There was a hoard of gold, silver and bronze for Fife AC athletes at the East of Scotland Track & Field Championships at Meadowbank Stadium last weekend.

Katie Aitken and Ailsa Cruickshanks in action over 1500m at East T & F championships.

Having limited her 2012 appearances to a handful of cross-country events, GB under 23 internationalist Jenny Tan, Newton of Falkland, contested her first track race since 2011. A winning 58.1 seconds in the senior women’s 400m final served as a warm up for the 800m final won in 2 minutes 12.70 seconds. Kirkcaldy junior Stephanie Pennycook took the under 20 women’s title in 2:21.45 having earlier won the under 20 women’s 1500m clocking 4:56.78.

Further gold for Kirkcaldy athletes followed as Bruce Millar excelled in the under 18 men’s 1500m with a winning 4 minutes 07.1 seconds. Bruce also celebrated double gold taking the 800m title in a personal best 1:58.7.

Yet another Fife double came in the under 14 boy’s category where Adam Scott, Kirkcaldy, won the 800m in 2 minutes 13.57 seconds following on from victory over 1500m timed at 4 minutes 25.9 seconds.

The golden haul was completed as Jack Robb, Glenrothes, won the under 18’s 400m with a personal best time of 51.92 seconds.

Other results include: Under 20. 800m 2nd Laura Gibson 2:30.18. Under 18. 1500m 2nd Annabel Simpson 5:03.84. Under 16. 800m. 8th Katy Aitken 2:40.85. 1500m 3rd Ailsa Cruickshanks 5:17.50, 5th Katy Aitken 5:22.17. Under 14. 8th Abbie Steggles 2:40.85 (2:35.07 heat). 1500m 9th Louise McCullagh 5:19.67.

Under 20 Men. 800m 3rd Euan Berry 2:05.05, Cameron Thomson 2:10.5 heat. 1500m 4th Berry 4:21.42. 7th Liam Sleigh 4:40.96. Under 18. 100m 3rd Kieran McGhie 12.21. 200m. 4th McGhie 24.90. 800m. 8th James Pennycook 2:16. (2:08 heat). Under 16. 200m 8th Callum Sleigh 27.46. 1500m Stuart Aitken 5:19. Under 14. 100m 6th heat Ty Walker 14.80. Long Jump Walker 3.68m.

 

Fife AC hosted the inaugural Scottish Trail Championships at Falkland last Saturday over a testing route through Falkland Forest.

Gauldry athlete Fiona Bracegirdle excelled to place 8th in the women’s 10km race leading the quartet of Hilary Ritchie 31st, Margaret Martin 33rd and Sandra Tulloch 38th to team bronze.

Fife AC junior Zach Delaney, Cellardyke, was equally impressive in the men’s 15km event placing 18th overall claiming the Scottish under 20 men’s gold medal.

A taster junior 5km race was on the programme where Ailsa Cruickshanks finished first girl while Logan Rees placed second to VP Glasgow’s Craig Jardine.

Results: 15km 1 W Tafese (Ron Hill Cambuslang) 47.27 , 2 J Lilly (RH Cambuslang) 48.30, 3 S Trainer (Greenock Glenpark) 48.42, 4 K Greig (Forres) 49.01, 5 B Hukins (RH Cambuslang) 50.27, 6 R Gilroy (RH Cambuslang) 50.53….18 Zach Delaney (Fife AC) 1st junior. 55.57, 20 J Blair (EAC) 2nd veteran. 56.00, 25 J Blair (EAC) 1st over 50 57.36, 27 Jez Tomlinson (Fife AC) 2nd over 50. 58.29, 33 Andy Brierley 59.38, 43 Bryce Aitken 63.10, 47 Calum Harvie 64.50, 48 Dave Cowan 65.47, 54 Eddie Sanders 68.10, 68 Brian R Smith 74.21, 79 Stewart Davidson 89.23. 63 M Liberman (Lothian RC) 1st over 60. 67.47. Teams RH Cambuslang 35, 2 Edinburgh AC 95, 3 Gala H. 196, 4 Carnegie 215, 5 Fife AC 216.

Women’s 10km. 1 E Mooney (Lothian RC) 39.39, 2 J Emsley (Central AC) 40.48, 3 M Davie (Forres) 41.47, 4 S Inglis (Lothian RC) 42.53, 5 J Henderson (Helensburgh) 1st veteran. 43.01, 6 J Thom (EAC) 43.11, 7 S Ridley (EAC) 2nd veteran. 43.28, 8 Fiona Bracegirdle (Fife AC) 43.59…11 O Dunnett (EAC) 1st junior. 45.14, 12 C Reid (Dundee RR) 2nd junior. 45.56, 14 S Ramage (EAC) 1st over 50. 46.02, 31 Hilary Ritchie 50.36, 33 Margaret Martin 50.53, 38 Sandra Tulloch 52.31, 44 M Fleming (Carnegie) 1st over 60. 56.00, 51 Rosie Lee 63.02, 53 Sue Whisler 66.55. Teams. 1 Edinburgh AC 38, 2 Gala H. 85, 3 Fife AC 110, 4 Motherwell 125, 5 Carnegie 127, 6 Anster Haddies 179, 7 Kirkintilloch Olympians 189.

Junior 5km Girls: 1 Ailsa Cruickshanks (Fife AC) 23.42, 2 Laura Keay (Kirkintilloch Olymp.) 28.41.

Junior 5km Boys: 1 Craig Jardine (VP Glasgow) 17,22, 2 Logan Rees (Fife AC) 17.35, 3 Ronan McInstray (Anster Haddies) 20.49, 4 Sam Fernando (Fife AC) 21.41, 5 Calum Campbell (Corstorphine) 23.23.

 

Way out west in Colorado, Andrew Lemoncello represented the UK trio at the Bolder Boulder 10km contested by a field of 30,000 runners. Andrew placed 21st amongst the elite field clocking 31 minutes 37.59 seconds, the second UK runner home. Allan Kiprono (29.28) led Kenya to team victory ahead of Ethiopia and the USA with the UK in 7th.

 

Sophie Mullins' comeback continued at the BUPA Great Manchester 10km timed at 41.31 amongst the field of thousands.

 

Kirkcaldy runner Derek Adamson completed last Sunday’s Edinburgh Marathon in 4 hours 11 minutes 34 seconds. Kirsty Hamilton, St Andrews, placed 10th female in the associated half marathon timed at 88 minutes 55 seconds. Super chef Morag Hamilton served up a sub two hour clocking with her 1:59.12.

 

Veteran athletes bloomed at the Dundee Botanical Gardens 5km Race last week filling the top five places amongst 75 runners.

Dundee Hawkhill’s Roger van Gompel was a clear winner clocking 17 minutes 18 seconds over the testing course, thirty-one seconds clear of Neil Young (Fife AC) – 17.59.

Other results:- Roy McLachlan 23.25, Stewart Davidson 24.24, Nick Brian 25.09, Graham Bennison 27.28, Bob Thornton 27.30, Eliza McLachlan 28.17.

 

Former Scottish junior hill internationalist Scott Cassidy, recently returned from army service, was a clear winner of the Beveridge Park 5km series at Kirkcaldy last Friday, the tenth year of the race..

Scott covered the 2.5 lap hilly circuit around the park in 16 minutes 53 seconds followed by Kirkcaldy athlete Liam Hutson – 17.25.

Perth Road Runner Julie Ramsay placed 24th overall, first woman timed at 20 minutes 47 seconds.

Leading Results: 1 S Cassidy (Fife AC) 16.53, 2 L Hutson (Fife AC) 17.25, 3 T Lawrence (Carnegie) 1st veteran. 17.34, 4 B Gibson (Dundee Hawkhill) 17.53, 5 S Robertson (Perth RR) 18.01, 6 K Whiteford (Peebles) 2nd veteran. 18.08, 7 B Cruickshank (Fife AC) 3rd veteran. 18.09, 8 N McLachlan (Pitreavie) 18.13, 9 S Borland (Dundee Hawkhill) 1st over 50. 18.17, 10 J Mill (Dundee RR) 18.29, 11 K Anthony (Fife AC) 2nd over 50. 18.51, 12 T Martin (Fife AC) 1st over 60. 18.53.

Women. 1 J Ramsay (Perth RR) 20.74, 2 M Dawson (Unatt.) 24.02, 3 M McCrae (Perth RR) 24.54.

 

St Andrews Brian Thomson won the latest race in the Parkrun 5km series at Craigtoun park timed at 17 minutes 50 seconds with Crail junior Ryan Brocklebank in 4th/1st junior timed at a personal best 19.10.

 

The Chariots of Fire 5km is this Sunday 2nd June at the West Sands, St Andrews starting at 11.30am. An under 11’s one mile starts at 11am. Entries taken on the day.

Also this Sunday 2nd June. Under 15/under 13 Track League - Inverness. A coach leaves Kirkcaldy High School at 8.14am calling at Lomond Centre, Glenrothes 8.30am, Cupar Railway Station 8.45am and then Station Park, St Andrews 9.00am. Approx 9.15am also at Caird Park. Contact Elspeth Wallace for more details - 01334 474561

The third race in the Mid-Week Summer Series is the Hill of Tarvit 5.5 mile Race on Wed. 5th June. Starting 7.30pm. Entries on the night at Ceres Church Hall. Donations to the post-race tea appreciated.

 

Members might want to compete in the Milnathort Dash 4.8 mile on Thursday 20th June. We dominated this event last year winning both men's and women's team prizes plus a host of individual prizes.

Graham Bennison