A Robert Gordon University (RGU) student who is balancing his studies with a promising athletics career admits he would “love to” compete at the British Championships and Commonwealth Games after a specular recent win.
Luke Davidson, who is studying Sport Coaching, won August’s Scottish 800m title at The Eric Liddell Senior Championships having previously succeeded at various other University level races.
Last month’s triumph was made particularly remarkable as he’d switched from his usual 1500m to the 800m in order to be able to compete at all.
The dedicated and passionate Inverness Harriers runner trains six days a week, but never on a Sunday due to his faith. This emulated the same position, and result, taken by Luke’s sporting inspiration and the man in which the year’s championship was named after – Eric Liddell.
Luke Davidson competing for RGU
The 22-year-old said: “My highlight on the athletics track has to be winning this Scottish 800m title. Not only for the obvious reasons of winning, but this competition was so important to me as it was commemorating a figure that I have always looked up to for so many reasons.
“I’ve been inspired by him from a young age. I have similarly never trained or raced on Sunday, including at the Scottish Championships where I changed from my preferred event that was on a Sunday and chose to compete in the 800m instead. Despite training six days a week, my faith is more important to me than any achievement for my athletic ability.”
Luke’s season finished with the Monument Mile Classic in Stirling on Saturday, August 24. While it wasn’t the result he craved, he’s confident about what’s to come with clear goals in mind.
“The result is not what I was hoping for. It was very messy and started out very slowly, but it was a very enjoyable event to be part of.
“Next year I am hoping to get as close to the British Championship qualifying time as I can and if that’s the case, I will compete at that (provided it is not on a Sunday!). I also plan to run the national championships again as well as another Monument Mile.”
Luke Davidson during his recent win
The RGU student will enter his fourth and final year this month. He’s been nominated to be Athletics President and is one of several RGU SPORT scholars, allowing promising athletes to develop their talents whilst undertaking academic study.
Luke was part of the athletics team which travelled to Sheffield in February to compete at the British Universities and College Sport (BUCS) National Championships where he made his second 1500 final. In 2023, he won the Scottish Student Athletics Indoor Championships 800m title.
Luke said: “The sports scholarship programme has been a big help to me as it has been able to offer support to me in my training and competition. It has also shown me that despite training on my own most of the time there are plenty other students in RGU that are in the same boat as me trying to balance their studies and compete at the highest level.
“I intend to keep training as hard as I am and as much as I can while I complete my degree. I aim to go as far as I can with the sport. I’d love to get to the level where I can compete at bigger competitions such as British Championships and Commonwealth Games.”
Luke’s story featured on the BBC online and on the radio via September 1’s Sunday Morning Show.
RGU SPORT’s scholarship programme attracts new students each year with applications open between May-August and December-January.