Scottish 5K Champs preview

Wednesday 1st May 2019

‘Scottish 5K Champs depth is amazing’ – Peter Fleming

GB cross country internationals Mhairi Maclennan and Kris Jones are among the leading medal contenders for an eagerly-awaited Scottish 5K Champs on Friday evening.

The Run and Become event at Silverknowes, along the shores of the Forth, once again sold out rapidly with the field limited to 600 runners.

And, at the top end, there could be thrilling battles for the main individual prizes as well as the team medals.

Chasing PBs is always a widespread target, too, with the course invariably conducive to good performances and this year there are also additional Masters categories with Scottish Championship medals in 10-year bands from V40.

Run and Become and Sri Chinmoy event website page (with more details on the event)

Maclennan starred at the World Cross in Denmark a few weeks ago while Jones had an injury lay-off after his fine showings at the Euro Cross and the Great Stirling XC and their presence will give added quality. Kris in fact won this title two years ago.

The Women’s medals should be keenly contested with the likes of Morag Millar (Central AC) and Fionnuala Ross (Shettleston) in fine form after recent wins at Balmoral and the Scottish 10,000m Champs respectively.

Add a raft of Scotland internationals like Elspeth Curran (Kilbarchan), Jenny Bannerman (Inverness), Jo Williams (Lothian) and Anna Macfadyen (Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds) as well as the likes of Freya Ross (Falkirk Vics), Fiona Matheson (Falkirk Vics) and Megan Crawford (Fife AC) and top ten places should be very competitive.

Annabel Simpson has won the 5K gold the past two years but misses out on Friday with University exam commitments

Road Running and Cross Country Commission archive on 5K Champs

Similarly, Lachlan Oates (Shettleston) is looking to add to recent title wins and should challenge Jones along with the likes of Calum McKenzie (Corstorphine AAC), James Donald (Dundee Hawkhill) and Michael Christoforou (Edinburgh AC).

The trio of Cameron Strachan (Metro Aberdeen), Alastair Hay (Central AC) and Kenny Wilson (Moray Road Runners) may well reprise their 5K battle from Run Balmoral to get in contention.

In terms of the team race, it is worth noting that U20 athletes count for the Senior teams as well as for the U20 teams. The U20 category this year is for those born between 1/9/98 and 31/8/01 and we would stress that U17 athletes are not eligible for championship medals.

Only A teams can win team medals, B teams cannot win team medals.

At Masters level, there has been a change for scottishathletics road events with individual medals now on offer as a 1-2-3 in 10-year brackets – at V40, V50, V60 etc.