Senior/U20 Events Roundup 10 th June 2024

It has been another action packed couple of weeks for our athletes – thinking these may
need to become weekly reports the way things are going! It’s great to be able to report on
so much success – if I’ve missed you out then please let me know.

We start this report on the 25 th of May, where we had athletes performing at various events
up and down the country. Jamie and Jordan Phillips made the trip to Manchester for the
BMC Grand Prix meeting and were rewarded with PBs in their respective races – Jordan
was 2 nd in his 800m in 1:53.2 and Jamie won his 1500m in 3:49.8. Closer to home, U20
thrower Logan Mitchell had a great day at the Throws Grand Prix at Grangemouth, winning
the shot with a great throw of 14.75m and then following this up with a 2 nd in the discus with a
PB of 41.00m. Also in action were our sprinters, competing at the GAA Sprint Gala at
Crownpoint. Brooke Dunlop ran 13.14s for the 100m and 26.89s for the 200m, Adam Todd
had two 100m runs for 12.42s and 12.44s and Ally Mitchell returned down the distances at
this meeting to clock a 23.05s in the 200m.

Meanwhile, all roads led to Edinburgh for the road runners this weekend with the EMF
Festival taking place over both days. In the 10k on the Saturday, our sole Harrier Stuart
McWaters ran 1:00:02. On the Sunday we had Lorna Baird (1:25:37) and Jamie Nix
(1:26:52) competing in the half marathon – well done guys! Having to endure the frankly
disgusting weather for an even longer period of time, we had 5 registered Harriers taking on
the full 26.2 miles. First home was Colin Anderson in a marathon debut of 3:26:50. Next
back was Gary Martin in 3:48:18, followed by Terry Mulholland (3:50:20). Lucy Stanley was
first lady back in her marathon debut (also raising funds for the Scottish Athletics Trust –
great job Lucy) in 3:52:43 and rounding up the marathon heroes was Vicki Deane in 4:55:48.
Also taking on the half marathon distance this weekend was Jacqui Sandler, who completed
the Mull of Kintyre Half in an excellent 1:57:47 for 21 st lady and 6 th V50 (you don’t look it
Jacqui!).

On Monday the 27 th , we had two young athletes competing for Scotland at the Pickering
Memorial Throws meet at Loughborough. U20 Logan Mitchell was 1 st U20 in the shot
throwing a fabulous PB of 15.06m, and U18 athlete Abbey Kennedy made an amazing
Scotland debut with a 48.65m hammer throw which was good enough for 4 th place. We don’t
usually report on the younger age groups but could not miss Abbey out in this instance –
fabulous to see the club represented at such a high level!

On Thursday the 30 th , the West District 10k championships were held at Helensburgh. As a
club championship event we had hoped it would be better supported, but it was quality over
quantity this time with Izzy Caufield our sole representative running a great 44:59 for 3 rd V20
– well done Izzy!

Friday the 31 st saw some of our middle distance runners at Crownpoint for the GAA Miler
meet. This is a really popular event and it’s easy to see why – fast races with pacers make
for some really exciting racing and there were a lot of PBs posted. In the men’s A race,
Jamie Phillips had a fantastic run to take the win in 1:49.61 – a PB and big milestone time.
Jamie was also eligible for a share of the GAA prize pot with this time – huge congratulations
to Jamie and his coaching and support squad. Not wanting his brother to have all the glory,
Jordan Phillips also posted a PB on the evening, finishing a very close 2 nd in the B race with
a time of 1:51.86. Another athlete crushing PBs and hitting big milestones was Matthew
Monachello, who ran sub 2 mins for the first time finishing 2 nd in his race in 1:58.21. Matthew
has been knocking at the door of sub 2 for weeks now and was great to see it come off at
this meeting. Another athlete posting a huge PB was Laura Jedrusiak. Laura is more often

seen running for her Uni squad these days but we’ll have her back over the summer! Laura
took more than 3s off her PB for a 2:23.77. Also in the 800s were Ross Granger who was
running only his 2 nd ever 800m race for 2:16.99, and Jennifer Beattie ran 2:31.10 in one of
the earlier races. Although we don’t usually cover our younger athletes, yet again I am
compelled to! Jamie Work was running in the Scottish U17 3000m championship at the
same event and posted a huge PB of 9:25.75 – great running Jamie!

The theme for the weekend of the 1 st and 2 nd seems to have been hills and trails, and we
had some truly brilliant performances. Jonathon Downey was representing Great Britain in
the U20 Up and Down hill race at the European Championships in Annecy, France.
Jonathon had a great run in seriously classy company to finish 21 st overall and help the team
to take 5 th place overall. Huge congratulations to Jonathon and coaches/support team for
this selection and outstanding performance!

A bit closer to home, on the 1 st of June we had two athletes competing at the Durisdeer Hill
Race. David White was 8 th overall and 2 nd V50 in 2:19:42, and Roddy Pugh was 13 th overall
and 3 rd V60 in 2:40.30.

Mark Henderson was also running up and down hills this weekend, competing in the Blair
Castle Weekender Dearg Up n’Doon race (a 30km race with a fair bit of elevation shall we
say!). Mark completed the course in 3:36.01 to finish 41 st overall.

Rounding up with our hills and trails theme, we had a small team travel over to Arran on the
2 nd for the Whiting Bay Forest Trail race. Nick Carter was 1 st home in 8 th place (46:35), with
Eilidh Ballantyne next back in 11 th overall and 2 nd lady (48:40). Making sure Eilidh didn’t get
all the bragging rights, mum Susan Ballantyne was 3 rd lady home in 14 th overall (51:15) and
also getting a trophy. Poor Lauren Little twisted her ankle on the course but still completed
in 26 th place in 1:06:35.

Reaching different sort of heights on this weekend was Sara Barbour who was competing for
Glasgow Jaguars at the first National Athletic League Premier Division match in Eton in the
pole vault competition. Competing against the likes of World, Commonwealth and European
medallist Molly Caudery, Sara had a fantastic competition and cleared a massive 3.90m for a
new PB.

On Wednesday the 5 th , hill runner Roddy Pugh was in action again – this time at the Red
Moss Kips race where he finished 92 nd in 1:05:24. As if two hill races in one week wasn’t
hard enough, he also completed the Two Mamores race on Saturday the 8 th in 126 th place
overall – what a week of running Roddy, dread to think the elevation covered!
Friday the 7 th was the date for the ever-popular Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k, more
affectionately known as the Burger and Beer race! 4 Harriers were tempted by this prospect,
with Connell Drummond first across the line to claim his well earned burger and beer in
40:43. Next home was Russell Duncan in 45:35, followed by Mark Lyden in 49:16 and
Jackie Duncan in 55:04. Jackie was also 2 nd V55 lady in a very competitive field so well
done!

Also on the 7 th , U20 athlete Connor Scobie was competing at the inaugural Helix Park races
where he finished a fine 9 th place overall and 1 st U20 in the 3k race in very blustery
conditions in 10:07 – well done Connor.

This weekend just gone was the big one for the club – the 7 th year of Roon the Toon.
According to the results, 76 Harriers completed the event which is a fantastic number, well
done to each and every one of you! Full results are available HERE as we sadly cannot

mention everyone. First Harrier home in 4 th overall and 1 st U20 was Jonathon Downey who
continues his fabulous season with a 32:27 on the clock. Next back in 8 th overall and 2 nd U20
was Sam Rice (34:05) and making up our top 3 men was Graeme Quinn in 10 th overall and
5 th senior man (35:07). Rounding up our fantastic winning men’s team was U17 athlete
Jamie Work who was 14 th overall and first U17 (35:49). It is great to see the depth we have
in the squad currently and bodes well for XC relays later on this year! For the ladies, it was
a podium finish for Kat Kelly who was 3 rd lady overall (1 st V40) in 37:58. Next back was
Lynsey O’Connor in 38:28 (2nd V40), and Lorna Baird (38:55) made up the top 3 ladies who
also lifted the ladies team prize. Other age group prize winners were Sasha I’Anson who
was 1 st U20 lady (42:11), Izzy Caufield who was 2 nd U20 lady (44:31), Eve Starritt who was 1 st
U17 in her first ever 10k (47:26), Susan Boyd who was 1 st V70 lady (53:05) and Kate Todd
who was 3 rd V70 lady (57:11) – definitely a great day for the club!

Also on the 9 th was the second of the CSSAL meets at Ayr Riverside. Individual results have
not been finalised but early indications are that despite the challenges we faced with a lot of
our senior athletes competing at Roon the Toon, we scored enough points as a club overall
to take the win which leaves us in a good position going into the third and final match later
on in the summer. There were some great performances across the board, with a number of
athletes picking up extra events to fill in the gaps and the hardy trio of David Anderson,
Jamie Nix and Nick Carter coming down after racing Roon the Toon to gain valuable points
for the club – fantastic team spirit guys! As always big thanks to our officials and volunteers,
many of whom also did the double shift.

With only one competitor at the West District 10k, the league tables remain unchanged other
than Izzy Caufield extending her lead at the top of the ladies table with a total of 51 – Amy
Mitchell and Susan Boyd stay on equal 2 nd with 26 apiece. The men’s table still has the top 3
of Sam Rice (44), Ross Granger (36) and Matthew Monachello (25). There are still 4
opportunities to earn points this season – the Kenny Phillips 10 mile, the Stirling (Scottish
champs) 10k and your best half marathon and marathon.

Going forward, we are looking for names for the next Scottish National League on the track
(30 th June at Grangemouth) – speak to Kevin Mitchell if you wish to compete. We are
currently sitting in 4 th place out of 19 clubs after the first two matches and are keen to build
on this in our first year of asking – the timetable is posted on the Harriers Facebook page.