Weekend Round Up – International Call Ups, 5k podiums, Relay Golds and Goatfell Hill Race

It was another busy weekend of competition for Shettleston Harriers on the track, the road and in the hills.

The club were delighted to see our U20 athletes Gkontuoin Imante, Jonathan Hooper and Annie Maclean being selected to run for Scotland at the 2025 Loughborough International event in the relay squads.

The Scottish 5km road race championships took place on Friday night as part of the Sri Chinmoy 5km road race at Silverknowes Esplanade in Edinburgh. It was a breezy evening at Silverknowes but it didn’t prevent the athletes from running a competitive and fast race with several Shettleston Harriers athletes running personal best times.

In the women’s race Lynn McKenna led at the 3km point but in a tight finish Central AC’s Morag Millar took the win (15.57) with Edinburgh AC’s Nancy Scott in second (15.59). Lynn equalled her PB on chip time 16.02 and took third and the bronze medal. She was also part of the women’s team that was second in the team’s championship alongside Aoife Carr, Jessica MacLeod, Hannah Gilchrist and Tara Walker 

Jamie Burns was 7th (14.17) overall and, alongside Jonathan Moore, Andrew Taylor, Sam Lesley, Callum Butterworth and Cameron Sharp, finished fourth in the men’s team competition. The race was won overall by Logan Rees from Fife AC (14.04) in an equally tight finish from Jamie McKinnon (Cambuslang Harriers) and Sean Chalmers (Edinburgh AAC) with the three being separated by 4 seconds.

Results 

Back on the track on Saturday and the sprinters and middle distance runners were in action in the Lanarkshire Amateur Athletics Association Relay Championships at Cumbernauld.

The U13 boys were in fine form. The trio of Rio Biddlecomb, Dominc Boyle and Louis Millican won the 3x800m race, taking the gold medal. In the 4x100m Rio and Louis were joined by Harry Webb and Ruaridh Johnson and raced to a silver medal in second place. Not to be outdone by the older boys in the 4x100m, the U11 boys team also won a silver medal, finishing second in their race.  The Senior men’s quartet of Michael Conteh, Maynard Conteh, Tanatorn Longjamnong and Arif Chapiti also got in on the medal action winning gold in the the 4x100m. The U15 girls finished fifth whilst the U17 girls were fourth.  

The U15 girls Ava Prentice, Charlotte Reilly and Zoe Roberts went on to win a bronze medal, finishing third in the 3x800m relay.

Results

4x100m

U11 Boys – Oliver Allen, Joseph Paterson, Sebastien Wallace, Henoch Woldeselassie – 2nd

U13 Boys – Louis Millican, Ruaridh Johnson, Rio Biddlecombe, Harry Bell – 2nd

U15 Girls – Charlotte Reilly, Leia Connelly, Ava Prentice, Zoe Roberts – 5th

U17 Girls – Alessia Equi, Ailsa Mallon, Kara Lindsay, Helena Hughes – 4th

Senior Men – Michael Conteh, Maynard Conteh, Tanatorn Longjamnong and Arif Chapiti – 1st

3x800m

U13 Boys – Rio Biddlecombe, Dominic Boyle, Louis Millican – 1st

U15 Girls – Ava Prentice, Charlotte Reilly, Zoe Roberts – 3rd

The weather gods were certainly shining over Scotland this weekend, Whilst the athletes were racing in the warm sunshine in Cumbernauld the hill runners were basking in the glorious weather and the stunning scenery of the Goatfell Hill race.

This year’s event, hosted by Shettleston Harriers, was not included as a championship event but it is still a popular event amongst hill runners. The race attracted 70 entries with runners tackling the challenging out and back course from Brodick to the summit of Goatfell.

Carnethy HRC dominated, taking three of the top four places in the overall results. Race winner Alistair Masson completed the course in a time of 1:20.31, five minutes ahead of his Carnethy team-mate Sam Hooper (1:25.50). Andrew McCall of Westerland CCC rounded out the podium places in third (1:30.17) ahead of Eliot Sedman of Carnethy (1:31.02)

In the women’s race Grace Pow of Carnethy HRC won with an impressive time of 1:37.31, more than ten minutes ahead of her nearest rival, Carnethy team-mate, Polly Edwards (1:49.51). Lea Meinecke of Cambridge University Hare and Hounds was third (1:50.20)

Despite the dominance individually the Carnethy women’s team were beaten by our own Shettleston women. Fresh from their podium finish at the Scottish 5km championships the night before Aoife Carr (5th), Tara Walker (6th) and Hannah Gilchrist (8th) won the team competition ahead of Carnethy HRC and Arran Runners.

The club would like to thank all the members and volunteers who helped on the day to deliver another fantastic event.

Results

Further north Daniel Bradford and Carson Graham made the trip to Aberdeen to compete in the latest match of the Scottish National Athletics League on Sunday.  Daniel was fastest overall in the 1500m, winning his heat (4:06.46). He also bettered his PB by two minutes in the 800m with a time of 2:01.27 which was good enough for 4th overall in that competition.  Carson competed in the field events with his best result a second equal place in the Long Jump (5.62) but arguably his best performance was in Javelin where he bettered his PB by a metre (26.05)

Results

Finally, and closer to home, Paul Sorrie won the Gryffe Valley 10k with a time of 37.11. The event is run by the Gryffe Valley Rotary Club over a hilly course around Houston in Renfrewshire.