Senior/U20 Events Report 15th February 2023

Since our last report at the end of January, the results have been coming thick and fast for our
athletes across the road, XC field and at track and field events, and reports of PBs even at this early
stage of the year which is brilliant to hear about!

We start off this time around with the SVHC Masters Road Relays held on the 29th of January at
Strathclyde Park. Unfortunately due to injuries, illness (and indeed it has to be said a lack of
interest) we were only able to field 1 team for the whole event compared to previous years when we
have entered 5 or 6 teams. However what we lacked in quantity we certainly made up in quality,
with our sole men’s team finishing in 10 th place overall. Out first in 11 th fastest time of the day
overall (9 th V40) was John Speirs, followed by David McLure in 14 th overall (11 th V40). Connell
Drummond was out next and finished in 62 nd overall and the team was anchored by Stewart
McRoberts who ran his best ever time round the course to finish in 81 st overall and secure the 10 th
overall spot for the team. Well done guys!

At the opposite end of the spectrum from Masters events, a number of our U20 athletes were in
action at the Scottish Schools Athletics Association Championships held at the Emirates on the 31 st
Jan/1 st Feb. Representing St Joseph’s Academy, Lewis Tidy took the bronze in the U20 200m in a
time of 22.77s. Representing Marr College, Jordan Phillips took the bronze in the 800m in 1:56.18
and brother Jamie wasn’t to be outdone, earning the silver medal in the 1500m event in 3:55.12.
For Grange Academy, Brooke Dunlop was a double silver medallist in the 60m hurdles (9.44s) and in
the long jump (5.15m). Classmate Logan Mitchell took gold in the shot putt throwing 13.96m to
secure the title.

On the 4 th of February, some of the U20 athletes took the step up to the Senior competition to
compete at the 4J Scottish Athletics National Indoor Senior Championships and it was great to see
them mixing it up with the senior athletes so successfully. Ally Mitchell and Josh Smith were both
competing in the 60m, finishing 3 rd and 4 th in their heat in 7.28s and 7.42s respectively. Ally
progressed to the semi finals and finished a very credible 7 th in 7.32s – it will be no surprise to see
these young men progressing to the finals of these events in years to come. Ally was also competing
in the 200m where he ran 3 rd in his heat in 22.23 to qualify for the semi final where he finished 4 th in
23.56s. In the field events our very own Sara Barbour was victorious in the pole vault to become
Scottish Senior champion with a height of 3.66m – huge congratulations!
Sunday the 5 th of February saw the Scottish Masters XC come to Glasgow Tollcross Park, the venue
which will hold the International Masters XC event later on this year. We only had one
representative on the day, with John Speirs having a great run to finish 39 th overall and 6 th V45 in a
time of 32:03 – great running John and hopefully you will be running round there in a Scotland vest
in the Autumn.

Travelling a little further on the 5 th , we had a team head to the X Border Challenge 10k race. First
home in blue and white was Stewart McRoberts who ran a PB of 42:26. Next back was Calum
Haswell in 44:47, then Gordon Sandler in 46:53 and Jacqui Sandler in 53:17. Well done to all of you!
Moving forward to the weekend just gone, the 3 rd and final West District League match was held at
Bellahouston Park in Glasgow. The full results are not quite ready so we will announce final league
standings in the next report, but our U20/senior/masters athletes had a great day out (I’m told I
might even have enjoyed this one as there weren’t horrible hills!). First back and taking top points in
the winter league was John Speirs, followed by Ross McNaught (great to see you back competing
Ross!), Alasdair Murray, Murray MacDonald, Sasha I’Anson and Amanda Bryden. I think everyone

would agree that this has been a great league and hopefully it will go from strength to strength in
the coming years as it provides extra racing opportunities for those targeting Nationals.
We also had some athletes at the Emirates competing at the Scottish Student Athletics Indoor
Championships on the 11 th – I apologise if I have missed anyone in this one! Representing Glasgow
Uni we had Abbie Smith in the 60m, running 8.83s to qualify for the semi-final where she ran 8.88s.
In the 200m, Andrew Baird won his heat in 24.03s to progress to the semi finals where he ran 3 rd in a
SB of 23.57s. Lottie Lambert ran in the 400m for a PB of 74.09s, Sara Barbour won the pole vault
with 3.58m, and Isla Raeburn was 5 th in the long jump with 5.04m. Isla was also 3 rd in the shot with a
cracking PB of 9.59m, with teammate Abbie Smith just behind in 4 th also with a PB (9.26m). The sole
Kilmarnock/Edinburgh Uni representative was Cameron Wilson who ran 7.88s in his heat of the 60m
for 5 th place.

Also on Saturday the 11 th , we had some of our U20 and seniors across in Grangemouth for a very
early season outdoor throws meet. Heading up the discus was Alex McIntosh, throwing 30.53m for
both age group and overall pool 1 st place. Alex was also in action in the hammer, throwing 34m for
first in his age group once again. U20 athlete Hannah Henderson was also in the cage for the
hammer, throwing a fantastic 35.39m for 2 nd place in her pool.

Travelling a bit further still, U20 athlete Ally Mitchell was in action over the weekend at the English
Athletics U20 Championships in Sheffield. Making the trip worthwhile, he claimed a new PB over
60m (7.20s) in a very hotly contested heat, and also ran a new indoor PB for 200m (22.66s). It’s
fantastic to see our athletes competing and doing well at these high profile events – well done Ally.
Also in Championship action this weekend were some of our Masters athletes who headed to the 4J
Scottish Athletics Masters Championships at the Emirates. First up was men’s captain Robert
Lindsay who ran a scorching 58.77s in the 400m to take the bronze medal in his age category. He
then followed this up with a 9.18m throw in the shot which was more than enough to take the gold
medal and Scottish age group title – well done Robert. Also throwing was Alex McIntosh who was
glad of the better conditions indoors compared to Grangemouth on the Saturday! He threw 9.5m to
take the gold and Scottish age group title too, congratulations Alex. Back to the track, we had Colin
Young take silver in his age group in the 60m sprint with 8.45s, and Douglas Dickson also claimed the
silver medal in his age group with an 8.85s sprint – well done guys, this was a great race to watch!
Douglas also competed in the 200m and was so very unlucky to just miss out on a medal, finishing a
close 4 th in 29.51s. For the ladies Jennifer Beattie won a fantastic double gold with an indoor PB (67.87)

in the 400m to take the win followed by 1st place in the 800m (2:36.76).

At the top of the league tables for the ladies there is no change, with Amanda Bryden charging
ahead with 73 points in total and closest rival Bethany Ross on 44, with Lorna Baird on 40. In the
men’s table there is no change at the top with Craig Ferguson still maintaining the lead (92) and
Jonathon Downey in 2 nd (87) but John Speirs now moves up to 3 rd spot with 68 points. Remember
that your best 7 scores will count, and you need to complete at least 5 events to be eligible for any
age group award. We still have National XC to come up (where 5 of these top 6 athletes are
entered), and the Allan Scally relays to follow. There are still a couple of places available at the
Scallys – let us know if you are interested. We will also be looking to gauge interest in the national
4/6 stage relays in Livingston – keep an eye on club social media! We will also soon be announcing
the races which will make up the summer league table so that you can start to plan ahead – if
anyone has any feedback from last summer’s league that they would like to be considered then now
is the time, drop us a note or catch us at training!

Winter Champs Table here – winter points