00:00I'd like to ask you Ken, first of all, it's obviously an exciting project for the council
00:07and I'm told the first dedicated project within the Highland Investment Plan.
00:12I've just wondered how important you see it as.
00:15Well, the Highland Investment Plan came about because we introduced a 2% increase
00:21over and above the normal increase in council tax to pay for projects just like this.
00:26So for this to come to fruition right now is fantastic.
00:30It's not taken a long time to move from that decision to finally implementing it
00:36and it's something that's really tangible that people throughout the Highlands can benefit from.
00:40So this is fantastic, I think, that we're able to bring this forward at this time.
00:45And James, we're here today, obviously, with Megan, a very successful athlete
00:49who came and cut her teeth on this track, but it really is for everyone.
00:54It's not just for the elite athletes locally, is it?
00:56Yeah, absolutely.
00:57And I think, as we say there, it's great to see this happening.
01:01There's many people have come through this track over the many years that it's been open,
01:06Megan being the Olympian that we've produced on the track, and that's great to see.
01:09Hopefully, we'll get more from the new track.
01:12And although it's based in Inverness, the track is a Highland facility.
01:16So we attract athletes and runners from all over the Highlands, all over Scotland come here as well.
01:22And it's that whole principle of right from little toddlers running on this track right through to people like Megan.
01:28And that's what we want to do.
01:29We want to be just here on the new track once it's reopened.
01:32Megan, I was wondering, first of all, why this place is so special to you and why it's prompted you
01:37to come along today for what's quite an exciting development.
01:41Yeah, so my running journey started on this track.
01:44I was definitely still in primary school when I first competed on this track.
01:48And I trained here week in, week out until I went to university.
01:51And now I still regularly come up to do training sessions with my coach Ross.
01:55So, yeah, it's seen me through the start of my athletics journey all the way through to training for the
01:59Olympics two summers ago.
02:01So I'm excited for the investment to put in and hopefully continue that journey training on the Inverness track.
02:07We were just saying that a bit earlier with some of the officials that, you know, it's for everyone on
02:12the track.
02:13But it's also in the hope that we might produce another Megan Keith.
02:16You know, how difficult would it have been for you if you didn't have a facility like this?
02:21It would have been impossible, particularly as a junior, because obviously my parents loved the fact that we could cycle
02:27five minutes from the house and we'd be at the athletics track.
02:30They wouldn't have driven me two hours to Aberdeen if I had wanted to complete athletics training.
02:34So, yeah, it's invaluable that it's a facility right here for everyone in the city to to use.
02:40And, yeah, as you say, hopefully we can keep producing enthusiastic runners and athletes who want to to continue their
02:47journeys here as well.
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