Senior/U20 Events Roundup 27th March 2024

It’s fair to say that March has flown in, with a whole load of events going on since our last update as
well as the annual awards night – well done to all of our U20 and Senior prize winners!
We start this week’s report at Grangemouth for the Falkirk Vics Open Graded meeting, where U20
athlete Abbie Smith was first in her age category for the shot with a throw of 9.05m – well done
Abbie.

On Sunday the 10 th , Ross Granger took part in the Cambuslang Harriers Down by the River 10k. Ross
ran a fine 36:08 which was good enough for 11 th overall and 4 th V40, great running Ross.

Sunday the 17 th saw 3 of our ladies head across to Alloa for one of the early half marathons of the
season. Despite the ‘character building’ hill at around mile 11 this is always a popular race with
strong fields and competitive racing. Katrine Kelly had a brilliant run, with a PB of 1:20:55 good
enough to take the top spot overall for the ladies – great to see you on top of that podium Kat! Also
having great runs were Eilidh Ballantyne (1:56:15) and Lauren Little (2:00:50) – well done ladies!

Slightly further afield, Sunday the 17 th also saw Laura Haggarty open her campaign at the European
Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun with a fantastic silver medal in the V35 3000m
(10:42.30) following a really exciting couple of closing laps. Also at this event, Jennifer Beattie ran
the V40 400m heats on the Monday for a PB (65.57) but unfortunately did not qualify for the final.
Laura was then back in action in the 800m heats on the Wednesday, with a solid 2:23.86 and 3 rd
fastest across the heats taking her comfortably through to Thursday’s final. In the final on Thursday
another fine run of 2:21.40 saw her finish 5 th overall – great running in some really good company.
Jennifer had the benefit of a straight final on the Thursday, with a PB of 2:27.78 good enough for 5 th
in her age group. On the Saturday, both girls were running their respective 1500m finals, with Laura
finishing 5 th in the V35 category in 5:00.51 and Jennifer 5 th in the V40 race in 5:19.38. To finish the
week, both participated in the V35 4×200 relay with fellow Scot Stacey Downey and honorary Scot
Nia Rutter and were rewarded with a silver medal for their efforts. Great week of racing for both!

While the ladies were out in Poland, U20 Matthew Monachello was testing out the upgraded
Emirates facility at the Jump Glasgow event, finishing 2 nd in his age group with a 3m vault – well done
Matthew. Also on the 22 nd , Murray McDonald took part on the March edition of 3k on the Green,
finishing in 23 rd spot with a time of 11:20 – great running Murray!

Saturday the 23 rd saw the club make a return to the Scottish National 6/4 stage relays at Livingston.
For the men, Jamie Phillips ran a first leg of 15:44 bringing us back in 5 th place. Jamie was also 9 th
fastest overall on the day – great running Jamie. Craig Ferguson then went out on the long leg in
33:07 and passed over to Connor Scobie for another short leg (18:32). Jamie Nix then took it out for
another long leg (37:59) and Stewart McAllister was our last athlete out on the course for a short leg
of 27:23 – unfortunately we had a late call off so were unable to complete but well done to all and
special thanks to Stewart for taking on team manager duties also. For the ladies, Susan Boyd
stepped up at the last minute to take out first leg in 27:06. Lynsey O’Connor then went out on the
long leg and came back in 38:38, followed by Lorna Baird on the short leg in 19:20. Lorna was 8 th
fastest athlete on the short leg overall – great run! Anchor leg was Izzy Caufield who unfortunately
was sent the wrong way and had a significantly longer race than planned (57:44) – despite all of this
the team still finished in 21 st overall, well done girls.

All of the athletes completing the relays will get points in the summer league as agreed earlier this
season – watch this space for an announcement on the summer races. We are working hard on

some changes this year which we hope will help to raise the profile of the club at major events, an
announcement will be made soon about this along with the 2024 Club Together awards.
We now look forward to the start of the road racing season with the Tom Scott 10 miler this
weekend, after which the races will start to come through thick and fast! Best of luck to all of our
athletes competing. If you are missed off any of the reports please let us know, we love to report
good news!