Young Harriers won 5 gold medals at Scottish Championships

The Scottish Championships held in Aberdeen was a tremendous success for the U14 junior section of Kilmarnock Harriers. Lauren Greig and Evie Bartl, who are both coached by Harald Bartl, competed in 5 different events and achieved a tally of 5 gold medals. Both athletes competed in at times very difficult conditions due to strong winds and rain.

Evie started the gold rush by winning the javelin competition and her first throw of over 28m would have been good enough to win the competition. However, Evie went on to produce for the first time two throws over the 30m mark, her best of 30.77m was a new PB and about 6m further than the second placed athlete. Lauren meanwhile had comfortably won her 100m heat in 14.46 and qualified for her first Scottish sprint final. During Lauren’s heat the head wind was measured at -5.0, making it impossible to run a fast time.

When Evie had to rush off to her second event, the pole vault, the weather had deteriorated slightly, as it started to rain. On one occasion, Evie had cleared her height comfortably and had pushed the pole away but the wind caused the pole to come back, knocking the bar down for a failure. Despite these challenging conditions Evie achieved another gold medal with a new PB of 2.00m and Kilmarnock Harriers celebrated its first national pole vault champion.

Then it was over to Lauren again, who took quick command in her 100m final; establishing an early lead, crossing the line in 13.83 with a lead of 1-2m to the runner up and Lauren was announced as the new U14 100m Scottish Champion. After a lunch Lauren embarked on her quest for a second Scottish title in her strongest event, the 200m sprint. By the time Lauren’s 200m heat was underway, the wind had picked up again (measuring -3.4) but despite the strong head wind Lauren won her heat and qualified easily in a time of 28.67.

Evie’s last competition was the shot put and Evie was also the first athlete to start off the competition. Her throw of 9.75m established immediately a lead, which she held until the last round. While Evie was waiting for her last throw, Lauren’s 200m final had started. Lauren executed the first part of her race brilliantly, running a perfect bent and establishing an early lead when entering into the home straight.

 

By the time Lauren had crossed the line in 27. 83 and was crowned the U14 200m Scottish Champion, Evie had also won her shot put competition, putting the 2.72 kg metal ball for the first time over the 10m mark, achieving a new PB of 10.14m. Lauren was the only girl, who managed to run under 28 seconds during the final. What a climax to an extraordinary day for these two young Harriers. Well done to Lauren and Evie for their achievements !

Sophie Rowan (12), who is coached by George Morton, had also a fine championships. Although Sophie did not win any medals, she can be very proud of herself as Sophie made it to two finals – the long jump and the 75m hurdles.

Sophie’s first event was the high jump, where she was very unlucky, narrowly failing at the height of 1.35m, knocking the bar down with her heels. Her best jump of 1.30m helped Sophie to a fine 11^th place. Sophie then went on to compete in the long jump, qualifying for 3 extra jumps after she leapt 4.13m in her third round, which was also her longest jump of the competition and gave her an excellent 6^th place. Sophie’s last event was the 75m hurdles where she came second in her heat, qualifying in 14.28 for the final. Sophie was even faster in her final, clocking 14.03 in the final, achieving an 8^th place. Sophie and her coach George can be very proud of her achievements as this is only Sophie’s first year in this age group and she will have another chance to compete for medals next year. This was Sophie’s second experience at a Scottish Championship event, following her debut at the National Combined Event at Grangemouth this year.