Long jumpers score highly as Jaguars fight for NAL points in London

Monday 8th July 2024

Photos by Gordon Innes

Report by Moira Maguire

It is always going to be tough for Glasgow Jaguars in the Premier Division of the National Athletics League Premier Division and match two saw a sixth place finish behind five london-based clubs.

Thames Valley; Harrow; Blackheath and Bromley; Woodford Green and Essex Ladies and Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow all fielded full strength teams while for the Jaguars it was a frustrating if solid result.

In fact, when the Officials points were added Glasgow moved up to a fifth place finish for match two – so a big thank you to our dedicated volunteer Officials for their support!

Going into the final fixture in Birmingham on August it is going to be tight to retain that all-important sixth place in the League with Birchfield having home advantage.

There were some stellar performances from Glasgow Jaguars athletes on a day where the weather failed to spoil the show (although a monsoon early afternoon tried its best).

Photos from Gordon Innes on Facebook

Stephen Mackenzie on his debut for the team and in his first outdoor competition of the season won the A Long Jump with 7.49m while Murray Fotheringham won the B event with 7.35.

In the women’s event Hannah Wallace was close to her PB set last weekend with a 5.85m for fourth place in the A string.

Lucy Davison (11.11m) was pleased with her first outdoor Triple Jump of the season in her first match for Glasgow Jaguars.

Sara Barbour was on PB form again in the Pole Vault, taking her PB of 3.90m, set in Match 1 at Eton to 3.92m for third in the A event, while Eve McAllum took her outdoor PB to 3.12m for a win in the B event. And it was a third place for Andrew McFarlane (4.60m) in the men’s event.

Matthew Tait is rounding into some consistent form in the High Jump and an excellent 1.97m clearance gave him fourth place in the A event and Amit Kumar was second in the B event with 1.92m.

Beth Ansell (2.08.15) was an A string winner in the 800m in her first run for the team this season and it was a fourth place finish for Caitlin Purcell (2.16.32) on her debut for the team in the B event.

Twin sister Kirsty Purcell had a baptism of fire in a strong 1500m but ran a season’s best of 4.42.58, With the standards very high points were hard to come by but Carolyn Cameron’s third place in the B 3K in 10.20.78 was a PB.

On his debut for the team Patrick Barnes was rewarded with a PB (4.05.64) in the 1500m having already run the 800 and Ross O’Brien also did the double.

Sam Fernando may have enjoyed the slightly shorter 2000m steeplechase, but he still managed to get his 3000m in, doubling up in that event.

Strong runs from Lauren Stoddart (7.15.45) to finish second in the A race and a win for Alicia Paton (7.16.86) in the B event continued the tradition of high scoring for Glasgow Jaguars athletes in this event.

Fresh from a PB in the British Championships in the 400m hurdles Bradley Francis rewrote those figures again with a brilliant run of 51.79 to finish second in the A event and Connor Henderson’s long career over the barriers came to an end with a second place in the B event in 54.57.

Both men combined with Lorne Kerr¸ who had finished a fine second in the B 400m (56.75) and Kati Hulme to bring the baton home for a fine second place in the B event of the mixed 4×400 relay.

Kathryn Christie, (56.24) for fifth in the A 400m combined with Kelsey Stewart, Ben Heron third in the B 400m in a PB of 48.82 and Calum McKenzie to finish fourth in the A event with an inaugural club record of 3.29.71.

It was PB time again for Scott Connal, who lowered his PB set in Match 1 to 14.20 to take second place in the A 110m hurldes, and Euan Wallace (16.14) finished a fine third in the B race. Erin Campbell was pleased to record a season’s best of 14.06 for fourth.

After his win in Eton, it was a fine second place for Andrew Peck (48.36m) in the A discus and a fine fourth place in the B event for Logan Mitchell on his debut.

Dawn Russell was disappointed with her javelin performance but her fourth place in the A event and Haley Elliot’s fourth place in the B event kept the points coming in.

The sprints proved to be ‘hot’, and Dean Patterson ran a strong race to finish in fourth place in the A 200 (21.11) just short of his PB.

A fourth place in the 4×100 for Ethan Pottie, Murray Fotheringham, Dean Patterson and Struan Linton in 40.90 was a club record and tops the current Scottish rankings.

Erin Campbell, Lucy Fraser and Jenna Hilditch both making their team debut and Charlotte Bevan matched the men with a fourth place in the short relay.

*The team are indebted to Glasgow Life for their support and to Joma for their kit sponsorship.

Team managers will be looking at selecting the strongest team for the final fixture this season and all Jaguars members will be asked to confirm their availability for selection for this important match.