Harriers take national prize

Airdrie Harriers’ boys have become national champions at under-12 level.

The youngsters claimed first place at the Scottish Athletics Nationals, held in Perth at the weekend.

The rain threatened to spoil the efforts of the kids, but they battled through to win the Harriers’ first national title in six years.

It wasn’t only the boys who achieved success as the under-12 girls picked up a brilliant bronze.

Six teams were entered in total by the Harriers as competitors participated in the long jump, shot put, 75m dash and 4x100m relay.

The succcessful boys team consisted of Ashton Young, Ben O’Reilly, Jude Kerr and Luke Davies.

The girls who picked up the bronze were Sophie Frater, Lucy Dawes, Carisann McCulloch and Eve Crawford.

Club secretary Lynne Anderson said: “It feels great because a lot of hard work goes on to make things like this possible.

“The kids were buzzing and in the end the boys’ points tally proved they won fairly comfortably.

“The girls did excellently as well and we’re so pleased for both of the groups.

“The kids are competitive and push each other to succeed but they have fun while they’re doing it.

“Competing like this isn’t something we get to do very often but if we had the funds we’d do it more.

“It means more because usually the big clubs like Edinburgh or Giffnock claim the national trophies so this shows that hard work can go a long way when it comes to athletics.”