FIVE personal bests in seven events helped an East Lothian athlete to lift the Scottish Heptathlon title.
Adam Hoole was among those competing at the 4J Combined Events Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
The 19-year-old has had a remarkable start to the year and took part in his first senior competition, the English Heptathlon Championships, at the beginning of the year.
He placed fifth overall and first under-23 athlete, setting four personal bests – in the 60m, 60m hurdles, shot put and the pole vault – along the way to finish on 5,336 points.
Over the weekend, he was again in fine form as he scored 5,582 points and up to third on the Scottish all-time leaderboard.
Hoole’s training schedule is extremely disciplined, with six days out of seven focused on sleep, fuelling and training.
Competing in the heptathlon – which involves 60m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60m hurdles, pole vault and 1,000m – at the senior level is a lifestyle commitment.
Hoole, who lives in Musselburgh, is very appreciative of his coaching support and said: “I work well with coach Jamie Bowie and I would like to thank him for stepping up in co-ordinating and coaching me as a multi-eventer at Team East Lothian.
“It was great to have him there support and coach me alongside some of my other specialist coaches.”
It has been an exciting start to the year for the athlete from Team East Lothian, as he now sets his sights on the British Championships in Birmingham on February 25 and 26 – with a podium place the aim.
Hoole also has ambition for the longer term, with setting a new Scottish heptathlon record and competing in the 2026 Commonwealth Games amongst his goals.
Also competing at the 4J Studios Combined Events Championships were sisters Morven and Branna Kenny.
The duo were taking part in the under-13 girls’ pentathlon and their five events were 60m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800m.
Morven, representing Team East Lothian, was in fourth place until the final event of the competition – the 800m – and had a very strong run with a PB time of 2m36.12s to place her in silver medal position.
Younger sister Branna, competing for Haddington, finished in a commendable ninth place (out of 17).
Also enjoying success at the Emirates Arena over the weekend were the under-15 boys competing in the National Relay Championships.
Matthew Connolly, Sam Renton, Ross Dargo and Ben Anderson ran a lightning-quick time of 1m52.63s to secure a spot in the final, which will take place this month.
Also achieving a place in the final in the 4x200m were Musselburgh under-17 men – Salnan Alman, Jim Henry, Femi Simpson and Jake Nicol – as they clocked 1m39.17s.
The senior men from Team East Lothian finished in eighth place in the 4x200m relay event.
Euan Grierson, Bailey Crawford, Isaac Stevenson and Gregory Hoggan together clocked a time of 1m38.38s.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here