Weekend Round-Up
January 19th, 2009Last weekend saw two days of stunning results for Gala Harriers’ junior runners as far apart as Glasgow, Dunfermline and Cardiff.
Jo Marr, Emily Douglas, Sophie Elder and Demi Yorke headed west to the East and West District Indoor Championships at Kelvin Hall on Saturday, where young Harriers bagged three medals last year. They came away with the exactly the same number but in slightly different colours and with different owners this time, as athletes move up the age categories and face new challenges.
Jo Marr in her first indoor event raced her heart out in the Under 13 girls’ 60 metre sprint, finishing her heat in 9.58 and coming fifth, only a second behind the heat winner who eventually went on to win the final.
Demi Yorke stepped up to the start of the U15 girls’ 60m heat, knowing that she had taken the gold medal over the same distance as an under 13 last year – so no pressure there then. But she clearly thrives on a challenge as we know and stormed home first in her heat in 8.34 and then again in the final in 8.29 to take the gold once again.
Emily Douglas and Sophie Elder, also stepping up to an older category were competing in the U17 60m and Sophie, who had won gold in last year’s U15 sprint ran well but not quite fast enough to qualify for the final. Emily flew through her heat and had clearly benefitted from the festive carbo loading achieving a magnificent silver medal in 8.19 in the final.
Demi then saved her best jump to last in true nail biting fashion in the U15 long jump and pulled out a superb 4.64m to claim the silver medal and completing the medal haul of one gold and two silvers for the day.
Dunfermline on Sunday for the East District Cross Country League was not a pleasant place to be and the windswept chilly wasteland course attracted a low turnout of Gala seniors and not many more juniors. But Rowan Marr is always guaranteed to put a smile on his coach’s face as he came home second, with good performances too by the Jones twins Hannah and Emily and Alison Brown. (Results incomplete as Scottish Athletics website has not posted full results, 22.30 Sunday – will update asap.)
But the sun shone in Wales in more ways than one on Sunday. The day was bright, breezy and cool as Alice Haining stepped forth for her international debut in the Celtic Nations Cross Country at Bute Park, Cardiff. By the end of the day, Scotland had won 5 out of 6 events and Alice’s own kit bag was considerably heavier than when she left Gala.
Representing Scotland’s U17 women, Alice ran a superb 4.2k race in 15.35, finishing as the first Scot home and second overall, only beaten by 6 seconds by a Welsh runner competing on home soil. She picked up 4 trophies as a result and her coach Neil Renton expressed his delight for Alice’s achievement, especially as she had just stepped up to the under 17 class.
Sporting week ahead: Next outing for the Harriers is the 5th in the Borders Winter Cross Country series, this time at Norham on Sunday 25th January. Juniors start at 11.30, seniors at 12 noon.
