Scout and Jacob Adkin will be a key part of the British team at the European Off-Road Running Championships. Adrian Stott talks them both about growing up and supporting each other in the heat of competition.

The tourist website for Kamnik in Slovenia describes it as "a charming medieval town nestled in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps”. The usual quiet is about to be broken over the coming days, however, as the surrounding hills and trails play host to the third edition of European Off-Road Running Championships (EORRC).

The competition will be fierce, with a total of 593 athletes from 33 countries tackling uphill and classic up-and-down mountain races for seniors and juniors, as well as a long trail race over 52km, across the programme that runs from June 5 -7.

The EORRC are held in alternate years to the World Mountain and Trail Championships (WMTRC). Both championships were set up to capitalise on the global growth of mountain and trail running.

The Great Britain and Northern Ireland teams were very successful at the last championships, in Annecy in 2024, securing team medals in all but one of the mountain races and three individual medals as well. Joe Steward won gold in the uphill race, with Jacob Adkin taking silver. Adkin’s sister Scout also claimed an individual silver in the uphill race.

While Steward will not be defending his title, both of the Adkins siblings will be in Slovenia and, on recent form, could both be challenging for the podium. Scout is the reigning World Mountain Running World Cup series champion, a title she also won in 2024, while Jacob is no stranger to success, either. He won the uphill European title in 2019 and followed up his European silver medal from 2024 with a superb fifth place at the World uphill event in Canfranc, Pyrenees, last summer.

From early adventures as juniors with Moorfoot Runners in Peebles in the Scottish Borders, they are now firmly established as world-class mountain runners. Did they have a strong sibling rivalry growing up?

“Scout is a couple of years older than me. So she would be trying different activities and sports," says Jacob. "I’d follow her and try those sports as well. Eventually, I would get a bit better than her, so then she'd get annoyed. But yes, I think we had a healthy but friendly rivalry - as most siblings do.”

Scout adds: "I think there has always been that competitive nature in both of us. Maybe some rivalry when we were younger, but now we both want each other to do well.”

As they have matured into world-class athletes, both experienced success, but it hasn't always been plain sailing. Their support of each other has been an important part of the equation.

”I think it's just genuine mutual understanding,” says Jacob. “Both of us have been in the same game for a while and gone through various injuries and other kinds of setbacks. Being brother and sister, we just know what each other needs or doesn’t need from the other at a particular time.

"We don't really get to spend much time together because we're now living in different places and, in the summer, we are both travelling around quite a bit and a lot of the time, we are just sending messages or having a quick call when it’s needed. With Scout being a physio, it has really helped when I've had major injury setbacks or even just little ongoing niggles and injuries.

"It’s great for her to give me advice when I ask, and I really benefit from her professional side as well as being my sister. I'm not sure I have quite the same ability to give back to her as much as she does to me.”

Scout's feelings are similar. "As we've grown older, we've definitely become a lot more supportive of each other and want each other to do as well as we can," she says. "We've both had our ups and downs over the years, but it's nice when it's a year that we're both on form and doing well. I think those times when one of us hasn't had a good race or a good season, we understand what the other is going through and how they feel about that.”

For both of them, since breaking into the international scene, the year has involved focusing on a major championship. That entails peaking for a trial and then holding and building that fitness for a few weeks until the championship. How do they plan for that?

Jacob’s acknowledges the challenges. “It is difficult," he says. "When I was starting out in both junior and senior years, you weren't as confident of your place in the team, and you did have to properly taper for the trial. Then, if selected, you push as much as you can for the next four weeks. Now I'm fortunate to be in a place where, while never taking anything for granted, I can, maybe, not take my foot off the pedal as much before the trial.

I do reduce the volume and intensity a little bit towards trials, but in recent years, I've been able to work through it a little more so that I'm properly peaking for the champs a month later. It is a difficult one to balance, but to be honest, there isn't actually much more you can do, really, after the trials. You've only got two or three weeks of good training you can get in. So you're not going to be setting the world alight with new sessions or anything like that.”

Scout has similar thoughts.

“It's very tricky at this time of year to peak for trials and a major competition," she says. "It's very early season. I probably finished winter training and cross-country season by the end of February and am straight into hill session work, building through to the trials.

"Then, another few weeks before tapering for the championship. Probably this time of year, coming out of winter training, you tend to start doing a lot more hill efforts, while also keeping some speed up. I don't do track sessions, mainly because we don't have a decent track near where I live in the Lakes. So it'll either be on very good trails or a road. I do a lot of cross-training, as well as pilates, stretching, stability work and some swimming. I quite like that variety as well as the running. and I tend to commute to work and back on my bike as well.”

Looking forward to the championships in Slovenia, do they study entry lists avidly to assess the competition? Or are they more concerned with bringing out their best on a given day, knowing that should get them challenging the podium anyway?

“I don't actually look at start lists,” says Jacob. “You get to hear on the grapevine who is running fast from other people you talk to. Once you're at the championship, a few days before the race, you're seeing people from different teams around hotels or checking out the course.

"As long as you're on the start line and you're in that right headspace for you, and you get the best out of yourself in the race, then I think that's the most beneficial way to tackle things”.

Scout is more forthright. “I definitely do not study any entry lists," she says. "It just makes me too stressed. So, I prefer not to know until we turn up on the start line and see who's there.”

Full championship schedule

Friday June 5

Men and Women uphill only races: Seniors - 8.9km/1280m ascent; Juniors - 4.0km/425m

Saturday June 6

Trail race Senior Men and Women: 52km/2450m ascent and descent.

Sunday June 7

Men and Women Classic Up and Down races: Seniors - 13.1 km/825m; Juniors - 5.7km/325m

Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for EORRC

Trail

Men: Ben Rothery, Alexander Chepelin, Luke Grenfell-Shaw, Andrew Symonds

Women: Scarlet Dale, Eve Pannone, Emily Cowper-Coles, Kirsty Oldham

U20 Uphill

Men: Rowan Taylor, Kieran Hardie, Lachlan Thomas, Joel Gillan

Women: Nancy Corrie, Isla Pastor, Hania Czebreszuk, Sophie Wood

U20 Up-and-Down

Men: Lachlan Thomas, Ewan Busfield, Ben Hodson, Adam Bentham

Women: Constance Jenneson, Isla Pastor, Nancy Corrie, Graihagh Turner

The Fell Running Association(FRA) Scottish Hill Runners (SHR), The Martin Hyman Fund and England Athletics contributed to
funding of the junior teams to the championships.

Senior Uphill

Men: Matthew Knowles, Finlay Grant, Tom Spencer, Jacob Adkin

Women: Morven Goodrum, Scout Adkin, Kirsty Dickson, Hannah Russell

Senior Up-and-Down

Men: Matthew Knowles, Thomas Hilton, Tom Wood, Oscar Subuh-Symons

Women: Naomi Lang, Elle Twentyman, Scout Adkin, Nancy Scott