Successful Medal Run at West Districts

The athletes of Kilmarnock Harriers competed in the West District T&F Championships at the local Ayrshire Athletics Arena and with the weather being just right and the typical headwind that normally burdens our track being reversed into a tailwind, the athletes were given a helping hand and many picked up PB’s, SB’s and medals all round. The championship was split across Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon.

In the field events on the Friday night, Sophie Rowan U15, competed in high jump and finished in 5th place and cleared 1.35m. Jamie Nix U15B competed in triple jump- an event that we don’t have many specialists! Jamie showed good consistency and finished an agonising 4th place but with a decent jump of 10.36m. Kayleigh Duff U15, competed in discuss and finished in 4th place with a throw of 15.60m.

 Kara Tait in the mix of the 1500m

On the track, the 200m and 1500m series were ran. In the  U13 girls 200m, Erin Pastulovic ran in well and finished in 7^th with a time of 31.57s and just a fraction behind the rest of the field.

In the U15 girls 200m, Lauren Greig ran very strongly after taking away 2 silvers in the track last year. In the heats, she stormed through into 1^st place almost instantly and ran 26.23s, which is a PB, but unfortunately with an illegal tailwind of 2.5 m/s. Sheautomatically progressed through to the heats and once again crossed the line in 1^st place with a time of 25.64s, another PB, but again an illegal tailwind of 2.3 m/s. Kilmarnock’s first gold medal of the night. Erica McKie finished 7^th in her heat amongst some tough opposition with a time of 29.88s.

Meanwhile, Scott Caldow U15, competed in the club colours in the 200m as well. He finished in 4^th place with 25.59s and qualified as a fastest loser. In the final, he ran strongly and finished down in 5^th place but with another good time of 25.91s.

The U17 women had a big turnout from the sprints group with Danni Hands, Kirsty Pattison, Madeline Lawton, Laura Fulton and Anna Balls. Hannah Bartl, competing for Glasgow School of Sport was also running in the series. In heat 1, Laura Fulton ran with tough opposition and finished in 8^th with a good time of 28.41s. Heat 2 had Hannah Bartl and Madeline Lawton. Hannah finished in 7^th stopping the clock at 28.20, a SB, and Madeline behind in 29.14s, a PB. Danni Hands, Kirsty Pattison and Anna Balls lined up in heat 3. Anna finished in a strong 4^th with 27.64s, the best run of the season. Danni finished in 7^th with 29.40s and Kirsty in 8^th with 30.50s. Unfortunately, none made it to the final.

Kuda Tapatapa, Cameron Wilson and Reed Wyper competed in the U17M 200m. Kuda ran in comfortably in heat 1 and crossed the line easily in first place clocking a time of 22.97s- very close to his PB. Cameron, after being riddled with injury most of the winter, came through in 4^th place with a good time of 23.85s- a PB. Reed, him too being riddled with injuries, finished down in 6^th with 25.07s- a seasons best. Kuda was the only U17 to qualify to the final and just like Lauren, he comfortably came 1^st,  although saying his hamstring was cramping round the bend. Despite this, he ran a PB with a legal wind speed. His time was 22.58s and scored Kilmarnock’s second gold medal.

Laura Duncan ran an outstanding race after recently moving into the U20W age category. Due to the decreasing numbers of U20s, Laura was put into a straight 200m final.
Laura came storming out the blocks well and when coming off the bend, her opposition started to move up. Laura managed to win the gold medal by 0.05 of a second with a time of 26.61s. Kilmarnock’s 3^rd gold of the night, a PB for Laura and her first District medal.

 Smiles all round for the District champion

On the second day, the 800m saw Erin Pastulovic and Emily Nix, both U15, compete under the club colours. Erin finished in 7^th with a time of 3:09.20 and Emily crossing the line shortly after with 3:11.66s. Jamie Nix U15, turned up for the 800m series and finished in 6^th with a time of 3:34.48.

Most of the sprinters from the 200m returned the next day for the 100m. Starting with the U20s. Laura Duncan won the race quite comfortably and broke the 13 second mark with a time of 12.95s. Scott Young came up against new opposition of U18s moving up. Scott was out-dipped by 0.01 at the end of the race and painfully missed out on the bronze medal that he had won from last year too. However, his time was 11.24 which is a much deserved PB based on the hard work from training.

Danni Hands, Madeline Lawton, Laura Fulton, Nicola Linton, Anna Balls, Kirsty Pattison and Rebecca Tennant ran in the U17 age group for 100m. Danni finished in 8^th and stopped the clock at 14.19s. Madeline finished in 6^th with 13.86, followed by Laura with 13.94 and then Nicola with 14.41s. Anna finished a strong 3^rd in the heats and crossed the line in 13.40s and followed by training partners Kirsty with 14.14 and Rebecca in 14.35s. Alex McCartney finished 8^th with 15.85s. All of the girls ran PB’s in their races.

The U17 men, had the return of Reed Wyper and Cameron Wilson with Bradley Smith running the 100m. All three Kilmarnock athletes were conveniently placed in lane 1 but Cameron finished in 4^th as a fastest loser place for the final with a great time of 11.58s which goes down as a personal best. Reed finished in 5^th with a seasons best of 12.16s and Bradley in 6^th with a PB 12.67s. Cameron managed to qualify for the final and finished down in 7^th clocking a time of 11.87s.

Lauren Greig competed in the blue and white vest in the 100m after winning the 200m the night before. She won her heat comfortably with just under a full second between her and second place. Her time was 12.69s. Lauren returned for the final where she showed the field her heels with a time of 12.61s, leaving everyone following in her wake of half a second.

 Lauren on her mark for the 100m

Scott Caldow ran in his preferred event of 800m. In his heat, he finished 2^nd with 2.20.93. After qualifying for the final, he ran very, very well. So much that he took an astonishing 7 seconds off his PB and took it down to 2:07.91 in the final. He left a gap of over half second between him and second place and afterwards stood on the podium to receive his gold medal.

The hurdles series of 70m, 75m and 80m showed the return of Jamie Nix and Sophie Rowan with Natalie Sharp. Jamie finished an overall 5^th in the 80mH and achieved a time of 17.03. Sophie Rowan, in her heat finished 3^rd with 13.09 but with an illegal tailwind of 3.0m/s. This allowed her to qualify for the final where she just missed out on a medal by about 0.4s. She finished 5^th with an ever so slightly slower time of 13.10s. This was soon followed by Natalie Sharp who finished a strong 3^rd in her heat with a respectable time of 13.89 and managed to qualify for the U13 girls final. In the final, Natalie held her form and improved her time from her heat down to 13.76 and finished an impressive 5^th.

Kuda Tapatapa, up and coming 400m runner, competed in the 400m on Saturday afternoon in a straight final. His competition was not as stiff as expected and as so, Kuda was named West District Champion in 400m as well as 200m with a time of 51.65s. Lorne Kerr competed in the 400m too. She finished 3^rd in the straight final with a good time of 61.78s to bag a bronze medal.

In the field, Evie Bartl and Eilidh Gardner competed in the javelin. Evie threw well and managed to finish with a silver medal in the bag after closing the event with a throw of 27.36m- this is just shy of her PB whilst Eilidh finished down in 6th place with a throw of 14.42m. Evie returned in the pole vault to gain a gold medal comfortably with a vault of 2.20m which is a PB for Evie. Not only this, she achieved a bronze medal in shot putt after finishing with 9.46m.

Sprinter Scott Young competed in his side event of shot putt. He bagged a silver medal too with a putt of 9.57m in the U20. His training partner, Bradley Smith finished down in 4^th of the U17 category with a respectable putt of 8.43m and showing room for improvement. Emily Nix finished down in 9^th for the U13’s shot putt with 4.19m.

Natalie Sharp finished 3^rd in the U13 girls high jump with 1.15m and went home with a bronze medal.

In the long jump, Sophie Rowan finished in 18^th with a jump of 3.81m.

With the National Championships at the new Aberdeen facility in a couple of months, this gives the athletes a baseline of where and how to improve. Medals, personals bests, season’s bests and overall enjoyment was gained from the athletes. With a total of 14 medals across the two days amongst some fierce opposition, the athletes, coaches and parents of the whole club have something to be proud of.

Article by Reed Wyper.