Our U20 Men’s medallists at Kingussie (photo by Phil Mestecky)
Report by Phil Mestecky
The junior hill running community was out in force again in Kingussie on Sunday for this year’s National Championship race last weekend.
With double-points up for grabs in the Junior Hill League and Scottish championship medals on offer, over 50 young athletes were on the startline for what proved to be a dramatic and exciting race over 5km and 250m of climb to the panoramic summit of Creag Bheag.
In the U15 Girls championships, Cerys Wright of Team East Lothian capped a successful summer of track racing with a triumph on the hills.
In second place was Anna Elizabeth Ross of VP-Glasgow with Anna Meek of Inverness picking up a bronze.
For the boys, it was another victory for Joel Gillan of Central AC, who has been dominant in all six league races he has started this year. Silver went to Josh Daunt of Edinburgh AC with Ethan Scobie of Giffnock North picking up Bronze.
In the U17 Women’s championship, with Katie Meek of Inverness feeling unwell and unable to run, the race was left wide open for the three Gala Harriers athletes who had made the long journey north.
In the end, it was Ava Richardson, coming into some fine, late-season form, who pipped clubmate Kirsty Rankine by a handful of seconds to claim the win, with Poppy Lunn completing the clean sweep for the Borderers.
U15 Boys winners (photo by Lyndsey Scobie)
In the men’s race, a superb run from Perth Strathtay’s Struan Gatherer saw him overturn the formbook to take gold ahead of Andrew Grant of Strathearn Harriers and Rowan Taylor of Lasswade in third.
In the U20s, both men’s and women’s races were impossible to predict beforehand with Isla Paterson of Gala Harriers and Springburn’s Rachel Giffen very evenly matched over the last few races and a gang of four men sharing wins throughout the season.
This time it was Isla who got the better of Rachel on the day with Anna Macdonald of Strathearn Harriers picking up bronze in just her second ever hill race.
In the men’s race, Angus made it double-gold for the Wright family and for Team East Lothian with Harris Pagett taking silver for Strathearn Harriers and Jonathon Downey picking up a bronze this time after his excellent silver in the Junior Home International the previous weeked last weekend.
Big thanks to all the athletes (and parents) that made the trip to Kingussie and to race organiser, Manny Gorman, and team for putting on such an enjoyable event for us all.
Photos by Craig Pagett Photography
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Junior Hill Champs
