With fingers firmly crossed, Chris Baillie is determined to have fun this season. What would make him happiest of all would be to stay fit and add another Commonwealth Games medal to the silver he won in Melbourne four years ago. 

As a 110m hurdler, Baillie has suffered a string of injuries since he finished second wearing Scottish colours in Australia in 2006. Even as he began his April training and looked ahead to another outdoor season he had to concede he was struggling with a calf strain.

“I missed the Olympics in 2008 because of injuries and it is frustrating because every time I get back then something else seems to happen,” he said.  “I would be so pleased if I could just get out on the track and run.

“The hurdles are a punishing event, but I do hope that I can stay healthy this summer. I’m hoping to make the GB team for the European Championships in Barcelona in July and then make the Commonwealths in October in Delhi. It’s a big year.”

Baillie hails from Old Kilpatrick and spent years with coach Bob Somerville when he was based in Glasgow. Eighteen months ago, he made the decision to move to Cardiff and now he has switched again to Bath and linked up with the maestro of British hurdling, Malcolm Arnold.

Arnold steered Colin Jackson to the giddiest of hurdling heights, and Baillie is hoping for something similar. 

“My Cardiff coach moved back to Sweden and so I have now joined Malcolm,” continued the 28-year-old Scot.  “He has so much experience and I have had a quite a bit of involvement with him through the British team, so it has been easy to settle into the new partnership. It’s not totally new.”

Baillie comes from a sporting family – his brother Ross was also a GB level hurdler based at Bath when he was tragically died due to a peanut allergy more than ten years ago.

A full-time performer, Baillie has his focus fully on the Commonwealths, although he knows that New Delhi in October may not be the most welcoming of environments.

“It’s extremely hot and humid and that will take a lot of getting used to,” he pointed out, not so much as an excuse but as a  point of fact. “I’m not sure yet if we’re going to go to India early and try to get accustomed to the conditions, or leave it late.

“There could be a problem with illness, although the Scottish doctors have told us that if we survive the first five days then we should be OK.”

So can he medal again? “That would be great,” he said. “But I’m just going to take the same approach as last time. I’ll go out and enjoy myself and, if I run my best, then well and good. If other people run faster, then so be it.   

“That’s the thing about hurdling. You can’t bash into people - only try and run your best time and see what comes out of it.”

After the bundle of injuries and the passing of years, Baillie is well aware that competitive hurdling cannot go on forever. But he’s not going to contemplate which way to turn at the crossroads until after he comes home from the Commonwealths.

The future is alluring – London 2012 Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. If he can stay fit, then both are still well within reach.

EB
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