Alva Games
The Alva Games on 11 July were a big village celebration with some serious running going on and, in common with all highland games, handicapped grass track races with cash prizes. They are also famous for having the steepest hill race on the circuit.
In the 90m, Ian Horsburgh, starting off a 7m handicap, took the gold in 9.71s with Cameron Smith picking up third place off his 12m handicap. Over the 200m, Cameron used his 35m handicap to advantage to take silver. In the two miles, Aidan Thompson started off scratch (no handicap) and clocked a rapid 9:42.57 to win the race, overhauling rivals who had been given 200m handicaps. Cameron Smith also picked up the overall prize for best local.
The hill race is a short one of 2.7km but that includes a breathtaking 400m of ascent followed by the same amount of descent: once runners leave the games field and hit the hill they are climbing a gradient of 1 in 2. Allan Gall was the club’s only representative in a very competitive 39:59, trying not to reflect too much that the race record of 45 years standing is 18:39 by the legendary Kenny Stuart.
Track prize winners at https://alva.ukctest.co.uk/Results/results-2026 and full hill race results at http://bofra.org.uk/races/alva/results/alvaresults2026.php
Good Crieff!
The Crieff 10k is a trail race which include a hilly 165m of climb to the west of the town incorporating parts of Lady Mary’s Walk, named for Lady Mary Murray, a daughter of the Ochtertyre Estate from some 200 years ago. The date this year was Sunday 12 July and the event incorporated the Scottish Trail Championships and there were Central medals galore in both the men’s and women’s categories.
Hamish Hickey set the club off to the best possible finish to take the individual gold in 32:56 with a narrow four second victory. Cameron Milne was just a bit back in sixth with 34:56 with Iain Jordan following him in 35:13 to gain seventh place and the Under 20 gold. Those three early finishes put the team gold, plus accompanying bottles of wine, in Central’s hands. Andrew Irvine was the next home in 18th with 38:39 before the focus turned to the women’s race as Grace Whelan scooped the women’s gold by a comfortable 30 second margin in 38:41. The women’s team backup came from Tuscany Wright in 41:30 and Laurie Douglas in 50:20 to narrowly send another set of team golds and bottles of wine heading in our direction. Sam Burton had a strong run in 41:53, parent and sometime coach Chris Taylor clocked 49:32, sandwiched between club alumni Fraser Purves and Hugh Kerr who scored 48:43 and 52:11 respectively, Hugh Buchanan felt every hill in his 53:52 performance and Lee Houghton posted an excellent 72:32.
Beside the senior 10k there is a high-quality junior 5k, and Central enjoyed great success there too in the Under 16 Girls with Ella Hunter picking up silver in 20:34 and Nicole Taylor not far behind in 25:16.
To add a bit of celebrity gossip, Hamish and Grace announced their recent engagement to the Scottish Athletics audience in their post-race winners’ interview. Full results at https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=439134 .