Published: Thursday, 19th March, 2009 1:14pm

Master athlete George gets his second wind

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VETERAN Pitreavie athlete George Hunter is enjoying his athletics career even more second time round.

At nearly 62, Hunter (right), of Dunfermline"s Neidpath Place, is looking forward to his first European athletics championships in Ancona, Italy at the end of this month.

A couple of weeks ago he competed at the British Masters Indoor Championships at Lee Valley, London, winning two gold medals and a bronze in the M60 age group, and his dream is to one day become world champion.

It"s Hunter"s second wind in the sport after competing and coaching in his younger days.

'I only made a comeback a couple of years ago,' he told Press Sport after returning from London. 'I"d been out for quite a few years. It was only when I realised I was way overweight. I was 12st 4lbs and I remember saying I would never let myself get like that and I immediately went down to the gym and started training from there.

'That was two years ago when I reached 60. I started competing again. You"ve got to set yourself goals and targets and mine was to win the Scottish championship.

'I won the Scottish 400 metres and 800m in the first year I came back and then last year I won the 800m at the British indoors and outdoors and I also won the 400m indoors last year.'

In London he won the 800m and 1500m in club record times and he admitted, 'I"m running very well now and I"m pleased with the way things are going.'

Hunter"s association with athletics and Pitreavie is lifelong.

'I have always run since I was a young boy,' he said. 'I turned professional in my late teens and competed for several years. Then when I got into my thirties I went into coaching and did a fair bit of coaching down at Pitreavie. I did that up to about 40 and then I started doing half marathons basically just to keep fit.'

Hunter coached Carol Candlish to become British champion at 400m but it was one of his other athletes who was to have a profound yet sad influence on his life.

'A lass I used to coach years ago helped me to get back into the sport,' Hunter explained. 'She was Diane Hannah and she was the first athlete I ever coached down at Pitreavie. I met up with Diane again when I was going to make a comeback. She helped me along, she would come down to the track and time me.

'But she died on 2nd April last year and it"s so sad that she never got to see me become British champion.'

An emotional Hunter will be doing his best to bring back a medal from Italy when he will be competing close to what will be the first anniversary of her death but he knows it"s a tough ask.

The 800m will be his main event and he said, 'You"re competing against the best in every country but you"ve just got to keep striving to improve.

'Realistically, if I reach the final I will be doing quite well as half a dozen have run faster times than me this year already. But I have always believed that if you get to the final, it"s anyone"s race.

'What keeps me going is that eventually I want to be world champion.'