Sheldon races to top of rankings
Cambuslang Harriers runner Grant Sheldon is at the head of the Scottish 2020 5k road rankings after finishing ninth in a physical event.
Fellow club runner Moira Stewart finished runner-up at the Czech Republic Senior Women’s 1500m Championship.
And 18 members also took part in a virtual 5k challenge at the same time.
Grant was given a late invitation to compete as an elite athlete in the Podium 5k Road Race in the north of
England, which involved a five-hour car journey in sweltering temperatures from his base in Bournemouth.
There was an early breakaway group of four, including Grant, from the field of 28, with the 3k mark being reached very quickly in the time of 8.04.
At this point Grant became detached and was a target for pursuing runners for the last 2k, but in spite of losing a few places, he held on to ninth place in a personal best time of 13.51.
Fellow Scots Jonny Glen (14.01) and Cameron Strachan (14.23) finished behind Grant.
The result is all the more impressive, as Grant had missed a month of training due to a hip injury.
Moira Stewart finished second in the 1500m event in the Czech Republic in a time of 4.25.06.
This under-distance event was a good sharpener for the athlete, who normally competes in 5000 or 10,000m events, and Moira is likely to make her debut in half-marathon in the coming months.
Gavin Smith’s superb clocking of 14.24, the fastest individual time in the Virtual 5k, demonstrated that he has managed to put recent injury problems behind him,.
The next six fastest for the club were all under 16.00 minutes: Jamie MacKinnon (15.08), Stuart Gibson (15.40), U20 Chris McLew (15.46), promising and improving newcomer Jamie Traynor (15.48) and fellow U20 runners Kieran Cooper (15.58) and Andrew Carey (15.59).
Chris McLew, Jamie Traynor, Kieran Cooper and Andrew Carey were all pleased to have broken the 16.00 minutes barrier, while Stuart Gibson was third-fastest in the male over 35 category.
Scottish Athletics and Run and Become are hopeful that a head-tohead 5k can take place at Silverknowe in Edinburgh on Friday, September 4.
The invited field would be limited, with phased starts.