Saturday 21 March saw a warm and sunny spring morning in Livingston greet the arrival of runners from all over Scotland for the Scottish National Road Relays. The Men’s race is contested over six alternating short and long legs of approximately 5km and 10km respectively, while the Women’s race uses four of the same legs. The beauty of the Livingston course is that it is traffic free, using the path network with bridges and underpasses to traverse any intervening roads. Since 2005, Central’s men’s teams have come home with gold medals on eight occasions and silver medals on eight occasions – silverware almost every year – what would be the story this year? Four Central men’s teams toed the line to find out.
The mass start for the first leg threw 46 teams into the fray and it was a Central 1-2 as they swept back to the finish with Logan Beagley finish in the lead in 15:13 and Keiran Reilly hot on his heels in second (15:23), Euan Andrews finishing 14th in a tight pack (16:34) and Kenny Hislop keeping the pressure on in 21:21.
The battle at the top remained tight after two legs with Aidan Thompson (29.07) running strongly to maintain the lead while Corstorphine moved through to second place. Cameron Milne logged 30:34, proudly watched by his baby daughter, and kept the B team not far detached in fifth place. Alloa native Findlay Smith, recently returned from his running apprenticeship in Wales, clocked 34:41 as the C team drove on in 24th place and Jens Subke (38:23) brought the incomplete D team home with style.
It was Iain Jordan’s (15:40) role to consolidate the lead on the third leg while Luca Fanotolli (16:15) achieved the same for the B team holding fifth place and Mario Menier (17:27) picking up five places for the C team. This leg also saw the shape of the contest for the medals emerge with Dundee Hawkhill, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh AC joining Corstorphine in the pursuit of the Central lead.
That lead started to lengthen on the fourth leg as Hamish Hickey (28:31) continued his recent speed to clock the fastest time on leg 4 and coming home a minute clear of his pursuers while Ross Houston (31:08) held off an Edinburgh AC challenge to maintain fifth and Max Stevens (32:03) brought the C team another few places forward to 17th.
The fifth leg saw Calum Phillip (15:26) further stretch the Central lead over Corstorphine while Jonathan Marshall (15:49) eased the B team’s gap to the pursuing Edinburgh AC team and Kaydan Day (16:51) picked up a further place for the C team.
Any doubts about Central’s strength were quashed by Jamie Crowe’s (27:54) run on the final leg setting the fastest time on the day for the long leg and cruising home with clear minutes between him and the Edinburgh University team whose final two legs had seen them close and overtake the Corstorphine outfit. Daniel Sutherland for the B team ran a gutsy 30:55 but was unable to evade an experienced Edinburgh AC runner on his tail and the team had to settle for sixth place while Josh Wood (32:43) brought the C team home in 16th.
This gun-to-tape win gives the Central men a total of 9 victories, equalling the now-disappeared Mizuno Racing Club’s championship total accrued in the 1990s.
Full results at https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2026/GBR/roadrelays/ .