Record medal haul for north athletes
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SIXTEEN talented young runners from East Sutherland Athletics Club travelled to Inverness on Saturday for the North District Track and Field Championships.
Large numbers of athletes from Orkney, Shetland, Uist and Stornoway converged on Queen’s Park Stadium to join those from Moray, Forres, Nairn and Inverness for a day of top class competition.
The East Sutherland youngsters performed brilliantly and came away with an unprecedented total of 16 medals — eight gold, seven silver and one bronze.
Lauren McCulloch got things off to a great start by taking gold in a thrilling 800m race for under-15 girls. Her training partner, Constance Nankivell, ran superbly to win the 1500 metres by a huge margin in a new personal best time of 5 minutes and 7 seconds. Kieran Barnsby continued the medal rush by taking gold in the 100 metres and silver in the 200 metres, recording personal bests in both. Eoghann Gollan completed a superb day for the under-15s with a fine silver in the boys’ 1500 metres.
Liam Barnsby produced a tremendous finish to take gold in the 1500 metres for under-17 boys with a new personal best of 4 minutes and 14 seconds.
In the 1500 metres for girls, Rosie Nankivell claimed a splendid silver medal and it was bronze for Ruairdh Oliver-Jones in the 800 metres with yet another personal best performance.
The East Sutherland under-20 squad dominated proceedings with star sprinter Daryn Jack striking gold in both the 100 metres (11.2 secs) and the 200 metres (22.5 secs). The silver medals in both sprints went to Scott Fraser who also took silver in the Javelin.
Finlay Murray cruised to victory in the 800 metres and Ross Gollan produced a lifetime best of 4 minutes and 8 seconds to take gold in the 1500 metres. Eilidh MacRae completed the medal haul with an excellent silver in the equivalent race for women.
The four under-13 athletes from East Sutherland were competing in these championships for the first time and all showed tremendous composure by running personal best times on the day.
Shane Turney (2.35) and Struan Oliver-Jones (2.38) were well placed in the 800 metres for boys and Catriona Scott (2.49) and Jessica McCulloch (3.01) finished strongly in the girls’ race.
