Here comes summer. There goes summer. The weekend past saw a return to typically Scottish blustery and showery spring weather making conditions difficult for our athletes who competed at the latest match of the Youth Development League in Kilmarnock on Sunday.
It was a slightly depleted squad of U13 and U15 athletes that headed down the A77 to the Ayrshire Athletics Arena on the outskirts of Kilmarnock. The U13 girls took part in 150m sprints, shot putt and high jump with the U13B adding javelin and the 800m to that schedule. The U15 athletes had a slightly different programme with sprint hurdles, 200m and 800m on track and Shot Putt, Long Jump and Discuss in the field events. The day ended with the 4x100m relays.
For this year Shettleston Harriers were promoted back into the Youth Development League, a competition that is held across the UK. The League matches operate with each athlete scoring points in their given event, based on their finishing position. In some cases athletes compete in events that they are not familiar with or which is not their best discipline. By doing so, however, they scores points for the club which determines our league position and ultimately our continued participation in the League.
It was a challenging weekend for everyone at Kilmarnock with the weather conditions but a number of athletes took part in events that they wouldn’t normally. Provisional results have placed us eighth again for the weekend and eighth in the League after two matches. Hopefully with more athletes competing next time we will be able to improve on that.
| Age Group | Event | Name | Result |
| U15B | 100m | Ciaran Curley | 14.92 -5.3w |
| Tristan Giraud | 16.92 -3.1w | ||
| 200m | Thierry Graud | 33.00 -3.4w | |
| Tristan Giraud | 33.26 -3.8w | ||
| 800m | Ciaran Curley | 2:37.12 | |
| Thierry Graud | 2:50.67 | ||
| Discuss | Tristan Giraud | 13.25 | |
| Thierry Graud | 12.64 | ||
| U15G | 100m | Leia Connelly | 16.88 -4.8w |
| Keva Adams-Mackenzie | 15.40 -1.9w | ||
| 200m | Zoe Roberts | 28.43 -4.0w | |
| Keva Adams-Mackenzie | 32.28 -6.2w | ||
| 800m | Zoe Roberts | 2:26.77 | |
| Charlotte Reilly | 2:45.20 | ||
| 75mH | Leia Connelly | 16.53 -3.2w | |
| Long Jump | Zoe Roberts | 4.30 +3.5w | |
| Esme Guinea | 4.07 +5.3w | ||
| Shot Putt | Charlotte Reilly | 6.85 (PB) | |
| Leia Connelly | 5.25 | ||
| Discuss | Charlotte Reilly | 11.18 | |
| 4x100m | Leia Connelly, Keva Adams-Mackenzie, Zoe Roberts, Esme Guinea | 56.42 | |
| U13B | 150m | Harry Bell | 23.15 -2.1w |
| Ruaridh Johnson | 24.71 -2.4w | ||
| 800m | Louis Millican | 2:51.53 | |
| Dominic Boyle | 2:49.07 | ||
| High Jump | Conor Koliadimas | 1:20 | |
| Ruaridh Johnson | 1:10 | ||
| Shot Putt | Louis Millican | 4.37 | |
| Conor Koliadimas | 4.02 | ||
| Javelin | Louis Millican | 17.10 | |
| Conor Koliadimas | 13.80 | ||
| 4x100m | Harry Bell, Louis Millican, Ruaridh Jhnson, Conor Koliadimas | 1:02.08 | |
| U13G | 150m | Molly Brown | 22:55 -3.30w |
| Indie Connelly | 24.85 -2.40w | ||
| High Jump | Molly Brown | 1.05 | |
| Shot Putt | Molly Brown | 5.48 | |
| Indie Connelly | 5.10 (PB) |
Prior to the YDL match on Sunday two of our U13 boys were in Livingston on Friday night for the Livingston AC Open Graded Meeting at the Xcite Sports Centre in Craigshill. Rio Biddlecombe and Louis Millican both competed in the 800m with Louis recording a new PB – 2:40.18 in Heat 5. Rio was in Heat 10 and finished with a time of 2:35.40.
The next Livingston Open Graded Meeting is on June 27th, 2025.
Fresh from being called up to run for Scotland at the Loughborough International last weekend, running the home leg in the 4x100m relay, Gkontuoin Imante opened his season on Saturday at the Stirling University Open Graded meeting. Gkontuoin competed in the 100m, running a time of 10.91 which was the fastest time overall and the only athlete on the day to run sub-11 seconds.
In Hill Running Dan Dry made the trip across to Ireland to compete in the Short Course British Hill Running Championships. It was a successful day for Dan, winning the silver medal in second place.
The weekend also saw the Edinburgh Marathon Festival taking place on Saturday and Sunday. The Festival has several events over the weekend from 1km youth races to 5k and 10k races on Saturday with the marathon and half marathon on Sunday. A number of Shettleston Harriers took part in the marathon and half marathon.
In the half marathon Gerard Pelegri set a new PB of 77:21 as the highest placed Shettleston athlete. Andrew Waite was next home for Shettleston with an impressive PB 1:35:13 a full 10 minutes faster than his best time from last year.
Three Shettleston athletes raced over the full marathon distance: Duncan McCauley, Lachlan Calder, and Ian Gray. All coming in with times under four hours.
Results:
HALF MARATHON
| Position (Overall) | Position (Category) | Name Number | Chip Time | Gun Time |
| 43 | 28 U35M | Gerard Pelegri 25142 | 1:17:21 | 1:17:26 |
| 612 | 76 35M | Andrew Waite 26357 | 1:35:13 | 1:36:31 |
| 2047 | 102 45M | Joe Haughey 26147 | 1:48:58 | 1:49:56 |
| 4043 | 1475 U35M | Andrew Bryson 29005 | 2:00:11 | 2:06:44 |
MARATHON
| Position (Overall) | Position (Category) | Name Number | Chip Time | Gun Time |
| 789 | 54 45M | Duncan McCauley 1398 | 3:19:49 | 3:21:23 |
| 1107 | 572 U35M | Lachlan Calder 3752 | 3:26:47 | 3:29:33 |
| 1437 | 741 U35M | Ian Gray 5363 | 3:31:39 | 3:37:26 |
Looking ahead to the coming week it is packed with competition. The last race in the Babcock 10k series takes place on Thursday evening at the Helensburgh 10k. Shettleston athletes Taha Ghafari and Brogan Wallace go into the race leading the men’s and women’s classification. They will be looking to continue the form that saw them both win the Dumbarton 10k last week, and clinch the overall Series title on Thursday night.
Crownpoint will play host to two Glasgow Athletics Association meetings on Friday and Saturday. First up will be the Miler Meet for middle distance runners with the Sprint Gala the day after.
The club will then be back in Kilmarnock on Sunday for Match 2 of the 2025 Central and Southern Scotland Athletics League. We have our fingers crossed that the wind won’t be blowing quite so strong.
