Noticeboard: GB vests; 5K Champs; Mitchell; BUCS; Sichel

Wednesday 17th February 2016

Two Scottish athletes head for Spain this weekend to compete for GB in a Combined Events international.

It is a first GB vest for Tom Chandler of Central AC at U20 level while Emma Canning of Whitemoss AAC follows on from her appearance in France a year ago in the same age group.

Chandler and Canning were named in a team of 12 athletes for U23 and U20 categories for the event in Salamanca in Spain this weekend – with double world junior champion Morgan Lake in the elder age group.

The Scottish duo were selected following on from podium places at the England Athletics CE champs in Sheffield. Emma landed a silver medal at U20 level, with an improved points tally on last year and third-best of all-time for Scottish U20 women, with Tom bringing home a bronze and posting the second best all-time points tally for Scottish U20 men.

Now they head into the competition at Salamanca which at U20 level will feature GB, hosts Spain as well as France.

All at scottishathletics wishes good luck to both athletes and congratulates them and their coaches and their families on the selections. Well done, also, to the clubs involved in developing these talented, hard-working teenagers over a number of years.

Glasgow-based student Emma trains at East Kilbride with Whitemoss, where she is coached by Iain McEwan, while Tom is now at Brunel University in London but was coached for a number of years by Central AC’s Kenny Pearson.Tom’s selection if the first at Central AC outside of endurance events since the 1980s.

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Callum Hawkins and Sarah Inglis – 2015 winners at 5K Champs

The Scottish 5k Champs are the next event in the scottishathletics Road Race Grand Prix series on Friday 6 May.

Silverknowes in Edinburgh is once again the venue and the race, organised by Run and Become’s Adrian Stott and the Road Running and Cross Country Commission, is great for anyone wanting to test themselves over the distance as a ‘one-off’ or for those chasing a PB.

We are looking for entries now and to do so for the evening race on Friday 6 May follow the link online on Entry Central.

Last year, Callum Hawkins entered his first Scottish 5K with the full intention of ‘blasting it’ on the seaside course at Silverknowes – and seeing where that took him.

What transpired was a course record run of 14.17 in windy conditions and an impressive margin of victory for the Kilbarchan AAC athlete of 24 seconds on silver medallist Craig Ruddy of Inverclyde (14.41) with Shettleston’s Tewolde Mengisteab in third in 14.44.

Lothian Running Club’s Sarah Inglis made the most of her break from studies at Trinity Western University in Canada at that time to win the Women’s gold in 16.25 as she was joined on the podium by Josephine Moultrie of VP-Glasgow and Steph Pennycook of Fife AC.

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Mark Mitchell

Scottish middle distance track runner Mark Mitchell plans to make his half marathon debut in Inverness next month by entering the Highland capital’s big race before the entry deadline at midnight on Tuesday 23 February.

Mitchell,27, has won Scottish 800m and 1500m titles in recent years but now the former Great Britain junior international is looking forward to trying his hand over 13.1 miles by joining a top class line-up for the 31^st edition of the Inverness race.

The Forrres Harriers club member, who narrowly missed 1500m selection for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, is excited by the prospect of joining a field approaching 2,000 runners in the half marathon which also hosts this year’s Scottish North District championships.

‘The longest I’ve ever raced on the roads before is 10km so it’s a bit of a step-up,’ said Mitchell,

‘However, I’ve been doing regular 10-mile runs at a decent pace in training and I’ve done a good 20km session. These have felt reasonably comfortable so I think I should be fine. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do, although I’ve no idea how it might go. It will be a new experience for me.

‘I’m sure there will be some fast guys there, which is good, and I’ll probably just try to stay with them for as long as I can and see what happens. I know the course because I live in Inverness now and I’ve watched the race a few times in recent years. It seems to be quite a quick route, so it will be interesting to see how it all develops.’

The Women’s race will feature the top two from 2015, Shona McIntosh of Hunters Bog Trotters defending her title against Jenn Wetton of Central AC. Anyone wanting to take part in either of the races can enter online at www.invernesshalfmarathon.co.uk.

With thanks to Fraser Clyne

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All road lead to BUCS for a number of Scottish student athletes this weekend and the British indoor champs in Sheffield.

It looks sure to be a hectic weekend for those in Yorkshire with no fewer than 6000 students descending to compete across a range of sports including the track and field finals at the E.I.S venue..

Start lists for the athletics are available online

Good luck to all the Scots headed there and we believe those may include Nikki Manson, Pete Muirhead and Anna Gordon among others. The event takes place from Friday through to Sunday and there is coverage on Vinco Sport.

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William Sichel – busy year ahead!

Orkney-based ultra marathon runner, William Sichel (62) has released details of his race programme for this year.

William will run as short as a standard 26.2 mile road marathon and as long as a 6 Day road race in France.

‘One of the main features of this year’s races is that I’m going to return to some shorter events over the first half of the year,’ said William. ‘This is something I haven’t done for a great many years, but things just fell into place this year, so I’m excited to give it a go.

William will open his racing with the British 100km road running Championships in Perth, Scotland on March 27^th. This will be William’s first 100km race for 17 years. He is a past British (1999) and Scottish (1994) 100km champion.

Following Perth, William will at long last tackle the iconic Comrades Marathon (55 miles) in South Africa – the World’s largest ultra marathon with 20,000 starters.

‘In some ways I should have done this about 20 years ago but it just didn’t happen,’ he added. ‘I’m under no illusions about how difficult it will be to do this on a ‘one-off’ basis. It will be a huge challenge.’

On July 3, William plans to line up for the first-ever St Magnus Marathon, running from Kirkwall to Birsay in Orkney.

*A new event for 2016, the St Magnus marathon will be UK’s most northerly marathon. The route starts outside the St Magnus cathedral in Kirkwall and follows the coast of west mainland ending in Birsay.

The event will have all the trimmings of a large race whilst enjoying the small friendly nature of Orkney; an experience to remember. Enter online via Entry Central

Tags: BUCS, Combined Event, Emma Canning, Inverness Half Marathon, Mark Mitchell, Scottish 5k Champs, Silverknowes, Tom Chandler, William Sichel