There was athletics galore over the weekend of 18-19 April 2026.

Forth Valley League Match 1

This morning, Central juniors turned up in great numbers for the first league match of the season at Grangemouth. 29 athletes competed in multiple events across the U12/U14/U16 age groups, with at least 4 juniors taking part in their first competitive event in the yellow and blue.

There were multiple PBs achieved (special mention to Thomas Arnott knocking 10+seconds off his 800m PB and Olivia Weir smashing her 600m PB set over this winter indoor season).

Equally big shout outs to the girls who stepped up in their club’s hour (minutes) of need – Rachel Fullbrook and Kate Logan who ensured we covered all events today despite illness taking out team mates.

Great to see the return to competitive action of Seonaidh Logan. If the league knew how much he brought to the rest of the team, he’d be banned as performance enhancing!

Special mention to today’s FVL athlete of the match, Ruth Thomas. This is based on the FVL ‘Spirit of the League’ and Ruth showed that in spades today – nervous competing as an 11yo in the U14 age group but more than holding her own across multiple events and always mindful of her team mates with positive encouragement and warm humour – great job Ruth!!

Well done to all who took part and those who supported as TM, parent helper and graded officials – and further special mention to Greg for his warm up and mentoring contribution and Gary who was roped in to help at the hurdles at 9.45am and was still helping out the start team for the last relay event 3 hours later! And also to our guest face painter for the day – great job Lynsey.

Flat’n’Fast 6

The sixth iteration of the Flat ‘n’ Fast 5km race series took place on Saturday 18 April at the West Lothian Cycle Circuit in Linlithgow and served up some very exciting racing. The event provides a series of seeded races each with up to 100 runners over a tight, curving, flat and fast 1km loop and 18 Central athletes headed for the start line. The seeding puts athletes expecting slower times in the early heats, so the pace builds through the afternoon and evening.

In the first grouping to run, Central vests were to the fore borne by Kenny Hislop in 20 minutes 46.4 seconds, hotly pursued by Hannah Hislop in 23:52.9. Next up it was Louise Torr continuing her recent return to form with a fast 19:57.8. The next heat saw Jack Honeyman continuing to build his racing experience in a speedy 17:04.6.

Race 4 brought Alastair Scott home in 14th place in a great time of 16:10.0, followed by Mario Menier, running a fast 16:45.2 in the V40 category – he will be much missed when he returns to his native Portugal. Fraser Morris was not far behind in 16:58. In the next race Central finished two in the top 20 in Daniel Sutherland at 13th (15:21.2) and Craig Baillie 17th in 15:24.4. Three more club athletes finished very close together a little further back: Chris Fullerton (15:56.2), Euan Andrews (15:58.9) and Josh Wood (16:04.9).

While the early heats put men and women side by side, the final two races are segregated for the fastest women and fastest men. In the women’s race, Tuscany Wright led the Central contingent home in 18th place (17:34.4), followed by Amy Gough (18:27.8), Ellyn Smith (18:52.9) and Leah Brown (20:30.2). When the men took the spotlight, it was Logan Beagley who was first home in 20th in 14:34.4 backed up by Cameron Matthews (15:24.0).

Full results at https://protay.co.uk/flatnfast6/results.php

Gartmorn Trail races

Constructed over 300 years ago, the reservoir at Gartmorn Dam was built to supply hydraulic power to Alloa’s industry. It is now the scene of the display of athletic power that is the annual Gartmorn 6 trail race. The route winds up to the reservoir through woodland before completing a lap of the water and returning to the start some 6 miles later. Two of Central’s V40 women toed the start line and produced stunning form in the category with Laurie Douglas finishing second in 46:06 and Nuala Bell third in 47:40.

After the start of the senior race, the junior race completes a two mile loop from the same start and finish. Central also had two representatives in this contest who produced a pair of excellent results with Brody Scanlon finishing as second Under 14 Boy in 13:31 and Luca Pizey taking the Under 12 Boys title in 14:27.

Full results at https://weecountyharriers.co.uk/gartmorn-trail-2026-race…/

Dumyat junior hill races

The annual Dumyat junior hill races took place in bright dry conditions on our doorstep on Sunday 19 April, organised by Queens Park AC from Glasgow, a recent offshoot from Shettleston Harriers. The start and finish were on the Sheriffmuir Road and the courses headed east up the slopes of Dumyat. Competition ranged from Under 10 up to Under 18 who covered the full 5.2km with 240m of climb to the summit of Dumyat and back.

The first Central athlete on the course was Under 12 Annabel Morrison who blew her competitors away to win the 2.1km Girls race in 9:17. That must have been an inspiration for the Under 14s where among the girls Annie Arnott ran superbly to nail third place in 15:37 with Zara Williams just one place and a few seconds back in 15:40. The Under 14 boys were also determined to show their class over their 3km lap with 105m of climb and did so through Alexander Robertson (9th, 16:13) and Jack Morrison (12th, 18:40).

The Under 16s raced longer and Ella Hunter demonstrated her ability as she finished second girl in 20:01, well supported by Rachel Fullbrook in 25:44. For the boys, Thomas Arnott represented the club’s colours with a fine run to finish seventh in 20:48. The final race was for Under 18s and Joel Gillan showed his maturing strength as he picked up silver in 22:06.

The races are the first fixture of the Scottish Athletics junior hill league with the next league race on 26 April on the Lomonds of Fife. Full results at https://protay.co.uk/dumyatjuniors2026/participants.php.

Brighton Marathon

Major kudos to Central’s Jennifer Hogg on completing another Brighton marathon in 5:48:17 last weekend. A tough course and disrupted training no barriers to another success on the south coast. Very well done.