Open Graded, School Games, 1/2 Marathon and Parkruns

The Everyone Active Shettleston Harriers Open Graded Meeting last Tuesday (27th August 2024) saw a number of great performances over a range of disciplines. We were blessed with warm but slightly windy conditions but all athletes and officials were delighted to see the Sun after a number of weeks of rain!  The Alex Naylor Memorial 3000m saw  Shettleston athlete, Taha Ghafari, take the win from fellow club mate ,Jamie Burns. In an exciting race the final result was only decided a few metres from the line after Taha pulled in Jamie in the home straight with Ronnie Brown of Team East Lothian taking 3^rd place. In the Ladies event Saoirse McNulty, Giffnock North, put in a strong finish to take the win from Scottish Steeplechase Champion, Alicia Paton, Cumbernauld AC. Just behind them was Cerys Wright of Lasswade  AC who moved in to the top 8 all times for U/15 Scottish girl over the distance.

In the heats of Adrain Callan Memorial 800m five of the finalists ran PB performances to take into the final this Tuesday with Freya Brown, Lasswade AC and Rachel Cave, Harmeny AC both winning their heats. Eight different clubs will be represented in this girls final. The Derek McLean Memorial Race has been run for over 30 years and it was great to see James Tonner who won the race way back in 1990 watching his daughter run in the heats of the Adrian Callan race. The Derek McLean race also promises to showcase all the top U/15  boys which again will contain a number of different clubs from around Scotland. After two years of a Kilbarchan name on the trophy there will be a change this year as no athletes from this club made the final.

The  800m brought together two of the most promising Scottish endurance athletes -Andrew McGill (Cambuslang) and Kane Elliot (Falkirk) with a supporting role from Jamie McKinnon (Cambuslang). In a fantastic race up the straight Andrew just got the better of Kane to record 1.50.30  to Kane’s 1.50.56. Great running in the strongest wind of the night.

Joseph Lanahan U/13 of Shettleston has had a fantastic season and he was on fire again on Tuesday recording the second fastest ever 100m for a Scottish boy when he recorded 12.22 (+2.0) and the furthest ever Long Jump with a leap of 5.62 (+0.9). Both these performances were within the legal limits for wind speed.

Full results

.he club would like to thank Everyone Active, Slip Stream Media and Raymond Loughran who have supported the event. These meetings rely on the help of many people and the club is very grateful to all the officials who help and volunteers. Night two of the Open Graded events also promises to be a great event. This Tuesday 3^rd September with a first event at 5.40pm

Thank you to Graeme Brown for the photos

This weekend saw three of our young girls travel to Loughborough to compete in the School Games to represent Scotland. We did have 4^th athlete selected but Jonathan Hooper picked up a injury and was unable to travel. Each athlete were put into Olympic Venue teams  with Lidya Woldeselassie (Paris) and Katie Woods (Sydney). Annie Mclean was unable to compete falling ill just before her race.

It was a very special weekend for Katie as she celebrated her 16^th birthday, placing 7^th in the 1500m S/C event in a time of 5.34.26. Lidya also had reason to celebrate as she  threw 5 PB’s in the Discus to finish 1^st in the T35 group with a throw of 19.51m. She then helped Paris finish 2^nd in the 4x100m universal relay  and 2^nd overall just one point behind London. This was a great experience for these young ladies who can look forward to a rest before the winter season.

Not too far away from the ladies Weynay Ghebreseilassie returned to the streets of London to take part in Big Half Marathon event. Finishing 3^rd in a top class field Weynay moved to the top of the Scottish rankings clocking 64.31.Conditions were not the best and the winner Jack Rowe and Jake Smith (2nd) both 61 min men at their best were well off their bests .Weynay will now return to his training base to prepare for the Amsterdam Marathon in October. He  also has put himself for selection for the GB team for the World Road championships.

Splits

Parkruns

At Carlingwark Parkrun, Cameron Muir ran a time of 16.14 for first first place. Meanwhile at Erskine Parkrun, Mark McColl ran a time of 18.55 for 2nd place.

Raymond Loughran ran round as the back marker at Elder parkrun, whilst at Queens Parkrun Toby Hession ran 20.57 for 11th and Susan Breckenridge finished in a time of 26.09.

At Drumpellier Parkrun, Patrick Walder ran a time of 22.44.

At Tollcross Parkrun, David Murphy was again in the top 10 with a time of 22.29 and Joanne Harkins in a time of 29.32.

At Pollok Parkrun, John Connaghan was 6th in a time of 19.19, followed by Fred Davies in 25.25