Whirlwind weekend trips for srac athletes

Many in the world of athletics were delighted to see Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow being used for athletics again, and what a fantastic resource it is with its eye catching blue Mondo track.

This was the setting for the U13, U15 and U20 Scottish Age Group championships on the 19th and 20th of August, and day 1 saw blustery, and showery conditions for the U13s event and day 1 of the U20s.

The SRAC U13s were there for the first time - Ewan Murray (100m and 200m) , Charlie Morrison (1500m) and Lewis MacLean (800m & 200m).

Another great opportunity and  experience as part of their development!

Representing the U20s on day 1 was Ross Budge over the 400m.

The short sprints were up first, and there was a fine 14.49 PB 100m run by U13 Ewan Murray in his heat, just missing out on progression to the semi-finals.

Next up was U20 Ross Budge in the 400m, and he ran a solid 56.47 SB for in windy conditions.

Not enough to make the final this time, but he has two more years in this age group still to come.

The action continued for SRAC with what turned out to be one of the club performances of the day.

In the first of 3 x 800m timed finals for this age group, seeded on times, with athletes then ranked across all 3 races, there was an excellent win for Lewis MacLean.  

With a strong sprint finish in the final 100m he surged in to the lead and crossed the line first, taking 3 seconds of his PB in the process - 2.36.75, which sees Lewis break in to the Scottish U13 rankings at 79 !

It was good to also see our fellow islanders and Island Select teams here, Shetland AC and North Uist and South Uist and Eriskay AC.

The pick of the performances was an excellent bronze medal for NUAAC’s Jake Monk in the U13 shot put, with a new PB of 8.02m.

Also in the U20 100m there were excellent PBs for North Uist sprinters, Calum Fraser - 11.52 , and DJ MacMillan - 11.59.

Island Games Triple Jump Gold medallist, Heather MacKinnon was also in action in the Long Jump.

She had a massive 5.10m PB to make the final line upand finished seventh in a really strong field.

This was her first time over 5m – the ‘holy grail’ for the girls in long jump.

Another Uist girt who also had a good day was NUAAC’s U15, Marion MacCorquodale.

Her 9.59m PB saw her finish 6th on the day and move to no 15 in the Scottish rankings.

The U13 200m heats saw both Lewis MacLean and Ewan Murray in action again.

Both boys ran well in windy conditions, with Lewis running another new PB of 30.58, and Ewan running 30.71.

The day then finished with U13 Charlie Morrison having a good, solid run in the first of the 1500m timed finals, coming home in his second fastest time ever - 5.33.48.

With another year at the same age group, it was another promising performance by Charlie.