Griggs makes record breaking return to action

NICK Griggs made an eye-catching and reaffirming return to competitive action at the Belfast Milers Club meeting at the Mary Peters Track where he took over two seconds off the event and venue record.

The Newmills man had been out of action since December when he picked up a mystery infection in his knee after earning a silver medal at the European Cross Country Championships in Türkiye.

The infection caused the 20-year-old a lot of pain and subsequent concern as he spent time in hospital as doctors attempted to diagnose the issue and get him back in the road to repair.

And after seven months, the former Cookstown High School head boy, showed that not only had he recovered but he was also well on his way to returning to his best after he completed the mile in three minutes 55.97 seconds in a rain-soaked Belfast.

“It’s good to be back!,” a delighted Nick beamed. “I probably thought I was going to run a bit quicker but it was one of those, it was a nice, decent run, nothing too stressful. It was just good to get back out there and get the win on the home track.

“It’s a bit nerve-wracking when you haven’t raced in seven and a half months, especially when you haven’t had an indoor season and you haven’t had any races since 2024.

“It was a strange feeling and I’m just glad to get it over with and it didn’t go too bad.”

Ahead of his return to competitive action, Griggs experienced plenty of ups and downs and he admits that getting back into running again was ‘a weird experience’, mentally and physically.

“It was tough physically and mentally – physically you obviously don’t feel great when you’ve missed three months of running and psychologically, managing the whole stress of coming back,” he explained.

“When I started training again I expected it to go back to normal completely, but it wasn’t, it still had a bit of weakness. Obviously the infection had gone, but the damage that was done meant it was sore in some positions and I think you’re a bit cautious and anything you do and any time you feel it at all, you’re worried that was it coming back, so it was definitely tough for the first few weeks of running and training.

“It was about managing expectations along with making sure it didn’t come back. It’s one of those things, I’d done all the treatment and I had to keep telling myself that I had to do the training I’d been prescribed and I’d get fitter and fitter and the issues would go further and further away until you forget about them and you reach the point I’m at now where I’m back racing and it seems so long ago.

“It’s been a weird experience, but it’s one you have to go through as an athlete at some stage I guess.”

Having remained confident that he could get back to his best, Griggs admits doubts did persist until he completed a five-week training camp, which made a dramatic different to his fitness, mentally and physically.

“You’re worried about your knee, you’re worried about other niggles, but that passes quickly and once I got on camp – I’d been running for three weeks, and I was there for five weeks so by the time I came back I was up to full mileage,” he added.

“So that five weeks of being away, being able to focus on running, that really made a huge difference and that got me back into it.

“I left feeling really unfit, worrying about what was happening and if my knee was going to be OK, if I was going to get any other niggles and stuff like that, but I came back good to go and thinking about racing, so that was a huge thing. The camp was very beneficial.”

Having missed an entire indoor season and the first months of the outdoor campaign hasn’t been ideal for Griggs, but he has returned at a key point in the year and he remains hopeful and confident of qualifying for two major events.

He is racing a 5K in France this week when he hopes to get the standard for the European Under-23 Championships in July before trying to make the standard or earn enough points for the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

“It hasn’t gone to plan 100 per cent, but you kind of forget because the World Championships are so late, how much time you have,” he observed. “I’m feeling fit right now, so I’m hoping to go out and smash that race in France and see how things go.”