Annabel and Megan impress amid PBs and sunshine at the GAA Miler Meet

Saturday 4th June 2022

Annabel Simpson and Megan Keith on their way to impressive PB performances over 3000m at the GAA Miler Meet (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Results from Crownpoint

Scottish women’s distance running is in good health at the moment and there was further compelling evidence on a Friday night in Glasgow.

Annabel Simpson landed the full prize pot at the Glasgow Athletics Association Miler Meet with an excellent 3000m run and Megan Keith wasn’t far behind as both delivered strong PBs.

Simpson and Keith were both well inside the 9:15 asked for and this despite windy conditions on a sunlit evening at Crownpoint.

Now the duo are both making plans for a trip to Finland next week for a 5000m outing and their runs of 9:05.41 and 9:06.85 respectively in Glasgow bode well.

Annabel is already inside the Commonwealth Games standard and Megan fancies landing that mark, too, and pitching into a 5k selection logjam which already includes Eilish McColgan, Sarah Inglis, Eloise Walker and Steph Twell.

Hannah Ryding of Giffnock North added to the impressive female performances as she won the Scottish U20 title for 3000m with a 9:28.04 time that is inside the GB and NI qualifying mark for the Euro U18 Champs.

Harmeny AC’s Tendai Nyabadza did likewise with the most impressive race win on the night as he clocked 8:21.99 to win gold from Fraser Gilmour of VP Glasgow and bronze medallist Conan Harper of Giffnock. Tendai last week posted a Euro U18s standard over 1500m, too.

There were U17 Scottish titles for Kilbarchan AAC’s Amy Teasdale (9:48.11) and Reiss Marshall of Fife AC (8:34.61).

There were a number of fine Para runs including those by Derek Rae, Owen Miller and Connor Brown of Fife A as well as a FrameRunning heat.

Photos by Bobby Gavin on Facebook

James Donald (No 107) pushed through to win the top Men’s 3000m race at the GAA Miler Meet (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers athlete James Donald won the top men’s race over 3000 and was less than a second away from the prize pot with 8:10.96.

Kane Elliott of Falkirk Vics was second in 8:16.28 with Aidan Thompson of Central AC, back on these shores from America, third in 8:17.33.

Incidentally, and in no particular order (and by no means a comprehensive list), it was great to see the likes of Cammy Wright, Brogan Wallace, Aidan Gilbride, Mhairi Hendry and Eve MacKinnon and one or two others in race action in Glasgow once again.

Back to Annabel and Megan.

‘I’m told I closed out the race with 2.59 last kilometre which is quite exciting because I don’t think I’ve run that before even as a one-off in training,’ laughed Annabel.

‘Actually it was a wee bit strange for me racing at Crownpoint because I train here a lot and had to try get a racing mindset on.

‘I will go to Finland and race the 5000m again. I don’t know what will happen about the Commonwealths but I’m not concerned about it – I’m just trying to run PBs and bring the time down. If you keep doing that, well, you know you are making good progress.’

Megan for her part will take advantage of funding support to make the trip to Finland with Friday night’s 3000m PB around 10 seconds faster than last year at the Euro U20s.

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In those 3000m races the Scottish U20 medals were as follows:

Men: 1 Tendai Nyabadza (Harmeny) 2 Fraser Gilmour (VP Glasgow); 3 Conan Harper (Giffnock North)

Women: 1 Hannah Ryding (Giffnock North); 2 Meredith Reid (Inverclyde AC); Natasha Phillips (Dundee Hawkhill)

The U17 Scottish medals were as follows:

1 Reiss Marshall (Fife AC); Jamie Phillips (Kilmarnock Harriers); 3 Hamish McKay (Aberdeen AAC)

Women: 1 Amy Teasdale (Kilbarchan AAC) 2 Caitlyn Heggie (Ross County); 3 Caitlyn Christie (Falkirk Victoria Harriers)

Medal presentation photos at the foot of this article.

U15 athlete, Angus Wilkinson of East Kilbride AC, clocked a Scottish U15 Record (subject to ratification) with 8:58.68. Well done to Angus, his family, club and coach!

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Adding further gloss on an excellent night, Fiona Matheson broke her own W60 British Record with an excellent run.

After clocking 10:58.85 at Linwood last year, the evergreen Falkirk Victoria Harriers athlete was at 10:57.95 this time.

‘I’m absolutely delighted with that because as each year goes by you are really happy if running similar times – so one second quicker, I’m happy with that,’ she said.

‘It was a really well organised GAA Miler Meet, like the Monument Mile, and I want to thank the Officials and the volunteers because without them we’d not have an event.’

Grant Baillie‘s 8:46.77 looks really impressive in the M40 category and M65 Paul Forbes set himself up for the World Masters in Finland last this month with a 2:16 run over 800m.

Hannah Cameron won the main women’s 800m race but was just outside the 2:06 being asked for the prize pot (with 2:07.65). It was a similar story for Livingston’s Andrew McGill (1:51.93) with 1:51.00 being asked.

‘I’m pleased with the run because it was a PB by five hundredths and it was a wee bit windy,’ said Andrew, who is the grandson of Olympian Frank Clement.

‘Frank? He’s a huge inspiration and source of advice to me. He’s never pushy and it modest about his own achievements.

‘But it’s great for me to tap into that kind of knowledge and as I get a bit faster myself I’ve started watching back some of his big races over 1500m. I like to think I could hang with them for a couple of laps now whereas a while ago it would have been 100m!’

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OUR U20 AND U17 SCOTTISH 3000M MEDALLISTS (PHOTOS BY BOBBY GAVIN)

U17 Women – winner Amy Teasdale of Kilbarchan AAc is joined by Caitlyn Heggie of Ross County (silver, on left) and Caitlyn Christie of Falkirk Vics

U20 winner Hannah Ryding of Giffnock North is joined by silver medallist Meredith Reid of Inverclyde AC with Natash Phillips of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers (not in photo) taking third

U20 title winner Tendai Nyabadza of Harmeny AC is flanked by Fraser Gilmour of VP-Glasgow (silver, on left) and bronze medallist Conan Harper of Giffnock North 

U17 Men’s winner Reiss Marshall of Fife AC is joined by Jamie Phillips of Kilmarnock Harriers (silver, on left) and bronze medallist Hamish McKay of Aberdeen AAC)

 

Tags: Crownpoint, GAA Miler Meet