Senior/U20 Event Report 31st July 2026

It has been another busy few weeks for our athletes, taking in everything from local events right up to the Commonwealth Games – how many clubs can make that claim this week?

We start off on Saturday the 11th, where we had two athletes competing for Glasgow Jaguars in the NAL Premier League match at Woodford.  Sara Barbour was 7th in the pole vault with a 3.57m effort, and Logan Mitchell was 6th in the shot with 13.82, and then delivered a cracking PB for 8th in the hammer with a huge 51.03m – brilliant effort!

On Sunday the 12th, we had a squad of senior and masters athletes at Grangemouth for the final CSSAL meeting of the year.  It was great to see some new faces and returning athletes, and of the 21 events covered we took 12 wins.  In the men’s 3000m, Ian Wilson made his CSSAL debut to finish 3rd master athlete in 10:25.34 (provisional results still to be amended to reflect this!).  In the 800m events, Adam Todd was 5th in his race with 2:19.95, and Graeme Gemmell was also 5th in the masters race with 2:23.96.  For the ladies, Laura Haggarty took the A race maximum points and the win with 2:19.15, whilst Eve Starritt topped the B race with 2:24.66.  In the masters race, Jennifer Beattie took the A win with 2:31.86 and Kat Kelly made her official 800m debut to take the B win in 2:45.82 – great to see the ladies make a clean sweep of the 800s!  In the 400, Laura was 2nd in the A race with 62.52, and Eve topped the B race with 63.29.  In the 100m races, it was great to see Lewis Tidy back in the blocks where he took 5th in the A race (12.09s).  Douglas Dickson was 5th in the masters A race with 14.73s and Graeme Gemmell was 3rd in the B race with his 100m debut in 14.22s.  For the ladies, Isla Raeburn won the ladies A race in 13.95s and Eve Starritt won the B race in 13.93s, whilst in the masters races Jennifer Beattie won the A race in 15.20s and Kat took the B race in 16.46s – another clean sweep for the girls!  In the field, Isla Raeburn had a very busy but productive day – taking wins in long jump (5.04m), high jump (1.40m) and shot (10.07m) to score a huge amount of points for the team.  Jennifer Beattie was 2nd in the B string of the shot with a 6.08m effort.  For the men, Douglas Steele was 6th in the javelin with 20.83m and 4th in the discus with 18.05m – great to have you on the team Douglas!

Also on the 12th, Mark Alexander took his race shoes on holiday to take part in the 4A Cursa Solidaria La Plana 5k in Tarragona where he finished 7th overall in 18:44.  Special shout out to junior Harrier Euan Alexander who showed dad how it was done by winning the 10-14yo 1k race on the day – keep up dad!

We then seem to have had a bit of a quiet week (let us know if you’ve competed and we’ve missed you!), but in the last week or so the results have once again been coming in thick and fast!  Jennifer Beattie had a bit of a tour of some of the Highland Games circuit last week taking in Burntisland, Inveraray and Mull and picking up a few prizes along the way including a win in the half mile handicap at Mull.

On Sunday the 26th, Natalie Sharp took part in the Up and Running Half Marathon at Strathclyde Park where she finished 106th overall and 29th lady in 1:52:23 – well done Natalie.  Also on Sunday, Laura Haggarty and Eilidh Ballantyne (representing Stirling uni on this occasion) were at Scotstoun where they earned the bragging rights of racing the first Mile event on the new track as part of the broadcast test event prior to the Commonwealth games commencing.  The ladies were 1st and 2nd respectively, and what a fantastic experience!

Moving onto the Commonwealth Games (what an absolutely great thing to be writing!!!), our very own Jamie Phillips contested the heats of the 800m on Tuesday the 28th.  Being in the first heat at a championship is always a challenge, but Jamie ran a composed race to finish 4th in 1:48.47 in a stacked race, cheered on by lots of fellow Harriers in the stands.  It was then a waiting game, but agonisingly a semi-final slot was not to be by a mere 0.04s.  Regardless of the result, everyone at the club is so proud of Jamie and how far he has come to be representing at a home Games – hopefully the first of many major international championships for this talented young man.

Following all the excitement of the Commonwealth Games, our road athletes must have been suitably inspired at the next of the mid-week races taking place on Wednesday the 29th.  At Dundonald 10k there were wins in both the men’s and women’s races, with Jonathon Downey taking the win in 32:59 and Lorna Baird taking the ladies title in 39:15.  Mark Alexander was 2nd back for the men in 37:25, followed by David McLure at his first race since the Spine in 39:14.  For the ladies, newcomer to the blue and white Isla Grant was 2nd lady back in 42:59, with Sasha I’Anson 3rd home in 44:22.  Also completing this challenging course were Natalie Sharp (52:02), Emma Clark (59:54) and Deborah Clark on 1:00:25 – well done all!  Meanwhile at Kilmaurs, a total of 33 Harriers took on the 5k distance (full results HERE) and it was great to see so many of you out there enjoying yourselves and running some fantastic times.  First home for the men was Craig Ferguson (4th overall in 16:32), followed by Scott Masterton (6th overall in 16:34) and Graeme Quinn (9th overall in 16:58).  These men along with Tom Flood (14th overall in 17:27) also took home the men’s team prize by a comfortable margin – well done guys!  For the ladies, Kirsty Girvan was first back (2nd lady overall) in 19:22, followed by Katie Vallance (20:07 and 5th lady), and Lindsay Johnson (21:07 and 12th lady, 3rd FV40) – the ladies JUST missed out on the team prize.  Other results of note were a V60 win for Mike Corson (21:06), 3rd V50 for Jim Phillips (17:54), 3rd FV60 for Allison Mair (24:46) and special mention to junior athlete Jack Sherrington who was 2nd in the 11-14 category (21:19).

Our league is now hotting up, and it is tight at the top of the men’s table with Graeme Quinn currently occupying top spot with 64 and Jonathon Downey on 60.  Josh McClymont and Owen Walpole currently share 3rd spot with 37 apiece.  For the ladies, Kirsty Girvan retains the top spot with 73, Sasha I’Anson is in second with 53 and Natalie Sharp moves into third with 34.  Still plenty to play for, and with the addition of the Rowallan Rosebowl and the Marymass Mile now confirmed there are even more opportunities to score points!

We are still looking for names for the Rosebowl next Tuesday night – don’t miss out.  Entries are still open for the Marymass Mile, North Ayrshire 10k (less than 70 spots left) and the Cumbrae 10 mile.  The date for the Valley Dash will be finalised soon, and remember your best Parkrun, Half Marathon and Marathon times within the published date range will count.