No sibling rivalries for podiatry pair
Two brothers are helping guide each other through university - while also chasing their dream of competing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Alec and Kade Thomas are both studying BSc (Hons) Podiatry at GCU and hoping to represent their country on the global stage, when the games come to Birmingham in two years’ time.
The identical twins, whose parents were both runners, competed at cross-country throughout their time at school before being referred on to a sprint coach in 2010.
Since then they’ve represented Scotland together at elite level and insist that they are more team-mates than rivals.
Alec, who’s in his fourth year at GCU, explained: “We bounce off each other really well- it’s always been like that. We’ve obviously trained with each other for years and nothing would make us prouder than reaching the Commonwealth Games together.
It’s a really nice structure through life with us both studying podiatry and being so passionate about athletics.
We’ve always had that routine of being with each other and it’s great that we can keep doing it at this stage– it’s helped us come on leaps and bounds academically and as sprinters.”
Third year student Kade, added: “Despite me liking to remind Alec that I’m the older twin by a couple of minutes, we never really look at ourselves as rivals.
During competitions we always want to push each other on and it’s great to see each other doing well.”
Kade also spoke about how the pair have been helping each other throughout lockdown.
He said: “We’ve just been really trying to get on with both our academic studies and training. Alec has definitely helped me to keep doing sessions when I’m feeling a bit sluggish.
Both of us are lucky with running in that we can continue to do it despite the current situation – we’re probably training harder than ever before!
We’ve been doing circuits in the house and also have a 3g pitch and some big hills nearby - as long as you stick to the distancing rules then everything is fine.”
By Ross Clark
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