The Shettleston 10k, the first race in 2025 Babcock 10km series, started with a bang on Sunday morning with two new course records on the Glasgow Green course and both the male and female 10k series records being broken as well.
Omar Ahmed of Birchfield Harriers made the journey from Birmingham and took victory in the men’s race with an impressive time of 29.06, the fastest time in the 43 year history of the event. Not to be undone Natasha Phillips from Dundee also broke the women’s course and series records, winning in a very fast 32.48.
It was a fantastic men’s race with Omar, Logan Rees (Fife AC) and Ryan Thomas (Cambuslang) pushing the pace from the gun .Our own Taha Ghafari was in the leading group over the first 5km lap but eventually finished 6th in 30.39 .With a super effort Fred Davies from the club made the top 10 with a PB of 31.20. After running the London marathon two weeks ago and the 22km Stùc a’ Chròin hill race last weekend Fred did confirm he was having a rest next week! With Sam Lesley making the top15 the club finished 2nd in the team event.
As mentioned, Natasha Phillips had a fantastic run ahead of Sonai Samuels from Sale Harriers and Shettleston Harriers athlete, Brogan Wallace. Brogan, who is currently in great form, has had a special few months picking up numerous National and District medals. Today was no exception landing the West District 10km Championship Title. Taha also picked up a District medal when finishing third in the men’s race.
Full results are not yet available but close to 30 Shettleston athletes took part in the event.
The club was delighted to host the first Run Through event in Scotland and lots of people enjoyed the live feed the provided on their YouTube channel. A big thank you must go to Babcock, with their generous sponsorship of the series, Start Fitness, Arnold Clark, Tunnocks, Asda, West Brewery and Cycle Centre who helped in different ways to make the event a success. The Babcock 10km series now moves to Dumbarton for the next race on 22nd of May.
Another feature of the Shettleston Babcock race on Glasgow Green was a Junior fun run over approximately 2km of the main course. With over 100 children taking part it was great to see so many happy faces after the run and especially from two young Shettleston Harriers athletes, Joseph Patterson and Rowan Lennox who were first boy and girl over the line.
We must also not forget to mention the 50 volunteers from the club who helped set up the course and marshall the race, including Weynay Ghebrisalasie, who finished 15th in the London Marathon two weeks ago. Weynay chose not to race this weekend but was in Glasgow Green 3 hours before the race started helping set up the course and then staying to cheer on the athletes. A big thank you to everyone who helped on the day, without whom the event could not take place.
It was also a busy weekend on the track with the 2025 Scottish Athletics West District Track and Field Championships taking place at the Ayrshire Athletics Arena in Kilmarnock on Saturday and Sunday. Shettleston Harriers had a number of our young athletes competing in a range of events across both days.
The weather on Saturday could not have been better with warm sunny conditions greeting the athletes at the Ayrshire track. The action started in the Long Jump pit with Louise Millican and Harry Bell in the U13B competition. Harry finished fourth overall and was delighted to jump a PB of 4.00m.
Harry then quickly transferred to the track for the 100m heats, reaching the final with another PB of 14.67. Molly Brown was also in fine form in the U13G 100m, cruising through the heats and breaking her own PB in the semi-finals 13.75. Harry went on to finish fifth his his 100m final whilst Molly picked up her first gold medal of the weekend winning the U13G 100m final. Indie Connelly was also running in the U13G 100m and she too ran a PB in the heats 16.55 in her first outdoor championship event in this age group.
In the U15B 100m Joseph Lanahan went through to the final, winning his heat, going on to finish second and winning the silver medal in the final. Leia Connelly was an automatic qualifier for the U13G 100m semi-finals but sadly didn’t manage to progress to the final.
Kara Lindsay just missed out on a place in the U17W 300m final whilst Zoe Roberts won her heat and a well deserved silver medal in the U15G 300m running very close to her PB in the final.
Away from the track Estelle Giraud set a new PB of 9.39m in the U17W Shot Put, finishing third and winning the bronze medal. In the U17M High Jump, Abraham Lanahan was 4cm off his PB, jumping 1.71m claiming the bronze medal.
Conditions were much cooler on Sunday where the sprinters were back in action in the 200m. Zoe Roberts ran the heat, semi-final and final under her existing PB for this distance setting a new personal best of 27.47. Abraham Lanahan also set a new PB 24.39 in the U17M 200m heats but was unable to make the final. He was in good form in the Triple Jump though winning the U17M title with a jump of 13.71m. Younger brother Joseph was also jumping to glory, winning the U15B Long Jump competition, setting a PB 6.29m into the bargain.
Back on track Harry Bell and Louis Millican were back in action in the U13B 200m. Both boys set PB’s on the way to the finals with Louis taking a second and a half of his PB 30.46. In the U13B 1500m Rio Biddlecombe finished seventh.
Molly Brown was the class of the field again in the U13G 200m winning her heat and going on to take her second title and gold medal of the championships.
In the Javelin competitions Louise Clifford finished sixth in the U15G 500g, throwing just short of her PB 19.47m. Ethan Hooper also finished sixth in the U15B 600g competition with a best throw of 18.35m.
Well done to all the athletes for a great weekend of competition and, not only for those winning medals, for a club, it’s great to see so many improving their personal best times at a championship event.
In other news our Junior Hill Runners started their summer series of sessions at Murdock Country Park on Friday night. The youngsters took advantage of the glorious weather we have been having to get out and enjoy a good session. For those interested in joining the Junior Hill Runners they will be having session in various locations over the next month
• May 9 – Mugdock Country Park
• May 16 – Queens Park
• May 30 – Dawsholm Park
• June 6 – Alexandra Park
• June 13 – Pollok Park
- June 20 – TBC