Published: Thursday, 12th February, 2009 8:25am

Rosyth hurdler makes blistering start to 2009

by Simon Harris

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ROSYTH hurdler Francis Smith has made a blistering start to 2009.

Smith (pictured) won a double at the DM Hall Scottish national indoor championships at the Kelvin Hall, firstly winning the 60 metres hurdles title in 8.06 seconds – his fastest run over the sprint hurdles for four years.

He also went on to take the 200m title in 22.31 to add to the closed Scottish title he won on 17th January.

And he was bang in form again last weekend when he represented Team Edinburgh in the Inter City Cup match in Sheffield on Sunday.

He made it three victories out of three in the 60m hurdles, clocking another season"s best of 8.04, just fractions away from his PB 7.96, to help Edinburgh reach the final in Cardiff on 28th February.

Smith is relishing his return to track action after a frustrating season last year with injury and reckons a lack of pressure could be behind his excellent form.

'I"m just having fun,' he said when Press Sport caught up with him this week.

'I"d not really prepared much for an indoor season this year as my coach, John Macdonald, doesn"t really believe in indoor running.

'But the way I"m approaching my athletics just now I"m really enjoying it.

'I"m having fun and training really hard.

'I"m having fun in the warm-ups which is making me really relaxed and I"m under no pressure.

'I"m running the best I"ve done for four years.'

Because of his early success, Smith will now head to the AAAs indoor championships this weekend where he will hope to go under the eight-second barrier.

He then has two weekends in Cardiff, the first representing Scotland in the indoor Celtic Cup, followed by the Inter City Cup final.

Looking ahead to the outdoor season, where Smith will return to the 400m hurdles, he said, 'I"m just making sure I"m getting myself back and fit and running how I was in 2007.

'I"ll race in the Scottish Championships and then hopefully the British.

"I want to get as close to the Scottish record this season as I can and then it"s all about trying to get the qualifying standard time for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.'

Pitreavie"s Ryan Oswald will also be representing Team Edinburgh in Cardiff after running a new PB 6.92 in the 60m at the Inter City Cup match to finish second.

Aberdour sprinter Nick Smith has also made a good start to the year.

Convincing victory in the 60m in the closed championships in 6.66 saw him selected for the AVIVA international in Glasgow at the end of January as a guest.

He ran 6.63 to set a new Scottish native record and equal the PB he ran prior to going to the Olympics in Athens in 2004.

The performance, which saw him finish third, beating top international athletes including Kim Collins, sees him currently ranked third in Great Britain and fourth in Europe.