Weekend Round-up – April 25/26

Monday 27th April 2015

Derek Rae – superb PB for GB (with thanks to Ian Mirfin for this photo)

Scottish athlete Derek Rae produced the race of his life to take fifth place in the IPC World Championships at the London Marathon.

The Fifer, who ran for many years with Anster Haddies before the accident which led to T45/46 classification, came up with a superb PB on the streets of the English capital.

Rae clocked 2.40.40 to improve by four minutes his marathon best – set a year ago in London – and more than justify his selection for GB and NI for the IPC World event with his pre-race ‘ranking’ at around six or seven in the field.

Derek, who told scottishathletics in a special blog post last week he’s learned so much since coming under the coaching wing of Ron Morrison and Don MacGregor of Fife AC, drew support and compliments from across the Para athletics community and the wider sport in Scotland.

The response on our social media was remarkable, in fact, with the likes of Richard Whitehead and Paula Dunn offering their praise.

Wife Susan Rae posted: ‘It was a fantastic day and the whole family are so proud of Derek. He has an amazing support team and coaches.

‘The whole of athletics in Scotland seemed to be backing him on social media on Sunday and we appreciate that. It has been amazing.’

Joining Derek in London, of course, were club runners from across Scotland and it is difficult for us to track all the significant performances given the huge field.

One or two we are aware of include: a PB of 2.40.14 for Shona McIntosh of Hunters Bog Trotters and a 2.40.26 PB for Megan Crawford of Fife AC – really fine effort by both athletes and highly placed in their age group. Dianne Lauder of Gala Harriers was at 2.49.01 and we have seen Shettleston’s Avril Mason at 2.53.38.

Edinburgh AC’s Neil Renault was at 2.21.45 and Central’s Michael Wright was at 2.28.34 with Fanni Gyurko, a silver medallist at the 10,000m track champs recently, running 2.43.17. We’ve also seen: Corstorphine’s Moray Anderson at 2.29.02 and Edinburgh’s Adam Rouse at 2.29.26.

Hopefully club websites and social media are keeping folk up to date on those wearing Scottish club vests in London.

Check results on the London Marathon website.

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Simpson leads the 10K

GB hill running international Robbie Simpson claimed the stena Drilling tartan 10k title at Run Balmoral on Saturday.

But Inverclyde AC’s Andrew Douglas denied Simpson a double success as he won the 15-Mile Glaciar Energy Trail race the following day – with Douglas breaking the course record with a run of 78.30.

Deeside’s Simpson was forced to settle for second there with 79.13 as George French (Garioch Road Runners) took third in 89.09.

In the 10k, Robbie won it in 31.57 – a bit adrift of the course record he set in 2013. Corstorphine’s Keith Hood was second and Kenny O’Neill was third.

Metro Aberdeen’s Fiona Rudkin won the women’s race as she finished in 37.49 – 11 seconds ahead of Fiona Matheson (Falkirk Victoria Harriers). Claire Whitehead (Deeside Runners) was third.

‘I realised after the first few hundred metres I had a gap so probably would be running on my own,’ said Robbie.

‘I attached the hill but at halfway I knew the record wasn’t going to happen. I tried to push on to still have a decent time but I didn’t have an extra gear.’

Aberdeen AAC athlete Jordan Chapman won the 5k in 15.53 – his first race victory on his seventh appearance at Run Balmoral. Gemma Cormack won the women’s race in 18.14.

More details on the Run Balmoral website including results for both days.

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Zoey Clark in action – photo by Bobby Gavin

SUCA Championship Results

The Scottish Universities and Colleges held their outdoor championships at Grangemouth on Saturday.

Results from that event will dictate selections for an international event looming in May with Scottish students to compete in Belfast.

Among those to deliver event victories were the likes of Alec Thomas, Nikki Manson, Jack Lawrie, Rachel Hunter, Anna Nelson, Sam O’Kane, Zoey Clark, Michael Ferguson, Kyle McLellan and Andrew Murphy.

Rachel won the women’s hammer with 62.95m and we understand that is a Scottish Unis record.

Results are due to appear online on the Scottish Student Sport website. There are some highlights already on the Scotstats site.

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George Evans

Young thrower George Evans was in fine form at a Loughborough event as he threw a World Youth standard in discus.

The Inverness Harriers athlete was at 60.21m and that is well beyond the 56m being asked for the World Youth Games in Cali, Colombia, later this year.

Evans is a member of the National Academy and one of the stated goals of that particular programme is greater representation at youth international events.

Central AC’s Sarah Pearson was another young athlete in fine form over the weekend as she clocked Commonwealth Youth Games standards in Loughborough in the 100m hurdles with 14.40 and at the Scottish Women’s League at Meadowbank in the 400m hurdles with 62.23.

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British Athletics weekend round-up – with a discus victory for Nick Percy in America

Tags: Andrew Douglas, Derek Rae, Fiona Rudkin, Gemma Cormack, Jordan Chapman, London Marathon, Rachel Hunter, Robbie Simpson, Run Balmoral, SUCA Champs