Weekend 23/24 April: Percy Record; Balmoral; CE

Monday 25th April 2016

Putting others in the shade – Nick Percy (pictured in Italy a couple of years ago)

Nick Percy made it two Scottish records in a matter of a fortnight with another big performance in the United States.

The discus thrower was the first Scot to get beyond the 60m mark back on April 9 with his 60.49m throw, which is awaiting ratification as a Scottish record.

Now, at an event in Kansas, Percy improved on that distance by another 3cm as he reached 60.52m as he looks toward the 63m that is the qualifying standard required by British Atheltics for the European Championships this summer.

Nick is based at Lincoln University in Nebraska and told the Herald at the weekend how he works remotely with coach, Vesteinn Hafsteinsson.

‘You have to be very organised and we do a lot of sessions where he watches on Skype,’ said Nick. ‘The record was a big shock. The Tuesday before that competition (April 9) I tore my left calf. My technique wasn’t very good and I had the calf heavily strapped. I have been chasing 60m for two years.’

All at scottishathletics wish to congratulate Nick and his coach on recent fine performances and wish him all the best for the rest of the season.

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Jenn Wetton – 10K win and course record (photo courtesy of RunBalmoral)

Occasional flurries of snow drifted down from the Cairngorms but the cold weather did little to curb the enthusiasm of thousands of competitors taking part in the first day of RunBalmoral 2016.

There were some top quality performances with two course records being broken in an exciting series of races. The trend continued on day two when the sun came out and a further record fell.

Jenn Wetton (Central AC) broke the longest-standing record in the history of the Balmoral meeting when lifting the women’s title in the Stena Drilling Tartan 10km with 36.20.

Aberdeen AAC’s Nicola Gauld, the 2013 winner, was runner-up in 36:45, while Sarah Liebnitz (Inverness Harriers) repeated her 2013 result by taking third position in 38:31.

Scottish 10,000m track champion Will Mackay made up for the disappointment of missing the London marathon by winning the men’s 10km in 32.28.

Kenny Wilson knocked 10 seconds off his previous best time when recording 15:14 to finish ahead of a field of 633 runners in the ConocoPhillips 5km. He won it from Stephen Mackay (Inverness Harriers) and Callum Symmons (Aberdeen AAC).

Jenny Bannerman (Inverness Harriers) celebrated her call-up to the Scotland international side for a half marathon in Denmark by winning the women’s prize in 17:03, a time which matches her personal best set at last year’s Scottish championships.

Gemma Cormack (Aberdeen AAC), who won last year, finished second in 17:43, while Naomi Lang (Aberdeen AAC) was third in 17:50.

Aberdeen AAC’s Rebecca Eggeling smashed the girls’ course record in the Kongsberg Maritime 2.5km race.The Robert Gordon College pupil, who also won last year, recorded 7:52 to scythe 11 seconds off the previous standard set by her club-mate and friend Naomi Lang in 2014.

For more details see the RunBalmoral website or Facebook page

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Holly McArthur (pictured centre at a previous event) – fine performance in Somerset

Holly McArthur (Whitemoss AAC)and Cal McLennan (Edinburgh AC) travelled to Street in Somerset this weekend, for the Somerset Schools and County Combined Events Championships. Both were competing in an u18 guest event.

Both had one eye on the European Youth Championship qualifying standards in Tblisi this summer, but in this very early season event; difficult winds; and cold temperatures meant that achieving standard was always going to be difficult. The standards for UK team selection are 5250 and 6900 points respectively.

Neither athlete made standard, but Holly came closest with an overall score of 4965 in her heptathlon. On better conditions Holly may have come closer; but with a -2.9 wind in hurdles being just one example of the difficult conditions, this was an excellent attempt.

Holly, coached by Iain McEwan, scored 4 individual PBs within her heptathlon. Cal, who is coached by Andrew McLennan, scored 6 individual PBs within his decathlon to score a total of 5882 points. Both athletes finished in second place in their respective events.

With thanks to Iain McEwan

Tags: Jenn Wetton, Jenny Bannerman, Kenny Wilson, Nick Percy, Run Balmoral, Will Mackay