HURDLES talent Hayley McLean admitted she made the biggest decision of her life when opting to swap coaches for the new season, but six weeks into her new regime, she is in no doubt that she has made the right choice.

The 20-year-old from Stanford-le-Hope is now training alongside the likes of world 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu in one of the country’s leading talent pools headed up by top British Athletics coach Lloyd Cowan.

She spent time agonising over the decision of whether or not to part company with her coach of six years, Steve Mitchell, at the end of the summer before eventually deciding it was a move she simply had to make.

“It was the hardest decision of my life, but I had to be selfish,” said McLean. “It’s such a short career. I have never wanted it more than right now. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but you can’t spend your life wondering ‘what if?’.”

McLean’s soul-searching came after an eye-opening Commonwealth Games experience.

The Chelmsford AC athlete was heartbroken after being disqualified in her 400m hurdles heat in Glasgow for not clearing a hurdle correctly. She also knew it was not the first time she had suffered disappointment in the same manner.

In 2012 she was disqualified (and eventually re-instated) at a race in the Olympic Stadium and then was disqualified (and not re-instated) after winning the trials for the World Junior Championships.

She realised it was a technical issue that she needed help correcting.

The Commonwealths also gave her the chance to mix with some of the superstars of the sport and see how they trained and prepared for competitions. She soon realised she needed to up her game if she was going to reach their levels.

“The Commonwealth Games was a little bit of a reality check,” admitted McLean. “It was such a big event and it came crashing down for me. But it made me realise ‘this is what I want to do’ and I want to do it more than ever.

“Just being in the athletes village and being able to talk with great athletes was helpful. Talking about how they train, their set up, how many people are involved. It made me realise I needed to make changes if I wanted to reach the top.”

But parting company with Mitchell, who had coached her ever since leaving Thurrock Harriers for Chelmsford AC at the age of 14, was never going to be easy.

Under Mitchell’s guidance she had won a host of national titles, gone to the World Youth Championships and won gold at the European Under-20 Championships.

“It was a hard decision because he has played an important part in getting me to where I am today,” McLean said. “I spent six years with him as a junior athlete and those years are the most important of any athlete’s career. I won many medals during that time and owe him a lot.

“Where ever I get to in the future, and hopefully it will be to the very top, he will have always played a part in it.”

Once the decision to find a new coach was made, there was only one man McLean wanted it to be.

Cowan is one of the most well-respected coaches in the British Athletics set up and was himself a top hurdler during his running career.

On top of that, he has guided Christine Ohuruogu to world and Olympic titles and has an elite group that includes the likes of Commonwealth 200m medallist Bianca Williams and Christine’s sister Victoria who is also a full GB international.

“The whole set up and every one in it is professional. They do it full time, this is their job and they commit to every training session. I’m in awe of it. I’m at the back during sessions nowadays, but it is fantastic.

“Lloyd has a tough-love attitude. He will tell you when things are wrong and that’s what I need. That’s what drew me to him. Everyone in the group is a champion: whether that’s Olympic champion, world champion, British champion.

“My mum has always said to be the best you have to train with the best. You have to be in the mix and that’s what I’m doing now.”

They don’t come any better than Christine Ohuruogu who is arguably Britian’s greatest ever female athlete and although McLean has not spent too much time on the track with her yet, just being in her company is inspiring.

“I have only done little bits of conditioning work with her as she has only just come back to training but you can’t help but be in awe of her.

“She has such a positive presence and you can’t help but be sucked in by that. You can learn so much from her and that’s something I’m really excited about.”

McLean has mapped out her plans for the future with Cowan “starting with Tokyo 2020 and working back” and says the European Under-23 Championships will be her main goal next summer.

And she is confident her new training set up will get her to the championships in better shape than ever.

“I’m six weeks in now and I’m thoroughly enjoying every second,” she said.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s obviously extremely hard. I’m coming back exhausted every day and every muscle in my body hurts, but it’s worth it!”