LAURA MUIR returns to the Tees Valley for the first time in two years later tomorrow, but her appearance at the inaugural Great North City Games mile race at Stockton will be markedly different to her last visit to the region.

The Great North Run weekend encompasses both Tyneside and Teesside, with Muir the star attraction in a women’s mile race that will see competitors charge across Stockton’s Infinity Bridge.

The 25-year-old will be rounding off a stellar season that has featured gold medals at both the European Championships and Diamond League final, but while tomorow’s race is the first elite event to be staged on Stockton’s streets, Muir is not a stranger to the Tees Valley.

Two years ago, in the immediate aftermath of her appearance at the Olympics in Rio, Muir completed a two-week placement at Darlington Dogs Trust’s centre in Sadberge as part of her studies for a degree in veterinary science from Glasgow University. She enjoyed her fortnight staying in a Darlington B&B, and is hoping to create more fond memories tomorrow morning.

“I was helping out with the vets,” said Muir. “I was helping with operations and vaccinations, and doing all the health checks with the dogs.

“It was really good fun, and helped me in terms of completing my course. Most seasons, I’ve finished with my athletics and then gone straight into placements with my uni work. Now I’ve finished my course, it’s going to be strange to actually be able to have a bit of a break.”

Muir has earned her down time via a series of performances that have cemented her position as one of the leading 1,500m runners in the world.

She won a silver and bronze medal at the World Indoors, before claiming her first major outdoor gold medal when she triumphed at the European Championships in Berlin.

That was a notable enough triumph, but even better was to come as she posted a time of 3:58.49 to beat a world-class field in the Diamond League final in Brussels.

“I didn’t really know how this season was going to go because this time last year, I’d started my final year of university and I was so busy and pretty much knackered all the time,” said Muir. “I just thought, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to be able to do next year’.

“I went to the World Indoors in really good shape and thought, ‘Let’s just go for it and see what happens’, and came away with the two medals. Getting my first medals on the world stage was such a big confidence boost for me.

“It took a wee while to get going this summer, but I got there at the right time and won a European title, which was my first outdoor medal. I was so chuffed to get gold.

“I knew I still had a really good race in me and I wanted to prove that on the world stage, and to do that in the Diamond League was amazing. I’m still buzzing about it now.”

Those successes set Muir up perfectly for the next two years, and with the likes of Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford having retired from competition, she could well be one of the flagbearers for the British track and field team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

“I’m really happy to be competing at the level I’m at,” she said. “But it’s not just me. There are so many others coming up behind me and pushing me on, and women’s middle-distance running is so competitive at the moment, which is great. I’m excited about what might happen for all of us in the future.”