Hill running: Medal moments at Junior Champs and East Districts

Monday 23rd June 2025

U20 Men’s champion Rowan Taylor of Lasswade is joined by fellow medallists Lachlan and Kaeden Thomas of Ross County AC (photo by Neil Renton)

By Phil Mestecky

With temperatures in the mid 20s, a record turnout and the steep Eildon Hills in front of them, hill runners had their work cut out on Saturday at our Scottish Junior Champs.

In the U13 Boys race, Strathearn’s Harris Turnbull quickly established a lead on the climb, with Lasswade’s Gregor Wright in hot pursuit.

Harris then consolidated his advantage with a rapid descent to the finish with Gregor taking silver and Connor McNamee claiming the third podium spot for Motherwell AC.

For the girls, the local club, Gala took two of the three medals on offer with a win for Rose Davidson in a new course record time while Molly Trewartha took bronze. Central’s Annie Arnott finished strongly to come through for the silver in the latter stages of the race.

Francis Ovani-Finnegan of Lasswade has been in fine form on the hills so far this year and he duly extended his streak of wins in the SA Junior Hill Running League to five with a dominant display in the U15 Boys championship race.

Harmeny filled the other two podium places with Rory Beattie taking silver and Yuen Sham Lam winning bronze in his first year in this category.

In the U15 Girls race, we had clubs from the North, West and East sharing out the medals. Ella Hunter of Central AC attacked the climb hard and quickly established a good advantage over Inverness athlete Niamh Doorley and Florence Skinner of Garscube who were neck and neck on the ascent.

On the way down, Florence finally managed to break clear to claim silver in a very tight finish but there was no catching Ella who won by a clear 46 second margin.

Photos by Neil Renton

The U17 Men’s race was tense and tight affair. After the first lap, you could throw a blanket over the top four runners. On the second climb, Ben Hodson of Stewartry and Central’s Joel Gillan broke clear and opened up a gap on the chasing duo of Billy Sutherland of Ross County and Jack Foley of Moorfoots.

Gradually, Ben began to eke out a lead on Joel and was able to hold onto it to the line and, in the process, post a new course record. Joel held onto second while Jack’s superior descending enabled him to get past Billy to take a surprise bronze.

In the U17 Women’s race, Anna Meek of Inverness was pushed hard by Lucia Connell of Strathearn but, on the key second climb, finally established some daylight. By the line she was 30 seconds clear and smashed the course record by a minute and 24 seconds with Lucia well within the former record, too. Third place went to Anna Elizabeth Ross of Victoria Park City of Glasgow.

In the afternoon, the U20s joined the Seniors for a tour of all three of the Eildon Hills. With six out of the top 10 men and four of the top five women coming from the junior ranks they certainly made an impact.

Rowan Taylor of Lasswade and Emily Atkinson of Haddington were our U20 champions with Lachlan and Kaeden Thomas of Ross County and Katie Meek of Inverness and Hania Czebrezcuk of Aberdeen picking up silvers and bronzes respectively.

Podium Results:

U13B

1 Harris Turnbull, Strathearn; 2 Gregor Wright, Lasswade; 3 Connor McNamee, Motherwell

U13G;

1 Rose Davidson, Gala (Course Record); 2 Annie Arnott, Central; 3 Molly Trewartha, Gala

U15B

1 Francis Ovani-Finnegan, Lasswade; 2 Rory Beattie, Harmeny; 3 Yuen Shan Lam, Harmeny

U15G

1 Ella Hunter, Central; 2 Florence Skinner, Garscube; 3 Niamh Doorley, Inverness

U17M

1 Ben Hodson, Stewartry (Course Record); 2 Joel Gillan, Central; 3 Jack Foley, Moorfoots

U17W

1 Anna Meek, Inverness (Course Record); 2 Lucia Connell, Strathearn; 3 Anna Elizabeth Ross, Victoria Park City of Glasgow

U20M

1 Rowan Taylor, Lasswade; 2 Lachlan Thomas, Ross County; 3 Kaeden Thomas, Ross County

U20W

1 Emily Atkinson, Haddington; 2 Katie Meek, Inverness; 3 Hania Czebrezcuk, Aberdeen

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Photos by Neil Renton

The East District Hill Running Championships were held on Saturday 21 June on a blustery day at Melrose, in combination with the Eildon Three Hills race.

The rain stayed off until most of the runners were in and didn’t dampen the atmosphere.

Colin Donnelly (Cambuslang) took M60 Gold, with Paul Lockie (Teviotdale Harriers) and Andrea Orduna (Gala Harriers) taking the M50 honours.

In the W40 category, Naomi Dijkman (Lauderdale Limpers) won gold, followed by Monica Thomson (Strathearn Harriers) and Jill Dowse (Strathearn Harriers). On the M40 men’s side, it was David Carter Brown (Moorfoot) with gold, followed by Iain Stewart (Gala Harriers) and Graeme Warren (Strathearn Harriers).

Moray Pryde (Lothian) won Senior Men’s gold followed by Angus Wright (Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds) and Rowan Taylor (Lasswade). Emily Atkinson (Haddington) won Senior Women’s gold, followed by Hania Czebreszuk and Kirsty Rankine.

HBT won the men’s team gold and Gala Harriers took the women’s team gold.

With thanks to Iain Whiteside

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Tags: Eildon, Scottish Junior Hill Champs