Athletics: East Lothian success at Age Group Championships

The Age Group Championships, otherwise known as the Nationals, are a key event for many club athletes.

This year, Team East Lothian (TEL) had fantastic representation across all age groups, in both weekends.

The first weekend was in Grangemouth, with events for the under-17 and seniors age groups.

First out the blocks was Kerry Morris in the senior women’s 100m heat, where she ran 12.77s.

Jake Nicol (Musselburgh) was next on the track, competing in the under-17 men’s 100m and 200m, and progressing to the semi-finals in both events.

He was sixth in both the 100m and 200m semi-finals, clocking times of 11.68s and 24.20s respectively.

Aoife Swan-Ashe (left) took silver in the under-15 girls' 300m

Molly Curran (Musselburgh) was sprinting in both the under-17 women’s 100m and 200m.

She was seventh in both heats with times of 14.82s and 30.42s respectively.

Moving to the middle distance events, Fraser Lupton won his heat in the under-17 men’s 800m and cruised through to the final, where he took bronze in a time of 1m58.8s.

In the under-17 women’s event over the same distance, Cristina Elliot ran 2m49.72s in heat one.

Isaac Stevenson finished fifth in his 400m heat for under-17s’ men, and qualified for the finals with a time of 55s.

The teenager then turned in another fast performance of 55.03s to finish eighth in the final.

There was also plenty of action on the track in the 1,500m.

Eily Sinclair ran 5m10.29s and finished sixth place in her heat in the under-17 women’s category.

Aaron Mitchell and Ben Anderson were among those competing at the under-15 boys' event in Aberdeen

Team East Lothian had four athletes compete in the under-17 men’s 1,500m.

Ronnie Brown and Innes Wright placed third and fourth in their respective heats, progressing to the finals, while Charlie Copp was seventh in his heat with a time of 4m25.69s and Magnus Lawson was 10th in his heat, running 4m38.43s.

In the final, Brown finished in eighth place with a time of 4m7.03s and Wright placed 10th, with a 4:14.64 run.

Multi-eventer Adam Hoole tackled the senior men’s pole vault and took home silver, with 4.20m cleared.

Staying with the field events, Laura Buchan finished sixth in the senior women’s triple jump, with a mark of 10.82m.

She also competed in the senior women’s long jump, and finished in seventh place with a jump of 5.05m.

Kerry Morris was sixth in the senior women’s long jump (5.26m).

Cerys Wright, of Team East Lothian, took silver in the under-15 girls' 1,500m

In Aberdeen, it was the Age Group Championships for under-13s, under-15s and seniors athletes.

In the under-15 boys’ 100m, Ben Anderson ran 13.03s to finish fifth in his heat while Aaron Mitchell clocked 12.20s in his heat to go through to the final, where he finished sixth in a time of 12.14s.

He also competed in the under-15 boys’ 200m and qualified for the final before finishing sixth in the final in a time of 25.08s.

TEL also had representation in each of the under-15 boys’ 1,500m heats.

Howie Allison crossed the line in second place to qualify for the final, and Joe Smith, finishing seventh, also qualified for the final.

In the final, Allison won an impressive bronze medal with a time of 4m26.55s.

The under-15 girls’ 1,500m was a straight final and Cerys Wright had a brilliant run to win silver with a time of 4m46.65s. It is the third time she has won silver at the Nationals.

In the under-15 girls’ 300m, Aoife Swan-Ashe made short work of the heats and finished first to go safely through to the finals. She then ran 42.72s to win silver.

In the under-15 girls’ 800m, Freya Brown finished fourth in her heat and qualified for the finals.

Imogen Turner clinched gold in the under-13 girls' 1,500m

She ran very well in the final and finished in seventh place with a time of 2m30.28s.

In the under-15 boys’ 800m, Jake Page finished in fourth in his heat with a time of 2m21.9s.

Meanwhile, in the senior women event over the same distance, Maja Thomson finished fifth in her heat, running 2m28.5s.

Jamie Smith competed in the under-20 men’s 800m and finished in sixth place in his heat, clocking 2m4.80s.

In the under-13 girls’ race over the same distance, Ava-Rose Curtis was third in Section Two with a time of 2m35s, while Morven Kenny was fifth in Section Three, running 2m32.95s.

Kenny finished sixth overall and Curtis ninth – an impressive result out of a very large field.

Ava-Rose Curtis also ran in the under-13 girls’ 200m finishing seventh in her section with a time of 31.37s, and 24th overall.

Ben Anderson was seventh in the under-15 boys’ long jump with a leap of 4.82m while Archie Brown (Haddington) was fifth in the under-13 boys’ long jump (4.47m).

Morven Kenny qualified for the final in the under-13 girls’ 70m hurdles and finished eighth overall in a time of 12.76s.

Finally, Imogen Turner had a superb run in the under-13 girls’ 1,500m and won gold, crossing the line in a time of 5m11.06s.