Photo by Bobby Gavin
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Monument Mile Classic race director Michael Wright often labels the event venue at the University of Stirling as ‘The Track of Dreams’.
And so it proved for athletes and audience alike as Saturday evening became Saturday night and darkness fell over central Scotland.
The two Meeting Records were broken in the top Women’s and Men’s races around 9.30pm,
American Cooper Teare, a training partner of Olympic champion Cole Hocker, proved his class to win in 3:53.09 and, remarkably, led home a race which delivered no fewer than 11 men sujb four minutes. Four more had done so in the B race.
Scottish duo Andrew McGill of Cambuslang Harriers and Kane Elliott led the home challenge and did not disappoint with big PB performances.
Andrew clocked a stunning 3:55.89 and Kane was at 3:56.11 – without having checked the record books, strongly suspect that’s the first time two Scots have posted mile times in that kind of bracket in Scotland for decades.
American athlete Taryn Rawlings won the women’s race in a Meeting Record 4:27.91.
Hannah Cameron took top spot in terms of the Scots as she headed Sarah Calvert in a reverse of the previous week at Grangemouth (when Sarah won the 800m/1500m double)..
Olympians were not restricted to the track. Laura Muir, watching brother Rory, and Andy Butchart, supporting a world class event in his own backyard, watched from the sidelines.
As Andy noted, it has become a family day out which merges participation with high end performances when the 32-race programme ticks towards the final four.
‘I’m thrilled to run that time to get 3:55 on a Saturday night in Scotland in August kind of leaves me speechless,’ said Andrew.
‘I said in the Press Conference on Friday it might go badly wrong . . . or it could go really well. Thankfully it went really well.
‘I get nervous if I am a favourite and that was the case in the Scottish Senior Champs at Grangemouth last week. Tonight I didn’t think about it too much in the race and was just hanging on to the guy in front.’
Andrew is now tenth on the all-time list with his grand-father, Frank Clement. At 3:54.1. Frank looked on with pride with family support another element of this event not to forget the music, the flames at the start-finish and the on-site food.
‘I think I would have taken 3:56 if you had offered me it beforehand – definitely,’ said Kane.
‘I’m not sure where that is in all-time rankings but it is getting there and, of course, well done to Andrew as he finished just ahead tonight.
‘I probably paid a wee bit of a price for trying to stay close to Cooper Teare on lap three and after the bell. But I felt that was worth it.
‘I’m pretty happy with the season as I’ve improved my 1500m PB and my mile was at 3:59 before tonight.’
Hannah Cameron won this race a few years ago but has no complaints the way the bar has been raised in terms of the standard of those in the elite races.
‘Michael has worked to keep raising the level and I think it is great to be honest,’ said Hannah, who clocked 4:41.39.
‘We’re racing elite, professional athletes from Europe and America. It is a huge challenge but it is also an inspiration.
‘The atmosphere is getting better and better every year and from a Scottish perspective it is just great to have this kind of opportunity in Stirling and not have to travel to the other end of the UK or even further afield.’
Fife AC athlete Ben Sandilands, who is headed for the Paralympics, was second in the third top Men’s race with 4:06.88. Scottish 1500m silver medallist Jamie MacKinnon won that race in 4:03.88.
Photo by Bobby Gavin
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Tags:
Andrew Mcgill, Hannah Cameron, Kane Elliott, Monument Mile Classic, Stirling
