Marathon chat from Sara and all our 2023 Scottish Champs medals revealed

Wednesday 26th April 2023

Sara Green wins gold at the Lindsays Masters XC and has now added the Scottish Marathon women’s title (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Scottish Medals in London as Luke and Sara lead home fields

Masterful Sara Green claimed gold in the Scottish Marathon Champs at the TCS London Marathon . . . as she improved her PB by 20 minutes!

The Gala Harriers athlete crowned her superb form of recent months with a run of 2:44.41 and has thanks the athletics community in Scotland for their support.

Green highlighted the ‘community spirit’ in the sport in a special interview (with our own Sue Gyford) as she identified superb role models among our Masters – with Fiona Matheson in particular an inspiration.

‘The last time I did a marathon was supposed to be my one and only marathon in 2019,’ recalled Sara, who is coached by Neil Renton and took gold in our Scottish Champs (all medallists including teams listed further down this story)

‘The last one was 3:04 and I think I was really pleased with that – I was really happy to get close to the three hour mark. Probably in the back of my mind I did have that ‘Hmm, is there a bit of unfinished business; could I go under three hours?’

‘But because I hadn’t enjoyed the experience, I was more like – ‘Maybe it is just not meant to be.’

‘This time, definitely, the target was the sub three and initially the target was to target 2.50.

‘Then, as the winter progressed and I’ve done the Road Relays, The Tom Scott and XC, more recently we then looked again at timings and said ‘Right, seriously, we need to probably bring that down a bit and look at targeting  2:45′. So that was the goal and I’m thrilled with it.

‘The Masters scene in Scotland is absolutely incredible. So supportive, it’s such a great community.

‘Throughout the whole season, everything that I’ve been achieving it’s the Masters community more than anything that have been really supportive and are so excited about things I’ve achieved.

‘Fiona Matheson especially and we are frequently in contact. She’s just an incredible athlete and she’s just somebody who’s so inspirational and we will message back and forward if we’ve got races and I’ll wish her luck and she’s so modest as well.’

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Luke Caldwell and Weynay Ghebresilasie went 1-2 in London (photos by Athletics Images)

We are pleased to now confirm medallists in the Scottish Marathon Champs at London. The Masters medals are in 10-year bands and there are team golds for Shettleston Harriers in the men’s race and Dundee Road Runners in the women’s.

Medals will be issued as soon as possible.

Senior Men
1 Luke Caldwell (Dorking) 2:13:29; 2 Weynay Ghebresilasie (Shettleston) 2:15:41; 3 Fraser Stewart (Cambuslang) 2:18:34

Senior women
1 Sara Green (Gala) 2:44.41; 2 Natalie Wangler  2:51:09; 3 Rhian Dawes (VP Glasgow) 2:52:15

M40
1 Jack Letson (Inverclyde) 2:31:05; 2 Graeme Doig (PH Racing) 2.33.21; 3 Colin Thomas (Bella Harriers) 2:33:53

W40
1 Sara Green (Gala) 2:44:41; 2 Alison McNeilly (Dundee Road Runners) 2:58:53; Jane McNeilly (Bellahouston RR) 3:07.37

M50
1 Tommy Gavin (Edinburgh) 2:39:26; 2 Stuart Robertson (Perth Road Runners) 2:40:33; 3 Chris Walsh (Giffnock) 2:51:55

W50
1 Mairi Stanley (Garscube) 3:21:26; 2 Paula Ross (Highland HR) 3:27:51; 3 Claire McCormick (Bella Harriers) 3:32:51

M60
1 Alex Potter (VP-Glasgow) 3:08:00; 2 Jeremy Tomlinson (Fife) 3:19:51; 3 John Robertson (Peterhead) 3:27:17

W60

1 Jacqueline Heilbronn (Dundee RR) 3:48.49; 2 Helen Mackie (Forfar RR) 3:55:12; 3 Shirley Wieland (Bella RR) 4:18:47.

M70
1 Malcolm Hammond (PH Racing) 4:04:47; 2 Phill Thompson (Moray RR) 4:41:03

*These are still subject to checks and remember you need to be in-date member of scottishathletics to count in Scottish Champs events. Any queries please to events@scottishathletics.org.uk

I was diagnosed with #MS in 2022, couldn't feel my right leg which made it near impossible to run and I chucked it for a while.
Things slowly improved and today I ran my 3rd fastest marathon @LondonMarathon with 2.54
So glad I didn't give up.#LondonMarathon pic.twitter.com/Sk0tKl5Xmy

— iain nicholl (@nobbynic76) April 23, 2023

Men’s Teams

1 Shettleston Harriers
Weynay Ghebresilasie 2:15:41; Mark McKelvie 2:25:04; Fred Davies 2:27:27; Total 7:08:12

2 Edinburgh AC
Sage Pierce-Higgs 2:28:17; John Lenehan 2:32:34; Iain Macdonald 2:33:36; Total 7:34:27

3 Cambuslang Harriers
Fraser Stewart 2:18:34; Steven Fitzpatrick 2:32:39; Iain Murphy 2:54:05; Total 7:45:18

Women’s Teams

1 Dundee Road Runners
Alison McNeilly 2:58:53; Kate  McIntosh 3:05:22; Mairi Littleson 3:06:50; Total 9:11:05

2 Edinburgh AC
Maria Bolland 3:11:30; Isabella Ellwood 3:11:40; Jun Fu 3:16:26; Total 9:39:39

3 Garscube Harriers
Gillian Blee 3:08:38; Emily Tomasso 3:17:41; Mairi Stanley 3:21:41; Total 9:48.00

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Tags: Luke Caldwell, Sara Green, Scottish Marathon Champs, TCS London Marathon