Athletics: Fife AC coach Steve Doig wins scottishathletics award

Steve Doig, who is a coach with Fife AC and leads a training group of athletes based at Pitreavie Athletics Centre, was shortlisted for two prizes at the scottishathletics and jogscotland 4J Studios Annual Awards.

Held in Glasgow on Saturday evening, he was nominated for Para Performance Coach of the Year, and Development Coach of the Year, and was the recipient of the former.

Athletes that work with Steve include Dalgety Bay star Caleb McLeod, who was shortlisted for the Under-20 Athlete of the Year award after winning 800 metres Commonwealth Youth Games bronze; Owen Miller, who won T20 1500m Paralympic gold at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021; and Ben Sandilands, who in the summer won T20 1500m World Para Athletics Championships gold.

READ MORE: Coach hails 'exceptional' Ben's prize nomination

Owen and Ben's achievements, alongside those of Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr, who won gold at the 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships respectively, mean that each of the last four men's 1500m titles at global level have been won by Scottish athletes.

Humble Steve, who couldn't attend the awards due to other commitments, with Ben collecting his prize on his behalf, said that his own recognition was due to the efforts of the athletes he coaches, telling Press Sport: "It was a very pleasing thing to get, but it's testament to the results that athletes get, really.

"I've been nominated I think for three years now. I was nominated after Tokyo, so that was obviously because Owen had done so well. Last year Derek Rae (a T46 marathon runner from Kirkcaldy) was training with us at that point, and he'd transitioned quite well to 1500m. Steven Bryce (who raced in the T20 1500m at the World Para Athletics Championships with Ben and Owen) was training with us last year. I think he'd won the English championship, and had improved his PB significantly, and of course Owen had done a PB last year, and had raced really well over 5,000m and 1500m.

"It's all down to a wee core of athletes so, really, it's an award for them."

Ben Sandilands (centre) and David Ovens (chair of Scottish Athletics and assistant coach to Steve Doig) received Steve's award from John Doig of Commonwealth Games Scotland. (Image: Bobby Gavin.)

Steve said that in 2016 Richard Brickley, the then chair of Disability Sport Fife, had asked if he and his training group would work with Owen, noting that "the ambition really was to get Owen under four minutes for 1500m, and to try and get into a British team".

"If you fast forward through that, ambitions have all changed since then, and who would've imagined where we'd got to," Steve continued.

"In 2016, you wouldn't have said we'd have a Paralympic champion, and then at the next global championship, we'll have a world champion, and it'll be a different person!

"It highlights how much expectations can change just over a few years, and if people are prepared to work hard, put the work in and commit themselves, it shows what can be achieved."