Hill Running Junior International Trial

Monday 1st September 2014

There was a great day’s hill racing in the sunshine at Aberfoyle on Sunday 31 August at the Scottish Trial races for the Junior Home International.

Increased numbers across each the U14, U16 and U19 age groups reflects growing interest and there was a large spread of clubs represented on Sunday from the likes of Cumbernauld, Garscube and Inverclyde in the west of Scotland to Gala and Moorfoot in the south, East Sutherland and Caithness in the Highlands and Dundee Hawkhill and Aberdeen in the east.

The Aberfoyle venue provides steep and challenging courses over forest roads and paths and was also used for last year’s races.

In the Under 14 race, raced over 3.8km with 225m of climb, Nuala McCheyne (Inverclyde) was the first girl home, while George Rees (Fife) led home the boys.

The U16 girls raced over the same course, and Laura Stark (Kilbarchan) led the field, having won last year’s Under 14 race. The U16 Boys completed 4.9km and 275m climb, with Thomas Otton (Gala) taking the honours.

The oldest age group was Under 19, where Louise Mercer (Edinburgh University) won the girls’ race of 4.9km, while for the boys it was Craig Jardine (Victoria Park Glasgow) who dominated the 7.0km distance with 375m climb.

Sunday’s races were the main selection event for the Junior Home International on the Wicklow Mountains outside Dublin on Saturday 20 September.

scottishathletics will be announcing the Scottish teams for that event shortly which is being held in conjunction with the open British and Irish Junior Championships.

All the results are now online including those from the ‘Dounan’s Doodle’ Fun Run, organised by Martin Hyman, where winner, Thomas Wood, took the course record by one second!

Report by Hugh Buchanan

Tags: hill running, Junior Home International Trial