Nathaniel "Nat" Muir (born 12 March 1958) from

Salsburgh Salsburgh is a semi-rural former coal mining village in greenbelt farmland within the district of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The closest major towns to the village are Shotts, southeast, and Airdrie northwest. Salsburgh is perhaps best k ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

is a Scottish retired

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

. He competed at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on ten occasions, four times as a junior from 1974 to 1977 and six times as a senior between 1978 and 1987. Muir took up athletics in 1970 while at primary school in

Chapelhall Chapelhall (from the Gaelic Seipeal Allt - Chapel by a burn) is a village outside the town of Airdrie in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. With house building, the distinction between Airdrie and Chapelhall is being eroded. Established as a small m ...

. He was encouraged by his fellow pupils to join the

Shettleston Shettleston (, ) is an area in the Glasgow#East End, east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name "Shettleston" is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multitude of spellings. A papal bu ...

Harriers

running club A running club, is an eclectic institution specialising in running and oriented towards the sport and recreation of running or track and field. The club may train for and compete in cross country, road running, fell running, track and field som ...

, and his first race was the

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

Relays in 1970, which saw him earn the fastest individual time in his age group. His career has seen some ups and downs and he has been described as "One of Scotland's best ever distance runners: possibly also one of the country's unluckiest in that he never had the success at the very topmost level that his ability and dedication deserved". Muir ran in many competitions throughout his career from his humble beginnings in 1970 spanning over twenty years, with some notable successes such as his fifth win at the 1984 Irvine Beach Park. His last race was in the 1992-93 season on the Glasgow-Edinburgh run where his team came in 7th with Muir's recurring Achilles tendon injury. Muir himself knew that with the injury his time had come to retire, a decision not brought on by team performance but by his knowledge of his personal limitations to his own fitness and a previous race, the Allan Scally Relay, as a gauge for the upcoming Glasgow-Edinburgh run. He reflected that "athletics is essentially an individual sport with a team element coming second to that. No one can gainsay that".

References

External links

Shettleston Harriers
running club {{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, Nat 1958 births Living people Scottish male marathon runners British male marathon runners Scottish male long-distance runners British male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games athletes for Scotland Sportspeople from North Lanarkshire