Scotland hill runners land SHI silvers as Scout wins gold

Monday 23rd May 2022

Scotland teams at the Senior Home International (photo by Bill Breckenridge)

Report by Angela Mudge

Scotland’s men and women both finished second team in the Senior Home International in Alva on Sunday.

Scout Adkin (Moorfoot) repeated her performance in the uphill only trial on Friday night to win the SHI (and trial for the European Off-Road Running Championships) by a large margin.

Andy Douglas (Invercylde) had a close batter with Chris Richards (England) over this fast course of 18km with 970m ascent and descent. Chris edged home to take the win and Andy eight seconds back in second.

Ross Gollan (Shettleston) put in a strong performance to finish fifth after recent injury problems. John Yells (Lochaber) was next home in seventh with Alastair Graves (Ochils) completing the team in his first Scotland international in 12^th.

In the women’s event Catriona Graves (Carnethy) ran well to finish fifth. In their first internationals Catriona MacDonald (Bellahouston RR) and Alice Goodall had solid runs to finish sixth and seventh respectively and complete the counting team.

British Athletics website report

Scout Adkin on her way to victory on Sunday (photo by Mark Johnston)

Top 3 Women at the SHI, European Up & Down Trial at Alva 1 Scout Adkin, Ambleside 2 Kate Avery, Shilden 3 Holly Page, Edinburgh Uni, Team – 1 England 2 Scotland 3 N Ireland @scotathletics @mountainrunuk @FellrunningUK @amblesideac @jacob_adkin pic.twitter.com/ryNDroxIXG

— Mark Johnston (@runnermdj) May 23, 2022

In the junior race (which was also a trial for the International Youth Cup) the runners battled it out over two laps of the Nebit, 5.3km with 370m of ascent/descent.

Isla Hedley (Fife AC) had a great run to finish second and Fraser Gilmour (VP-Glasgow) finished in fourth in a very strong junior men’s field.

Angus Wright (Team Lothian) finished first Scot and gained automatic selection along with Isla for the Youth Cup in June.

Top 3 Men at the SHI, European Up & Down Trial at Alva 1 Chris Richards, Helm Hill 2 Andy Douglas, Inverclyde 3 Max Nicholls, Tonbridge Teams – 1 England 2 Scotland 3 Wales @scotathletics @mountainrunuk @FellrunningUK @HelmHill @andoug_run pic.twitter.com/XPG3mwhWPo

— Mark Johnston (@runnermdj) May 23, 2022

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Jacob and Scout Adkin (Moorfoot Runners) were both triumphant in Fridays uphill only trial at Ben Lomond.

The race was shortened slightly, with runners stopping at the summit ridge rather than at the trig point. Conditions were appalling for May, with hail on the summit and high winds. The hill was shrouded in cloud limiting visibility to a few meters.

Other Scots performing well in the senior event were Kirsty Dickson (Carnethy HRC) in third place and Holly Page (Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds) in fourth. In the men’s event Andy Douglas (Inverclyde) came home in fifth.

The juniors raced to 600m and also had to contend with driving rain on the lower slopes. In the junior women’s race Isla Hedley (Fife AC) finished strongly in third place with Louisa Brown (Garscube) 20 seconds behind to take fourth.

A big thank you to all the marshals who helped at the weekend and special thanks to the marshals who braved the adverse conditions on Ben Lomond on Friday night. Hail, wind and freezing conditions were definitely not what they signed up for . . .

Tags: Andy Douglas, hill running, Isla Hedley, Jacob Adkin, Scout Adkin, Senior Home International