The East District track and field championships across different age groups took place on 13 and 14 May 2023 with a Scottish National Open event alongside the Under-20 and Senior championships. Most of the events took place at Grangemouth Stadium, except for the Under-20 and Senior sprints and jumps which were held in Kilmarnock.
Under 15s
Dara Clark was on great form. She took an excellent gold in the Long Jump with a new personal best of 4.86 metres then placed fourth at High Jump with a near personal best of 1.46m only losing out on a medal on countback. Anna Gunn was also jumping onto the podium, leaping to 8.08m in the Triple Jump for silver. Emily Stanford rounded off the medals in the age group with an excellent personal best 2:22.36 in the 800 Metres for bronze.
There were new personal bests in the 1,500 Metres for twins Harrison and Rory MacMillan: Harrison placed sixth with 4:42.07 and Rory ninth with 4:56.22 minutes. Jasmin Lochhead was also on personal best form taking sixth in the Long Jump with 4.09m after running 14.31s in the 100 Metres.
Also representing Central in this age group were Ana McKie who ran 14.13s in the 100 Metres for fourth in her heat, Cameron Tanner who ran 2:33.95 minutes in the 800 Metres and Ella Tanner who ran 5:55.74 minutes in the 1500 Metres.
Some photos on the club Facebook page.
Under-17s
Lewis Miller showed his all round class in the Under-17 age group. The 15-year-old Dunblane athlete was warming up for the Scottish schools pentathlon championships taking on the 100 Metre Hurdles, Long Jump and 200 Metres. He has just moved up an age group but showed he has taken well to the higher hurdles as he took the gold medal in an excellent personal best 14.99 seconds. Following Lewis home was Jamie Connor finishing in 17.88s to take home the bronze medal. Lewis went on to the Long Jump and placed second on a high class field with another personal best 6.23m then rounded off his weekend with a personal best 24.05s in the 200 Metres.
Loren Stewart earned herself a brace of silvers in the jumps events. She took second in the Long Jump with an excellent jump of 5.12m then showed a return to form in the High Jump leaping to a season’s best 1.52m for another second place. She showed her running ability as well placing sixth in the 300 Metres with 45.17s.
Dylan McCulloch set a new personal best in a high class 400 Metres race as he ran 50.15s for a silver medal. Cameron Moore was on the podium three times as he took silver in the Javelin with 16.65m and bronzes in High Jump with a personal best 1.57m and Shot Put with a throw of 8.48 metres. Jamie Connor was fifth in the Shot Put with a personal best 7.70m.
Niamh McKinlay was twice just outside the medals placing fourth in the 800 Metres with 2:23.59 minutes and fifth in the 1,500 Metres with 4:59.76 minutes. Connie Bateman also just missed out on the podium with fourth in the Shot Put with 7.26m and fifth in the Long Jump with 4.40m. Connie also placed eighth in the 100 Metres final after running 13.76s to qualify. She was joined in the 100 Metres by Molly Owen who ran a new personal best 13.83s. Alex Dunlop set a new personal best 4:42.95 minutes in the 1,500 Metres.
There are some photos on the club’s Facebook page.
Under-20 & Senior Scottish National Open
The Scottish National Open event also took place alongside the district championships. This saw some excellent performances from the club’s Senior and Under-20 athletes. The Men’s 1,500 Metres saw excellent personal bests from Ryan Martin in 3:54.33 and Under-20 athlete Connor Bell in 3:58.50 minutes. Kyra Gibb was close to her best in the Women’s 1,500 Metres with 4:51.86 and Millie O’Neil was also on form in the Women’s 800 Metres with 2:33.63. Ellen Montgomery was busy in the throws events with good performances at Discus (23.61m) and Shot Put (7.14m).
Among the sprints and jumps held in Kilmarnock, Zosia Paddon and Ron Todd were Central’s only competitors. Zosia ran a fine 65.72s in the 400 Metres and Ron cleared 3.19 metres in the Pole Vault.