Rain battered again in Greenock !!!
Renfrewshire Road Race Championships took place Sunday 4th February at the Battery Park in Greenock . Sadly, the weather was the usual miserable variety that we all know and don’t love. Some of us remember sunny days at the Park but the memories are definitely getting stretched. Despite the rain, the club had a great day with many individual medals, loads of Team Medals – 7 out of 8 for the Juniors -and great performances overall . A special round of applause to all the athletes and especially to those taking part for the first time. The start – The Senior Men & Women ran the 5 Miles together heading out along that esplanade wrestling with the wild conditions.
Seniors
Ross Goode took an excellent Silver Medal with Jordan Orr finishing a nippy 22nd to then quickly pick up the camera to capture great pictures of the other races. David Shaw was trying to erect tents and do a warm up simultaneously (not really possible and not to be repeated) Thanks David ! His run then got him 35th place & 3rd Vet 50 with James Egan closely following David home. Rob Crusher and Ian Millar completed the senior male entrants with solid runs. Allie Chong was 7th overall & 1st Vet 50, Kiara Meiklejohn was 8th and 2nd in the U20 Category.
Well done the Seniors who braved the Wet Costa Clyde!
Under 11s
Under 11 Boys had Gold Individual from Christopher Cameron who took a very measured approach initially and then let rip to finish with a flourish, followed by Ben McKerracher who took a superb Bronze and then with Callum Wilson, in an excellent 4th place ensured Team Gold for the Giffnock lads. Backing them up was Cian Lough, Nihal Lindsay, Riley Rhicard, Neil Hutchison, Finlay Rae, Elliot Glen, Sam Duffy, Avikrit Pandey, Fearghus McMillan,& Albie Pollock.
In the U11 Girls race Aurora MacIntyre stormed it to take Gold with Abbie Gallagher just missing the Podium for an individual Medal but with a very surprised Grace Costello 7th the Giffnock U11 Girls got to climb up the Podium – and we mean climb – as the step was nearly bigger than them to take Team Gold Medals ????
Iris Jackson 8th and Emma Wilkinson 9th crossed the line exactly a second behind each other and behind Grace. That’s packing for you. Jessica Martin, Orla Heron & Robyn Gordon completed the U11 band of girls.
Photos Courtesy of Alan Cameron
Under 13s
The U13 squad relished the rare opportunity for boys and girls to race together. As the results show this gave everyone an extra boost and all twenty three athletes gave it their all. Sam Deery and Evan Tyler showed us outstanding teamwork, running together until the last fifty metres then treating us to a blazing sprint finish with Sam just edging the win and Evan a brilliant second. Logan McNulty sprinted in for third to complete the winning team. With Ewan Kennedy 4th , Adam Tortelano 5th, Monty Finlayson, 6th and Finlay Hamilton , Gabriel Macklin and Connor Lynch not far behind it was a triumph for the Giffnock boys.
Not to be outdone our girls showed their speed with Lucy Tonner , Eve Cameron and Erika Tait taking the top three places and another team gold. Megan Jackson , Chloe Simpson and Erica Ross all took top ten places with Eilidh Brown , Freya Mearns , Erin Lough , Rebecca Martin, Amelie O’Donnell , Mia Tomb, Lilah McIntyre and Lotty Martin not far behind. Well done to you all for your outstanding sportsmanship and support for each other.
Under 15s
An incredible 12 U15 Giffnock girls in a field of 18, and all gave a good account of themselves. Holly Simpson controlled things from the front and cruised home in an impressive 10:44. Lucy McGhie left the rest of the pack after 2 laps to take a well earned individual silver. Millie Boothman in 4th made up the 3 girl winning team. Terrific runs also from Isabella Wilson, Nicole Yates, Eve Wilkinson, Emme Johnson, Anna Ross, Erin Reilly, Sarah McNulty, Rose Costello and Ava Taylor.
The U15 boys race saw Louie Muir and Aaron Reid finish 2nd and 3rd respectively, behind the ever impressive Alistair Street from Kilbarchan. Call offs and bugs meant not enough to make a team but Louie and flew the flag brilliantly.
Photos courtesy of Alan Cameron
Under 17s
The U17 races had small fields, but as they were mixed races there was good male competition for our U17 girls and so great preparation for the National coming up in 3 weeks. Scarlett and Ruth ran strongly at the front of the girls’ race with Scarlett pulling away from Ruth over the final 400m or so of the 4km race. Saoirse finished next not too far behind Ruth and Scarlett, followed by Isla. Hazel and Lucy finished strongly to complete the U17 girls’ team.
The final race of the day saw our Under 17 men continue the excellent work carried out by younger age groups earlier in the day.
Oliver Macdonald followed by Jack Wallace and Alasdair MacLean crossed the finish line in that order to take first team prize.James Mowat came home in tenth position to round off an excellent squad performance over the very flat water side course.
Thanks to David Shaw, Rowan Wallace and Andy Munro for tent transport and Dudley Walker – always the maestro of tent wrangling.
Thanks also to the excellent organisation on the day – the officials who always bear the brunt of the weather, Gerry Gaffney & all the IAC ( et al) coaches, stewards & volunteers including the welcome catering .
Report comes from all the Giffnock Coaches with photos from Allan Cameron.
Lastly well done all our athletes. It’s always a test to race in these conditions and you all passed it .
Full results at the link below –