Scotland team for Senior Home International and Junior Leagues up and running

Tuesday 30th April 2024

Enter Glas Tulaichean race

Nine of our top hill runners have been picked to represent Scotland at the Senior Home International.

Scotland host the race this year at the Glas Tulaichean event organised by Dundee Hawkhill Harriers at Spittal of Glenshee.

It is an uphill only race which covers 7k and 670m of climb.

And we are delighted to name two very strong Scotland teams with a number of GB and NI internationals involved therein.

Scotland Women:

Scout Adkin (Moorfoot Runners); Kirsty Dickson (Carnethy); Catriona Graves (Highland HR); Naomi Lang (Carnethy);  Pippa Carcas (Edinburgh AC) U23

Scotland Men:

Rory Abernethy (Ochil HR); Jamie Crowe (Central); Ross Gollan (East Sutherland); Robbie Simpson (Deeside)

Naomi Lang (left) and Scout Adkin (centre) will race for Scotland in the Senior Home International

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Junior Hill Leagues up and running . . .

We’re now two races into this year’s junior hill running leagues, for U15/U17s and U20s, which are once again supported by The Crieff Hydro Family of Hotels.

A record turnout at the Shettleston-organised Dumyat Junior Races on May 21  saw 98 runners from U9s up to U20s taking part over routes of varying lengths and vertical ascent.

There were valuable category wins, and 25 League points, for Harmeny’s Rachel Caves (U15G), Connor Birnie from Glasgow Tri (U15B), Eliza Konig from Fife (U17W) and Alasdair Maclean of Giffnock (U17M), who claimed the victory by a tiny margin after a mighty tussle with Harmeny’s Dan McGuire on the steep and technical descent.

The following weekend the East Lomond races, organised by Fife AC, saw four different winners claim the maximum points.

For the U15 girls, Lucia Connell of Strathearn was first across the line followed by Anna Meek of Inverness.

Seb Darlow and Charlie Dalgliesh made it a Gala one-two in the U15 boys race and Ava Richardson made it an excellent day for the Borders club by winning the U17 women’s race ahead of Eliza Konig.

Dan McGuire went one better than at Dumyat in the U17 men’s race taking the win by a comfortable margin.

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We are also two races into the new U20 league.

Birnam in Perthshire was the venue for the season opener with the U20s racing alongside the seniors in the Birnam Hill Classic. Wins for Strathearn’s Andrew Grant and Rachel Giffen of Springburn got their league challenges off to the best possible start.

Race number two was all the way down in Keswick, as a strong contingent of U20s took on the best of the home nations as they sought selection for the GB team to go to the Euro Off-Road Running Champs in Annecy, France.

There were some excellent performances on the steep slopes of Skiddaw from the young Scots with Angus Wright of Stirling University securing the overall win and automatic selection for Team GB and Kilmarnock’s Jonathan Downey coming home fourth overall and second Scot.

For the women, Isla Paterson of Gala was third in her trial race and gained the maximum 25 league points as first Scot home.

League standings (top 3 per category) after 2 of the 8 rounds:

U15 Boys

1 Seb Darlow (Gala) 45pts; 2 Charlie Dalgliesh (Gala) 35; 3 Connor Birnie (Glasgow Tri) 25

U15 Girls 

1 Lucia Connell (Strathearn) 42; 2 Anna Meek (Inverness) 40; 3 Thea Harris (Moorfoots) 32

U17 Men 

1 Dan McGuire (Harmeny) 45; 2 Andrew Shorts (Kilbarchan) 34; 3 Calum McBean (Strathearn) 27

U17 Women

1 Eliza Konig (Fife) 45; 2 Ava Richardson (Gala) 42; 3 Sky Simpson (Inverness) 34

U20 Men

1 Andrew Grant (Strathearn) 38; 2 Angus Wright (Edinburgh University) 25; 3 Aedan McGonigle (U/A) and Jonathon Downey (Kilmarnock)  20

U20 Women

1 Isla Paterson (Gala) and Rachel Giffen (Springburn) 25; Katie Meek (Inverness) 20

Full standings available on the Scottish Hill Runners Website 

The next race in the U20 League is on Wednesday 8 May at Dumyat (above Stirling University)

More info

The U15/U17 league moves on to Broughton Heights near Biggar on Saturday 11 May

More info

Note that the Broughton race is also the Scotland team selection race for this year’s U18 World Cup being held this year in June in Spain

More info

With thanks to Phil Mestecky

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Tags: hill running, Jamie Crowe, Junior Hill League, Robbie Simpson, Scout Adkin