The 4J Studios national age-group indoor championships for Under-13, Under-15 and Under-20 took place at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow over the weekend of 19-20 February. Well done to all the Central competitors who took part.
Scottish Under-15 Indoor Championships
Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Saturday 19 February 2022
Niamh McKinlay and Jamie Connor were on superb form for Central as they picked up three medals at the Scottish Under-15 championships at the Emirates Arena on Saturday.
Niamh went into the championships full of confidence having come close to the medals at the recent Scottish schools championships with new personal bests in the older Under-16 800 Metres and 1,500 Metres. This time the 14-year-old from Aberfoyle was competing in the younger Under-15 age group. She cruised through her heat in an easy 2 minutes 30.51 seconds but knew she would have to go faster in the final. When the gun went the athletes started fast and she found herself in sixth place. However she paced herself well and showed patience as she worked her way up the field gradually moving up to third place by the bell with 200m to go. The top two were quite well in front but Niamh gradually closed the gap and timed her run right in the home straight as she caught the second placed athlete in the last 30 metres. The leader was too far in front but Niamh crossed the line second to take the silver medal in a big personal best 2:22.67 minutes.
Jamie Connor came into the event having never won a medal at a Scottish level event. However this was about to change for the 14-year-old from Dunblane as he charged over the 60 Metres Hurdles in a new personal best 10.25s for third place and a bronze medal. Jamie wasn’t finished there as he took third place in the 300 Metres in a time of 43.58s to finish the day with 2 bronze medals.
Elsewhere Lewis Miller ran the 60 Metres in 8.03s just missing the final and Dara Clark placed 15th in the Long Jump with 3.54m and 16th in the Shot Put with 4.67m.
Scottish Under-20 Indoor Championships
Emirates Arena, Glasgow, 19-20 February 2022
Central were represented in the Under-20 age group by the experienced trio of Katherine Fowler, Megan Dunlop and Ellen Montgomery.
The 60 Metres sprint saw all three of them race together, Katherine progressing to the semi-finals where she was just edged out of a place in the final after running a season’s best 8.16s for 10th place. Megan Dunlop ran 8.58s for 19th quickest and Ellen Montgomery set a personal best 9.03s for 25th.
Katherine went on to the High Jump, an event she had recently won the Scottish schools title in, but was unable to reproduce the form she showed then and had to settle for fourth, just outside the medals with a jump of 1.54m. Megan Dunlop showed good form in the 200 Metres where she set a new personal best 28.11s which was agonisingly one place short of progressing to the semi-finals. Ellen Montgomery finished her weekend in the Shot Put placing fifth after throwing 7.32m, just short of her personal best with the senior 4kg weight.
Scottish Under-13 Indoor Championships
Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Sunday 20 February 2022
Central had four competitors in the Under-13 age group some of them tasting championship action for the first time.
In the boys’ sprints Central were represented by Luca Shepherd and Alfie Laing. The 60 Metres saw Alfie just miss out on the final after placing ninth fastest in the heats with a personal best 9.19s. Luca also set a personal best with 9.47s for 12th fastest. In the 200 Metres it was Luca’s chance to shine as he set another personal best 30.46s to progress to the final where he placed sixth with 31.62s. Alfie was close to the final with another personal best 30.52s for eighth quickest in the heats.
The girls’ Shot Put saw Alexandra Montgomery placing seventh with a throw of 5.24m and Eilidh Connor 12th with 4.11m. Alexandra went on to run a personal best 9.64s in the 60 Metres heats and Eilidh recovered from winning the club cross country championships the day before to set a personal best in the 800 Metres running 2:57.69 minutes for 17th fastest.