A NEWLY-crowned Scottish champion Gourock athlete has praised running for improving his life after spending his traumatic childhood in a broken home and losing his two parents.

John Bell, 31, claimed a gold medal for the first time at the Scottish 10K Championships, eight years after taking up the sport.

He started his hobby by running home with friends from his job at Amazon and then joined Inverclyde Athletic Club in 2015.

It was his first job after his mother’s passing, who died when he was just 21. A year earlier, his estranged father – who had served time in prison – died too.

John told how he discovered his mother's shortly before Christmas and one of her gifts to him, already wrapped, was a pair of running trainers.

He wore them a few months later at the Edinburgh Marathon, completing the race in under four hours whilst raising money for Help For Heroes.

Reflecting back on his childhood, John noted the troubles he had from a young age in his family, in a life of poverty.

He said: “We came from very little and through our time had numerous building and house fires; one leaving us needing to get rescued out the window by fire services.

“We also had a break-in one Christmas Day.

“Then eventually we got evicted, my mum with her own struggles vanished the day of eviction leaving me to move into my sister's and stay on a sofa in a one-bedroom flat.”

Later, John’s mother attempted to end her life, but made a full recovery to continue raising her children up until her eventual death.

Following a brief spell in the Armed Forces as a communications system operator, John returned home earlier than expected due to family circumstances and lived between the homes of his mother and his future wife, Nicola.

Losing his mother was the 'final straw mentally', he said, thanking Nicola and her family for their support during that period.

John added: “My mental and physical state at this point were not great.

“I ended up getting therapy as I couldn’t handle my own thoughts and was pushing everyone away from me in various ways.”

Meeting brothers John and Stephen Cooke, two local runners, at Amazon reignited his interest in athletics and soon he tried the local Parkrun in Greenock, recording an impressive time of 17min 28sec.

He said: “I got some attention after this and started running a little bit more and this is really where my journey properly started.

“I was in a better place but still not a good mental place.

“Running became a way for me to channel my pain in a positive manner.

“It became a huge crutch in my life and I wouldn’t be the same person I am today if I hadn’t started running.”

Having had his own problems with alcohol as a teenager, John has now been sober for a decade and married his childhood sweetheart Nicola last year.

He now works as a personal trainer in Greenock.

Through the support of his wife, his family and the sporting community, John claimed his first Scottish title at Glasgow Green and now eyes a Scotland vest over the half-marathon distance.

John said: “The running community is full of selfless and like-minded individuals that will support and cheer you on no matter the weather or your position in the race.”

John’s story was told through Athletics Trust Scotland, a charity focused on making athletics more accessible across the nation’s most underrepresented groups, including those with a disability, those in poverty and people from culturally or ethnically diverse backgrounds through its Transforming Lives Project.

Athletics Trust Scotland is raising money for National Running Week from today until June 11, calling on the Scottish public to run 5K for £5 to assist the funding of the project.