Renfrew was the venue for the 3rd leg of the British Cross Challenge and Shettleston was well represented across multiple age groups. The event also hosted the Inter match and again a number of Shettleston athletes were picked for their respective districts. Thank you to Gary Woods and Elaine Mackay who acted as team mangers for various age West District age group teams and parents who attended to support their young athletes.
The U/13 age group saw Zoe Roberts running for her district for the first time finishing 26th in a highly competive event .Zoe has just returned to training after a serious ankle injury. Alexia Riggs finished 65th. There was also a first for Oliva Caldwell in the U/15 age group when she won her first District medal helping the West finish 2nd to a very strong East Team .This is Oliva’s first year in athletics and was given a wild card selection to the team . Her 24th Place (17th District place) shows great promise. Another young lady who is running well at the moment is Katie Woods. Running in the U/17/U/20 age group she finishes 34th (13th District Place) again helping the west team to finish 2nd. Four ladies competed in the Senior race with Hannah Terrance leading them home (29th ), Aoife Carr (33), Avril Mason (40th ) and Holly Morrison(48)
Illness affected our two U/17 athletes in the boys race with both unable to finish. It was left to the Senior Men to show the way. Lachlan Oates is currently living in the North of Scotland and was selected to run for the North team. His 10th position shows he is getting fitter as we approach the business end of the season. Scottish Hill Runners champion, Dan Dry, was also making his first appearance at the event running for the West team finishing 31st. Other Shettleston athletes competing were Adam Peters (74th ) and Callum Oates (77th)
Entries are now open for the Scottish Cross Country Championships (24th Feb) and the Scottish Masters Cross Country Championships (11th Feb) – Senior /Masters please let John Mackay (men) and Avril Mason (ladies) if you want to compete in these events ASAP. We need to pre enter you for these and you must be a current member of Scottish athletics to compete .The club pays for these . Elaine Mackay will enter any young athletes who want to compete .
Nest Saturday is the 2nd West League at Bellahouston Park -A great way to start your Cross Country Career if you are a new member -Please let John ,Avril ,Elaine if you want to compete -No pre entry -Just turn up on the day and run -No cost again
Ross Cruickshanks is the new Hill running Captain and can be contacted if you would like to try a bit of Hill running -They have an event” The devils Burdens Relay” on the 3rd Feb -No cost to members
Track Action
Molly Brown competed at the Falkirk Victoria Harriers Open Graded meeting at Grangemouth Stadium on Saturday, January 13th, in her first competition in the Under 13 age category. Her first event was the 60m sprint where she won her heat in a time of 9:21s, beating her previous PB by over a second (10.58s). In the afternoon session she was in the final pool of athletes in the Shot Put and again bettered her PB, throwing 4.32m in the first round. Her three throws were all over four metres, improving on last season’s best of 3.93m. Her next events along with a number of other club athletes will be at the 4J Studios Scottish Athletics National Indoor Championship Heats Weekend 1 at the Riverside Sports Arena in Ayr.
Aside to that she got the shout out on Out of Doors on BBC Scotland on Saturday morning.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vc22
It’s right at the end of the show so you’ll need to scrub on to 1m 28:25s
Amit Kumur travelled to Loughborough to compete in the Loughborough Open with support for the club-With heights moving up 5cm at a time he just missed his PB again jumping 1m92 this time
Meanwhile a bit further afield two Shettleston athletes travelled for the Valencia 10km in Spain –
Results: Philip Neilson 31.54, Lucas Cheskin 33.38
Parkrun Action – 2nd for Victoria at Victoria Park and a win for Andrew at Elder Park
At Pollok Parkrun, Denis Williams ran 19.26 for top 10 spot in 9th position and Daniel Lowe finishing in 26.38.
At the Plean Parkrun, Steve Winter finished 5th in 21.21.
Meanwhile at Linwood Parkrun, Matthew Turner took 2nd place in a time of 16.08. Linwood is another good course for personal bests and worth giving a go when the weather is good.
Back to business as usual at Tollcross where Ronnie Strachan continues his best to beat local winner Iain Macdonald. Ronnie had to settle for 2nd place in an excellent time of 18.16 with David Murphy 18th in a time of 22.30. Paul Mcguigan was next Shettleston harrier over the line in 23.34, and Bob Porteous in 26.05. Tollcross Parkrun is always a guarantee if you want to meet a fellow club member !
At Victoria Parkrun there was a great performance by Victoria Riddell running 19.00 for second female and not far away from 1st lady. Fergus Donnelly was two seconds behind in 19.02.
At Queens Parkrun Rowan Lennox finished 5th junior in a time of 23.16.
Melanie Haynes finished the Forfar Parkrun in a time of 30.07.
Finally there was action at the Elder Parkrun with Andrew Taylor taking first place overall in a time of 16.23. Kirsten Viera Da Luz finished in a time of 23.15 and then Raymond Loughran in a time of 42.33.