Young Scots show their strength in depth at Junior Home International
Phil Mestecky reports from Wales
More photos on the Scottish Junior Hill Running Facebook page
Excellent packing and consistency across the age groups proved the key to Scottish success at the British and Irish Fell and Hill Running Championships.
Two team golds and two team silvers gave Scotland a share of the City of Edinburgh Trophy for the overall winning nation at the event and ensured that all 16 Scottish athletes headed home with medals in their bags.
In the U17 Men’s race, Ross County’s Billy Sutherland judged his effort to perfection as he overhauled the English race leader on the final descent to the line, taking the win by just five seconds.
Ben Hodson of Stewartry shook off pre-race concern over a sore calf to finish just outside the individual medals in fourth place, with Joel Gillan of Central taking sixth. Seb Darlow of Gala Harriers was seventh.
This put Scotland top of the podium with England in second. Worth noting also that in eighth place, running for Moorfoot Runners, Jack Foley made it five Scots in the top eight.
In the early stages of the U17 Women’s race, three English athletes established a lead with Wales in fourth and Inverness Harriers Anna Meek and Lucia Connell of Strathearn back in fifth and sixth.
By the top of the big climb, Lucia had clawed her way up into third and, by the line, had closed to within 10 seconds of second place. Anna finished sixth with Nancy Corrie of Harmeny in eighth and VP-Gasgow’s Anna Elizabeth Ross in 14th.
With England packing four in the top five, the Scotland team had to settle for silver. Credit too, to Thea Harris of Moorfoot who ran for her club and finished in 10th place.
A late reshuffle was required for our U20 men’s team as Thomas Hilton of Moorfoot, winner of the trial race for the GB World Championship team a couple of weeks ago, withdrew through illness
His replacement, Alex Dunlop of Central AC, made the most of his opportunity and finished strongly to take seventh place just behind Lachlan Thomas of Ross County in sixth and Lasswade’s Rowan Taylor in fourth. Ethan Lorimer of Harmeny was also in the top 10 with 1km to go but a twisted knee put paid to his challenge as he limped home in 21st place.
Like Thomas, Isla Paterson of Gala had recently triumphed in the GB Trial race and followed that up with another emphatic victory in the U20 Women’s race this time around.
Isla took the win by nearly 30 seconds from Anna McGookin from Northern Ireland. Jessica Taylor of Edinburgh AC came home in third with Haddington’s Emily Atkinson in fourth place and Hania Czebreszuk making it four Scots in the top six
Overall, this meant that England and Scotland both had two team golds and two team silvers, and with the rules not allowing for deeper results analysis, this meant we had to settle for a share of the City of Edinburgh Trophy presented to the best performing team on the day.
Team Results (Points):
U17W: 1. ENG (7); 2. SCO (17); 3. W (32)
U17M: 1. SCO (11); 2. ENG (22); 3. W (26)
U20W: 1. SCO (8); 2. ENG (20); 3. NI (30)
U20M: 1. ENG (9); 2. SCO (17); 3. W (25)
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