Scottish Junior Road Race Championships

The Scottish Junior Age Group Road Running Championsips were held at the weekend at East Kilbride and the club was well represented although there were a few call offs due to illness and Mother's Day Duties!!! The Under 20 Men were closest to medals with a fourth place in the team race. Ryan Savage was 25th in 27:51 with David Brown 26th and Ryan Nelson 27th. Ryan Savage started slowly and then had problems getting back into the race but no one can give away that many places in a national championship and hope to get back on terms. David Brown was clearly in distress with a sore knee - an old injury that flared up again - but gamely carried on to the finish while Ryan Nelson is improving with every race. It should maybe be noted that neither Shettleston Harriers nor Cambuslang finished teams.
But if we go to the start of the afternoon, three of the four entered in the Under 13 Girls Race started. First to finish was Mirren Wright who was thirty seventh in 12:54, Roisin McShea substituted for Jennifer Doyle and finished fifty sixth in her first ever race and Rachel Busby, who was a bit under the weather, was sixty sixth in 13:58. It was a day of seriously heavy winds and all were affected but none more so than the youngest member of the team, Rachel, who is also the slightest in build. She still has two years in the age group however. Only one of the Under 15 Girls ran, the Nicolson twins were not able to turn out and Kirsty Kelly took ill overnight. Claire Reid ran with her usual determination but like many a runner before her and no doubt many in years to come, took a tumble in one of EK's notorious underpasses but still finished in 20:22. She has a lot of talent though and if she buckles down to it could do well in the sport. The only Under 15 Boy to run was Tony Dolan who was forty second in 17:25 - also one of the very youngest in his age group he finished strongly and passed a group of six or seven athletes in the last half mile or so of the race. From what I've seen of him Tony could do with a bit more self belief and once that comes he could surprise many (including himself!) Peter Bowman was the only Under 17 Boy running and finished 26th in 17:25. Peter had attended a Scottish Schools Training Camp a week before and been subjected to two sessions - a long run in the morning and a hard anaerobic sesson in the afternoon. The resulting stiffness has caused some difficulties in training during the week.
So it was a fairly successful outing for the club although the absence of runners already mentioned plus Kirsty Alexander with tonsilitis and Lewis Wood who was using his strength on the rugby field instead of the road on this occasion, then the results will be even better.