On her marks - Hayley Haining interview

Hayley Haining thought her athletics career was over when injury forced her to retire. Now she's on the brink of running in the Beijing Olympics, says Martyn McLaughlin

IT REMAINS unclear whether Hayley Haining will be going for gold at Beijing this summer but, whether she runs or not, the 37-year-old has already displayed the composure, drive, and mental strength common to all great Olympians.

However else is an athlete meant to prepare physically and mentally for sport's greatest event, when all the while they must wrestle with the knowledge that such a golden opportunity could be denied at the last moment? It is fate both enviable and torturous, but one that Haining has come to terms with in recent months.

As the official reserve for Paula Radcliffe, the world marathon record-holder and leading lady of British athletics, Haining is on standby. Should Rafcliffe – diagnosed with a stress fracture in her left femur in May – fail to recover from injury, then her place will be taken by the Scot.

Radcliffe last week underwent a medical examination in Middlesex. The only result was further ambiguity. Now back in her base in the French Pyrenees, the former BBC Sports Personality of the Year says she is fighting her own "race against time".

Given her pedigree, UK Athletics are postponing any decision until the last possible moment. The call, it has been suggested, may not be made until as late as the eve of the race.

It is a situation which would break lesser mortals than Haining, but even in times of uncertainty, her sense of perspective never falters. For her, running is a "hobby, a relaxation". It is an incredible statement, given that some athletes train all their lives for a single season; a solitary event, even. But what Haining has lacked in luck she compensates for in sheer pragmatism.

Running is a vitally important part of her life. She first went along to her local athletics club at around the age of 12, but only at the behest of her older sister.

"She was the one who wanted to go, I just went along with her," she tells me. "But I found that I really enjoyed it and I went again and kept going back, trying out different events.

"It took me a few years to find my best discipline and realise that, yes, I could run and actually compete at what I was doing."

Not only compete, but win. In 1986 she set a British under-15 record for 1,000 metres, before becoming a cross-country runner who outshone Radcliffe when the pair were in their late teens. A bright sporting future seemed to lie in wait. Tentative whispers named her as the natural successor to Liz McColgan. Her true love, though, lay away from the running track.

"My mum said that I told her at the age of four I wanted to be a vet," laughs Haining. "I suppose that shows it was what I always wanted to do."

Growing up in Dumfries, Haining's family home was near a veterinary practice, and she developed a fascination with their work at a young, impressionable age. "I grew up with animals and it has been a way of life for me ever since. The staff at the veterinary practice near my home were very good with me, letting me come in and watch them. They told me what they were doing, pitched at my level. I learned a lot and it really sparked my enthusiasm."

Ironically, it was her affinity with animals that almost put paid to Haining's ability to run. At 15, she was helping to attend to a pair of young horses at an agricultural show, but one of them spooked and pulled her to ground, while the other trampled on her.

So severe was the resulting injury that the hamstring was nearly torn off one of her legs. The saving grace was the jeans she was wearing, which helped hold her battered limb together. Even today, though, the scar tissue is prominent and she has very little sensation around it.

As she reached adulthood, Haining doggedly pursued her career ambition and qualified as a veterinary surgeon. Four years ago, she added a PhD to her CV and she now works as a clinical pathologist at Glasgow Veterinary School. There, in the rarified surroundings of the University of Glasgow, she analyses samples of all sorts of animals, from canine family pets to golden eagles and exotic reptiles.

She continued to run at a modest level, but incurred further serious foot and ankle injuries, which severely curtailed her outings. At the age of 28 she decided to hang up her spikes. A joke doing the rounds had it that if she had been a horse, she would have been put down.

It was a cruel jibe, but one she was able to laugh at. "I thought that would be the end of my racing days," she said. Then, three years ago, something returned. Happy in her career, the woman now called Dr Haining realised she missed the buzz of the track. Not the competition or the possibility of glory – simply being out there and doing it.

"My ambition then with running was the way it is now," she says. "It's simple – just keep enjoying it. I find it relaxing and a good way to chill out. It's a huge part of my social life. I say it's what I do in my spare time, but I deliberately found myself wanting to set aside some of my spare time to do it."

Joining her local Kilbarchan Amateur Athletic Club, she discovered that her period of inactivity had not hindered her. "I just seemed to creep back into the sport. It felt right."

Since then, Haining has remained free of injury. Scarred she may be, but she has posted some impressive results in recent years, finishing 12th in the London Marathon in 2005 and ninth in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games of 2006. Last year, she took sixth place at the Berlin Marathon, setting a personal best of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 43 seconds in the process.

Her prowess came to the attention of UK Athletics. Now, the healing properties of Radcliffe's left femur will determine whether Haining can make the most remarkable of comebacks.

She is grateful to her employers for allowing her time off, should it be necessary. If she is to compete, she will travel with Team GB to their pre-Olympic training base in Macau, near Hong Kong, at least 10 days before the August 17 marathon to acclimatise.

"I've still to make a decision, but hopefully it'll be clear in a couple of weeks what the situation is and the decision will be made for me," Haining explains. "It depends on whether Paula's fit to run; it's simply a case of waiting to see if she can make it."

With less than a month to go, Haining rebuffs the notion that the situation is impossible to mentally prepare for.

"It's never a chore for me to keep running," she insists. "Yes, I think about the Olympics when I'm training and I set myself standards, but when I come off the track, I simply switch off. If I don't go to Beijing, it won't break me. I don't run just for the competition."

And if she does get the green light? "Oh, of course, it'd be smashing! I'm still quite surprised at being talked about as an Olympics hopeful. I've had a lot of injuries and I've taken a lot of time out.

"It's a childhood dream that I thought I had put away years ago. But I've realised running is a part of my life, it's always been there."

GOLDEN GIRLS

LIZ McCOLGAN, MBE

McColgan (née Lynch) was born in Dundee in 1964. Excelling in long-distance track and road running, she won gold in the 10,000 metres at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, and was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. She also won gold in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, and a silver medal in the Seoul Olympics in 1988. In 1992 she won the inaugural IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, and four years later won the London Marathon with a time of 2:27:54.

YVONNE MURRAY, MBE

Murray was born in Musselburgh in 1964. A highly successful middle- distance track and road running athlete, she was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Five times Scottish outdoor champion, in 1986 she won bronze for the 3,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games (held in Edinburgh) and also at the European Championships. In 1987 she was European indoor champion at 3,000m. She took bronze for the next year's 3,000m at the Seoul Olympics.

Further successes included a gold medal in the 1990 European Championships for the 3,000m. In 1993 she won the World Indoor Championships again over 3,000m. Then in 1994, she won silver at the European Championships and another gold medal in the 1994 Commonwealth Games, this time for the 10,000m.

STEPHANIE COOK, MBE

Cook was born in 1972 in Irvine. She graduated in medicine from Oxford, where she was president of the university's Modern Pentathlon Association 1995-6 and won the women's individual title in the Varsity match against Cambridge in 1997.

Having put her medical career on hold, she won the gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics in the women's modern pentathlon, the first time that the event was included in the games. She then went on to win the world championships in 2001.