Senior/U20 Event Report 3rd June 2026

And just like that we’re in June!  It’s only been a couple of weeks since our last report, but the events have been stacking up and there is a lot of good news to report.  As always apologies for any errors or omissions, let us know!

Our first race to cover this week is the third of our summer league races, the Land O’Burns 10k organised by our friends at Ayr Seaforth on Wednesday the 20th of May.  The weather was perfect (for spectating at any rate!) and our squad returned some fabulous results.  First home in 2nd place overall was Graeme Quinn (35:23), followed by Josh McClymont in 9th (39:29) and Mark Saez in 10th (39:35).  Mark was also 1st V50 – great running!  Doing it for the ladies this week was Kirsty Girvan who took her (I believe) 1st outright win and 1st sub 40 run with a shiny new PB of 39:46.  More to come from this talented lady!  Next back was Sasha I’Anson who was 3rd lady overall in a solid 40:39. Alasdair Murray was next home in 47:06, followed by Cameron McClymont (50:41), Sophie Hepburn (50:55), Natalie Sharp (52:05), and Richard Beattie (52:46). 

The following evening Lorna Baird headed north for the Babcock Dumbarton 10k where she finished in 73rd overall and 7th lady in 39:48 – great running Lorna.

Friday the 22nd saw a number of our younger athletes competing at the GAA Miler Meet at Crownpoint.  This event is always popular and the standard is very high, but our boys in blue and white absolutely smashed it.  In the 800m A race, Jordan Phillips ran a SB of 1:50.89 for the second fastest time of the night.  In the B race, Gregor Samson recorded another PB on his way to 5th place (1:57:09), and Jamie Work rounded up the 800 races in fine style, winning the C race in a new PB of 1:58.15.  Not to be outdone by his peers, Matthew Monachello also delivered a PB on the night in the 3000m race with a very impressive 8:52.89 – great running from the whole squad and really exciting for the club looking ahead.

In typical Scottish style, the weather on the weekend of the Edinburgh Marathon Festival was a bit on the challenging side but we still saw some solid results across the race distances.  On Saturday the 23rd, Stuart McWaters completed the 10k race in 53:21 and in the 5k race Colleen Tait finished in 36:36 – clearly a warmup for the half marathon on the Sunday where she returned a cracking 1:47:15.  Also in the half marathon and enjoying a purple patch at the moment was Kirsty Girvan who delivered her first sub 90 min half marathon in 1:29:59 for her second PB of the week.  In the marathon, David Mitchell completed the 26.2 miles in 7:12:21 – tough shift in that heat, well done!

Another athlete in action on the 23rd was Logan Mitchell who was representing Glasgow Jaguars in the Premier Division of the National Athletics League – one of the best quality events for club athletes in the UK.  Logan had a busy day collecting points for the team, finishing 12th in the discus with 38.35m, 10th in the hammer with a 47.6m effort and then finally 5th in the shot with a solid 14.46m.  Great to see our athletes shining at this level!

On Sunday the 24th, our dynamic duo Jacqui and Gordon Sandler took on the MOK half marathon.  Gordon was 3rd V60 in 1:44:50 (44th overall) and Jacqui was 6th V50 (113th overall) in 2:00:17 – brilliant effort from both on what is certainly a challenging course.

Wednesday the 27th saw Jennifer Beattie make the most (!) of a work trip to Leeds to take on a 5k at the Leeds Brownlee Centre, where she completed in 21:00 for 51st overall, 9th lady and 1st V40. The following evening, Ross Granger completed the Babcock Helensburgh 10k in 36th place overall with a time of 36:59.  Alana Macrae also featured in the results with a 53:59 – well done both.

Friday the 29th saw the return of the 3k on the Green, and our small but perfectly formed squad on the day had some great results.  Jonathon Downey made his first appearance at this event a winning one (8:37), followed by Graeme Quinn in 4th overall (9:41).  Lynsey O’Connor was 24th overall and 1st lady in 11:08 – brilliant running from all of you!

On Saturday the 30th, we had representation at the Durisdeer Hill Race in the form of David White who finished in 100th place (2:20:08) and Roddy Pugh who was 132nd overall and 1st V70 in 2:37:24 – great effort guys.  Also on the 30th, Gregor Samson was in action at Stirling where he was participating in the somewhat unusual 1000m distance, crossing the line in 2:40.30.  Competing on the day for her university club was Eilidh Ballantyne who ran 5:09.99 in the 1500m.

Sunday the 31st was round 2 of the Scottish National Athletics League at Grangemouth.  Our U18 athletes certainly put in some great performances and we can’t wait for them to move up to the senior ranks!  However our U20 and senior athletes certainly didn’t let the side down.  In the 800m races, Matthew Monachello was 3rd in H1 of the men’s races where he recorded a new PB of 1:57.58.  For the ladies, Laura Haggarty was 4th in H1 in 2:17.88, Eve Starritt was 7th in H2 with 2:25.70 and Jennifer Beattie was 5th in H3 in 2:31.00, all earning good points for the club.  Eve and Laura were also in action in the 400m, with Eve finishing 5th in H1 (62.27) and Laura 2nd in H3 (62.68).  In the field, Logan Mitchell certainly more than earned his keep with points – 2nd in the shot (14.12m), =2nd in the discus with 38.77m and then dominant to win the hammer with 46.24m – great set of results!

With 3 events now completed, there has been some change at the top of the men’s league where Graeme Quinn now takes the lead with 40 points.  Jonathon Downey still holds 2nd with 30 and Owen Walpole 3rd with 27.  For the ladies, Kirsty Girvan extends her lead with 44 points, followed by Sasha I’Anson with 29 and Sophie Hepburn now moving into 3rd spot with 21.  Our next event is Roon The Toon this weekend, followed by Dundonald/Kilmaurs.  Remember that your best parkrun/HM/marathon will count, the few weeks between Roon the Toon and the next events could be an ideal time to bag that Parkrun time! You can see the full tables here – Summer 26