Scottish Schools Championships big success for Harriers

This year’s Scottish Schools Championships proved to be a special occasion for our young 5 Harriers as they were held at Hamden Park, the venue for the Commonwealth Games. Our athletes were not only treated to first class facilities but were also blessed with hot summer like conditions, where officials had to bring out umbrellas for protection against the intense sun an occasion not often witnessed in Scotland.

4 Harriers, Laura Duncan, Lauren Greig, Kuda Tapatapa and Cameron Wilson,  were competing in the sprint events ranging from 100m to 400m, with Evie Bartl the sole representative in the field events.

Laura Duncan, representing Loudoun Adademy, followed on from her recent success in the National sprint relay the previous week with a fine performance in the 100m sprint. Laura qualified comfortably as second in her heat with a time of 13.24 and achieved the bronze medal in the final clocking 12.98, missing out by 1/100 of a second for second place.

Kuda Tapatapa, representing Kilmarnock Academy, competed in the 200m and 400m. Kuda comfortably won his 200m heat in 23.44 and came second in the semi final heat clcking 23.22. The final proved to be a real thriller as Kuda narrowly missed out on the bronze medal by 2/100 of a second clocking 22.66 for fourth place. Kuda made up for it in the 400m race by wining his heat with 52.48 running a new PB of 50.87 for the gold meal. This makes Kuda eligible for representing Scotland at the International Schools Championships in August.

Club mate Cameron Wilson representing Loudoun Academy competed in all three spring events, 100m, 200m and 400m. Cameron came second in his 100m heat running 11.85 and run exactly the same time in the semi final. Cameron qualified for the 200m semi final in a time of 23.95 but must have been disappointed with his time of 24.99 in the  second heat of the semi final. Cameron also competed in the 400m, where he came second in his heat in a time of 53.80 .

Lauren Greig, representing Glasgow School of Sports, completed Kilmarnock’s sprint quartet. Lauren won  comfortably her 100m and 200m races, wining two gold medals in 12.94 and 26.40 respectively. Well done to all sprinters who continue their success.

Evie Bartl, competing for Grange Academy, had a very successful championships and proved again that she is a good championship performer, delivering good performances when it really matters. Evie not only won 2 gold and 1 silver medal but also set three exciting personal bests in all three field events: pole vault, javelin and shot put.

Evie started her medal quest on Friday morning in the pole vault, clearing 2.40m in her first attempt (previous PB 2.30), which was 30cm higher than the second placed athlete. Evie was again in action late afternoon in her favorite event, the javelin and effectively won the competition with her opening throw of 30. 81m but increased her lead with her last throw, propelling the spear to a new PB of 32.39m. After completing day one with two gold medals Evie was again in action the following day in the shot put  where she had an excellent throwing sequence and won the silver medal with a new PB of 10.05m.