Mo Heads For Glasgow

20 DEC2011

Mo Farah, world champion at 5,000 metre, will kick off the biggest year of his stellar athletics career in Glasgow next month. Mo, who won 5000m gold and 10,000m silver at the World Championships in Daegu in August, will make his Aviva GB & NI Team debut over the shorter distance of 1500m at the Kelvin Hall in his first appearance at the venue since breaking the British 3000m record in 2009.

The BBC's Sports Personality of the Year contender is looking forward to the trip to Scotland: "It's going to be really good to compete at the Aviva international match again. Since I've moved out to the USA I really appreciate coming back to the UK to compete and it will be great to get a race so early on in the year.

"It's been a while since I've started the season so early but this year I'm keen to keep up the competition and just take the momentum from one meet to the next. Last time I competed at this event I had a really good run and set a new British record."

Mo Farah is currently Britain's best male distance runner and a real contender for a gold medal at the London Olympics next summer. He added: "My training group in the US is really great, we're able to turn up to training, get our work done and have a few laughs in between.

"I do really like competing in team events. I like the camaraderie, we're all usually staying in the same hotel and pushing each other along so it will be great to get involved in that again at the Aviva international match. It's unreal that it's almost 2012 but although it really is just around the corner I'm just looking to keep pushing on with what I've been doing.

"I'm training hard with my coach, we won't be changing our routine too much and I'm trying not to keep looking ahead to the summer and to just take it step by step. I certainly don't want to be wishing 2012 away and I'll be looking to do my absolute best at every meet I compete in, starting at Glasgow in January."

Teams participating at the Aviva international match are GB & NI, Russia, USA, Germany and Commonwealth Select. The event will be staged at the Kelvin Hall on January 28.