Silver Lining for Athletes in Grangemouth

15 of Shetland’s top athletes travelled to Grangemouth this past weekend to compete in the Scottish Athletics Under 17 and Senior Age Group Championships.

The weather was mixed throughout the weekend, but the athletes powered through to achieve some quality performances. Saturday was kicked off by Stephanie Mercer in the U17 Discus and Shay Regan in the U17 Triple Jump. Mercer threw a best throw of 20.36m in a high-quality field. Regan achieved a Personal Best jumping a distance of 12.55m and finishing 5th.

The sprinters of the team were up next in the blue-ribbon event of any athletics competition; the 100m. Katie Dinwoodie, U17, qualified for the final by finishing 1st in her heat in a time of 12.52s. Riahnnon Thomason, also U17, ran an electronic PB of 13.46s. Sean Walterson ran 11.7s in the Senior event. Sophie Grant finished the round in the Senior Womens event running a PB of 13.18s. Dinwoodie, 100m Bronze Medallist from Gibraltar, ran 0.01s slower than her PB in the final to win the Silver medal with a time of 12.16s. Aimee Smith and Seumas Mackay were next on track in the 800m heats. Smith qualified for the semi-final comfortably by finishing 3rd in her heat in a time of 2:32.48s. Mackay qualified for the final with ease by running a time of 1:54.93s. Smith ran in the semi-final later on that day and qualified for the next day’s final after running a time of 2:24.01s. Lucy Holden competed in a tough field in the Senior Womens High Jump and finished a very respectable 4th equal. Her best clearance was 1.62m, which was higher than her Silver Medal winning jump from Gibraltar. Lois Phillips and Isla Murphy were competing together in the U17 Triple Jump. Phillips achieved a big PB in her first jump with a distance of 9.36m. Murphy also jumped a big PB with her second jump with a distance of 9.47m. This distance helped her in to the top eight for a further set of jumps, whilst Phillips missed out fractionally finishing in 9th . Mercer was back in action in the Shot Put. She threw a best distance of 8.82m, which is her second-best distance this season. Ethan Tulloch competed in the U17 Javelin and pulled out a very good performance to throw a PB of 42.42m which gained him a Silver medal. Thomason headed back on track, this time in the U17 300m. In her first competitive 300m on the mainland she ran well to get a time of 45.94s. Bobby Laurenson was competing in the Senior 400m on the first day of action. The Island Games Finalist ran strongly gaining a time of 51.52s, narrowly missing out on the final.

Sunday was far wetter and windier than the previous day, but with conditions almost being like home it did not deter them. Judy Hamer and Maddie Smith competed in the U17 Hammer and Long Jump respectively. Hamer through a new PB with her first throw which was a distance of 30.39m. The winner of the Hammer threw a Championship Best Performance of 62.40m; 15m further than 2nd place. Smith jumped in a very tough field. Her performance gained her a best distance of 4.77m. The eventual winner jumped 6.07m being the only one in the field to go over 6 metres. These events are 2 examples of the level of competition that the Shetland athletes were up against throughout the weekend. The sprinters made their second appearance of the Championships by stepping out for the 200m. Dinwoodie qualified for the final by finishing 1st in her heat in a time of 26.13s. Laurenson ran in a very fast heat and gained a time of 23.98s; 0.2s outside of his PB. Regan nipped on track for his race and running a time of 24.4s. Grant, who was running alongside Orkney counterpart Taylah Spence, was also competing in the Senior event and ran a PB of 27.4s. Dinwoodie, 200m Champion at the Island Games, ran a storming bend to claim Silver in a time of 24.97s. Mercer, in her third event of the weekend, took part in the U17 Javelin. She threw a best distance of 24.22m to round off her Championships. Walterson was on the runway this time competing in the Long Jump. The Shetland Record holder had a best jump of 6.63m before heading from jumping far to jumping high. He took part in the High Jump with a best clearance of 1.77m. The event, shortly after Walterson finished, was halted due to high wind and rain before Commonwealth Athlete Allan Smith took the Gold. Regan made his way back to the runway to do the Long Jump. His best jump on the day was 5.68m in a strong field where another Championship Best was set. The 800m duo of Smith and Mackay saw them both compete in their respective finals. Smith was up first and ran from the front for the majority of the race and finished strong to come 5 th in a time of 2:22.69s; which is her 3rd fastest time ever. The winner set a Championship Best in this event. Two-time Island Games winner Mackay ran a very good, tough race and finished in 4th place with a time of 1:52.13s.

A spokesman for the Club said: “The level of competition is always high at the Age Group Championships and that was easy to be seen by the events our athletes were taking part in. 5 of the events were won with Championship Best Performances. Our team did brilliantly to compete alongside such stiff opposition and to be rubbing shoulders with International athletes up to Commonwealth level. We are proud of their performances from the weekend and want to congratulate them all. We would like to thank Northlink Ferries and Bolts Car Hire for their continued support on our away trips.”

Mackay heads to Manchester after the Championships to compete in a BMC meet. The Club has their final Open Graded Meet of the season this weekend coming.