestigious Diamond League standings for the season to Hampden gold medallist, Jamaican hurdler Kaliese Spencer, and was second in the IAAF World Challenge event in Marrakech in September as Spencer won again.
“It has been a long road to this point, it always is in athletics,” added Ronnie.
“I was actually quite a keen athletics fan in terms of spectating when the girls were very young and when Eilidh chose athletics over swimming I was quite pleased.
“She was very good at both sports and kept them both going for a while.
“I remember she won the Primary Scottish Schools Cross Country and around the same time she won 50m breast-stroke national title at the Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh.
“We have a photo at home of Eilidh at that time holding up a pair of running spikes in one hand and a pair of swimming goggles in another. It was her sister, Iona, who first introduced her to hurdling.
They were both good at cross country and Iona became involved with Pitreavie AAC.
“Eilidh would come along to training as well and started jumping makeshift hurdles created with canes stretched between two cones. Iona showed her how to do it and that was it all started.
“For a period, Eilidh would do sprint hurdles and the 800m. That went on for a while and then there was a decision taken to merge it into the 300m hurdles up until 17 and then the 400m hurdles.
“She did very well at 300m hurdles and I believe still holds age group records and British schools, as well.”
Child was back at her club, Pitreavie AAC, recently for a training session and is a firm supporter of the club structure in Scotland as the main part of the pathway for would-be top athletes.
l Ronnie Child was speaking to PB, the quarterly magazine for 11,000 members of scottishathletics, and the governing body have now invited him to address their Youth Academy later this month with coaches and parents due to attend as well as the best teenagers in the 16 to 17 year bracket.