World 1500m champion Kerr vying for prize alongside Laura Muir, Neil Gourley, Jemma Reekie and Scout Adkin
As usual, picking the winner for the 4J Scottish Athlete of the Year will be extremely tough after another spectacular season.
Mountain runner Scout Adkin is up against four middle distance runners in Josh Kerr, Laura Muir, Neil Gourley and Jemma Reekie for the award.
Kerr replicated Jake Wightman in beating Jakob Ingebrigtsen to the world 1500m title, in Budapest.
Both Muir and Gourley achieved great success at the European Indoors with the former becoming 1500m champion and the latter a silver medallist over the distance.
Muir overtook Colin Jackson and Jason Gardner in becoming the first ever Brit to claim five European Indoor gold medals. She also ran 3:55.16 at the Diamond League final in Oregon – her second quickest time after the 3:54.40 that got her an Olympic silver medal in Tokyo – and set a British mile record of 4:15.24 in Monaco.
Jemma Reekie (NYRR)
One of Reekie’s season highlights came at the New York 5th Avenue Mile where she retained her title in the Big Apple. Back to some of her best form, Reekie also set her fastest 800m since the Tokyo Olympics, clocking 1:57.30 to win the London Diamond League.
Adkin, a national cross country champion, helped the British team win silver and bronze medals at the 2023 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.
The nominations for Para Athlete of the Year will be equally difficult to choose.
Gavin Drysdale claimed a second world title of his career with T72 100m gold at the World Para Championships in Paris.
At those same championships, Sammi Kinghorn won the world T53 100m title and got two T53 400m and 800m silver medals.
Sammi Kinghorn (Getty)
Ben Sandilands also broke his European record to claim the world T20 1500m crown in Paris.
Eilidh Doyle won the Scottish Athlete of the Year award no fewer than four times in an illustrious career on the track. This time around she’ll be picking the winners.
“It has been another terrific year for our athletes (and their coaches) at various levels and age groups,” said Doyle.
“One look at the Athlete of the Year short-lists will tell you that and just as one example in the Para category we have three world champions from Paris.
“So a world champion, or rather two of them, will miss out on Scottish Para Athlete of the Year so that is a pretty high bar being set.
“In the Athlete of the Year list there are five athletes nominated and there are all sorts of medals and records involved there.”
Eilidh Doyle (Mark Shearman)
The Scottish Athletics awards are not just about athletes – there will be acknowledgement, too, for coaches, clubs, officials and volunteers.
“We are looking forward to a great night after success but I think it is also very important we celebrate the contributions of so many people in our sport,” added Doyle.
“It is something I have come to appreciate more since I retired to be totally honest. You are very focused as an athlete but I see now the enormous work put in by volunteers to create the right pathway.
“We have that here in Scotland at the moment and that is very much thanks to clubs, coaches and officials making a massive contribution.”
4J Athlete of the Year
Scout Adkin; Neil Gourley; Josh Kerr; Laura Muir; Jemma Reekie
4J Para Athlete of the Year
Gavin Drysdale; Samantha Kinghorn; Ben Sandilands
U20 Athlete of the Year
Caleb McLeod; Dean Patterson; Natasha Phillips
U17 Athlete of the Year
Millie McClelland-Brooks; Oliver Patton; Louis Whyte
Masters Athlete of the Year
Andy Douglas; Paul Forbes; Alastair Walker
Details on the 4J Annual Awards Dinner can be found here
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