Giffnock North teams headed to Dundee on Sunday 22^nd June to take part in the Scottish Athletics National Relay Championships.

4x 100M Relays

First onto the track were our U17 girls (Robyne McClure, Anna Hawthorne, Cara Heron, Mairi Nicholson – heat, Charolette Malcom – final) who qualified as a non-automatic qualifier for the final, where they finished seventh in time of 53.39s.

Our U17 boys (Callum Datta, Zander Summerhill, Reyne Layne, Alistair Gear, reserve – Fergus Pryor) were in straight final, where they secured an excellent silver medal (45.63s) behind Victoria Park (44.90).

The U15 boys (Scot McLachlan, Charlie Murray, Austin Summerhill, Dylan Ness) had a heat and a final to contend with. Finishing 2^nd in their heat and second fastest overall, they had a medal chance in the final. Like the heats, Aberdeen were the runaway winners, but our boys improved on their qualifying time to win silver in a time of 48.07s.

We then jumped up the age groups to our senior women and men. The womens team (Eilidh Fraser, Madeleine Mackenzie, Eve Greene, Rachel Callan) finished 5^th in their heat (54.13). The men (Angus Rennie, Neil Hutchison, Donald Maclean, Rory Taylor-Young) secured a spot in the final, where they improved on their qualifying time to finish 7^th overall (46.73).

The last 4×100 on the timetable were the U15 girls, where we had two teams entered. Team A (Amy Plunkett, Bethany McNeill, Katie Heron, Lauren Bell), looked to be cruising to a final spot, but alas a dropped baton thwarted them. Team B (Amelie O’Donnell, Lilah MacIntyre, Ruby McWilliams, Poppy McWilliams) looked to make amends and qualified for the final, where they finished 8^th in 55.62.

U13 Medley Relay

The U13 medley relays were squeezed in between the 4×100 heats and finals. This was run as a timed final, meaning medals would be awarded to the fastest three teams across all the heats. Our boy’s team (Matthew McLachlan, Ben McKerracher, Andrew Mitchell, Andrew Church) ran well and finished 5^th fastest overall.

Long Sprint Relays (4×400 and 4×300)

All the long sprint relays were run as timed finals, where we picked up our only gold of the day. Like the 4x100m final, it was Victoria Park vs Giffnock North fighting it out for gold and silver in the U17 Boys 4x400m event. After a neck-and-neck battle over four laps, our boys (Zander Summerhill, Calum Dick, Fergus Pryor, Alexander Clark, reserve – Calum Dick) held on to secure the gold (3:36.61).  The U17 W 4×300 (Charlotte Malcolm, Edie Campbell, Mairi Nicholson, Anna Ross) finished 8^th, the Women’s 4×400 (Madeleine Mackenzie, Rachel Callan, Eilidh Fraser, Ella McWilliams) finished 7^th  (4:31.91) and the Men’s 4×400 (Rory Taylor-Young, Angus Rennie, Donald Maclean, Neil Hutchison) also 7^th (3:44.20).

U15 Medley Relay

Giffnock had two teams each in the boys and girls U15 medley relays.. Girls A Team (Lucy Tonner, Bethany McNeill, Erika Tait, Ella Buckley) just missed out on a medal in 4rth (5:30.08) and Team B (Mia Tomb, Megan Jackson, Lotty Martin, Katie Heron) were 17^th.

Our final medal was secured in the very last race of the day. Our U15 Boys Medley Team A (Scot McLachlan, Kian Dick, Finlay Hamilton, Logan McNulty) won silver (4:51.47), with Team B (Evan Tyler, Charlie Murray, Ewan Kennedy, Patrick McGovern) in 5^th (5:13.06).

Well done to all the athletes that competed on Sunday, especially thos who doubled up in short and long events. Relays are always a heady mix of fun, adrenaline and jeopardy. We hope you enjoyed it.

Grateful thanks to parents/family/friends who provided the transport of their own athletes and several carpool spaces, delivering Giffnock North up to the venue. Bonus points to those of you driving the early morning shift.

Thanks to our coaches for relay preparation work and to our on-duty officials, Craig and Alison Fotheringham, who not only worked the Relay Champs, but had done similar at the Under 12 SuperTeams event, also in Dundee, the day before.

Click this link for access to the full results. However, a word of caution. Scottish Athletics were operating the new OpenTrack System  and there were a few teething problems. Some of the teams were badged against the wrong club, so you may have to double check against the athlete names to get the correct result

And check out Scottish Athletics Facebook page for more pictures from the event.