Sunshine and fast times at GAA Miler Meet in Glasgow amid PBs

Saturday 3rd June 2023

Kane Elliott on his way to 800m win at the GAA Miler Meet with five men sub 1:51 in that race (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Results on Power of 10

The track and field season is well and truly up and running now and the feelgood factor in the Scottish endurance community was almost tangible in Glasgow on Friday night.

That’s arguably been the case for the past eight or nine years since the 2014 Commonwealth Games as athletes and coaches continue to inspire each other and momentum builds.

Strong performances in Manchester last weekend were backed up at Crownpoint as the Glasgow Athletics Association Miler Meet over 800m and 3000m, including our Scottish U20 and U17 Champs in the longer distance.

As evidence, the prize pot put up by the GAA and a tempting £650 took a hit as a number of athletes made the standards asked.

There were a couple of Commonwealth Youth Games standards as Amy Teasdale of Kilbarchan AAC, over 3000m and to win our U17 gold, and Holly Ovens of Fife AC, over 800m, hit the required times.

And there was a Scottish best at U15 level as Angus Wilkinson of East Kilbride AC came up with a superb run of 1:55.80. Congratulations to Angus, his family, his coach and all at EKAC.

GB and Scotland international Kane Elliott set the tone early in the evening with a run of 1:49.13 to win the top Men’s 800m heat from Seamus Mackay and Andrew McGill, who both went inside 1:50.

The prize pot standard was 1:51 and Sam Brown and Jamie Phillips also bettered that time (although not all these athletes land shares).

More than two hours later, Scotland international Hannah Cameron had a good run for 2:04.75 to get inside the Women’s standard of sub 2:06.

Photos by Bobby Gavin on Facebook

In the top 3000m race, there was a good battle between Giffnock North AC duo, Duncan Robinson and teenager Conan Harper.

Duncan duly pushed clear on the last 600m or so to win in 8:03.83 with Conan at 8:04.78. Both of those runs well inside the 8:10 asked for the prize pot.

The top Scottish women’s performers over 3000m were Sarah Calvert, Sarah Tait and Lynn McKenna. There were PBs there for Calvert and McKenna at 9:17 and 9:27 respectively.

In our championship events, spread across these paced races, the medal contests were hard-fought.

The Men’s U20 3000 podium featured:

1 Conan Harper (Giffnock North) 8:04.78; 2 Corey Campbell (Team East Lothian) 8:11.41; 3 Fraser Gilmour (Kilbarchan AAC) 8:17.30.

The Men’s U17 3000m podium featured:

1 Andrew McWilliam (Lasswade AAC) 8:38.69; 2 Jamie Connor (East Kilbride AC) 8:42.37; 3 James Alexander (Garscube Harriers) 8:59.21

The U20 Women’s 3000m podium featured:

1 Jess Bailey (Leven) 9:22.63; 3 Natasha Phillips (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers) 9:33.16; 3 Catriona Kane (Central AC) 10:22.97

The U17 Women’s 3000m podium featured:

1 Amy Teasdale (Kilbarchan AAC) 9:36.85; 2 Millie McClelland-Brooks (Inverclyde AC) 9:41.55; 3 Caitlyn Heggie (Ross County AC) 9:57.25.