Shetland’s Seamus is fastest 800m athlete
Seamus Mackay was the furthest travelled competitor at this year’s Rotary Scottish Schools’ Championships – but the long journey to Grangemouth Stadium was certainly worthwhile.
Just entering his fifth year at Anderson High School in Lerwick, the teenager won the Under-17 800-metre event in 1:54.36.
As a result, he also earned the TSB Trophy for the outstanding boys’ 800m time.
For Seamus, it was the perfect warm-up for his next big date, the Island Games in Gotland in Sweden later this month.
“It’s a great event with teams from shetland, orkney and the Western Isles taking part from Scotland,” he said.
“There is so much sport going on in Shetland, it is really great and very friendly. The school is also very supportive.”
Seamus’s parents hail from the Western Isles – his dad is an air traffic controller and his mum a midwife.
He is going to be sitting five Highers next year – English, Maths, PE, Chemistry and Geography – but he is not sure of his future career path.
“But I do want to keep going in athletics and take it as far as possible,” he said.
Another standout at Grangemouth was Kelvinside Academy’s multi-talented Lily Evans Haggerty. The third-year pupil has already won the Scottish Schools’ cross country title this year, and represented Great Britain at triathlon.
Competing in the Under-15 category, she won the 1,500m in a classy 4:40.46. She has already captured the Glasgow Schools’ title in the same event.
She won by a distance and admitted: “I was really hoping to go 4:39 – but I was still pleased with the time.”
Currently ranked No 1 in the UK at Under-15 level in the 3,000m, Lily loves the challenge of the triathlon.
She won a medal at the Scottish age-group swimming championships, and does the cycling training “just for fun”.
She has qualified to compete in the GB Championships at Mallory Park.
“The three disciplines all complement each other,” she suggested. “At the moment, I’m keeping my options open. I enjoy doing everything.”