Runners make their mark at the Emirates
Central AC teams progress
Central AC’S relay teams showed some fine running and slick baton changes as four teams progressed to the finals of the Scottish Indoor Relay Championships.
The event was held at the Emirates Arena on Saturday, January 28.
For the age group teams, the goal was to earn a return to the Emirates Arena on February 12 to run at the relay finals.
The under 17 boys team of Dylan Mcculloch, Lewis Miller, Jonah Whitby and Ken Young were drawn in the first heat against a strong Law and District team and challenged all the way but came home in second place in 1:37.01.
With only the winner of each heat guaranteed a place in the final they had to wait and see if they had qualified as fastest losers. However when heats 2 and 3 both finished with slower times the team knew they had qualified as second fastest team.
The under 17 girls’ team had some late team changes but the final line up of Loren Stewart, Niamh Mackinlay, Rowan Calveley and Tabitha Mackenzie managed to practice their baton changes during the warm up and entered the event with confidence.
The team started well but Tabitha Mackenzie on the anchor leg received the baton in second place and with only one guaranteed place in the final had to work hard. She hung onto her opponent all the way round and dug in on the home straight to fight to the line lunging at the finish. The photo finish showed she had taken the win on the dip by just 0.09 seconds to take the team through to the final in 1:52.48.
The under 13 boys team of Lewis Munro, Jack Campbell, Kyle Mcpake and Cameron Mccallum also had to dig in to get through but with some excellent running from them all they managed to come third in their heat and claim the final fastest loser spot in 2:07.01.
The senior women’s team Chloe Watt, Zosia Paddon, Amelie Macgregor and Megan Dunlop are all still school age but stood up well against older established athletes as they took the baton round in 1:54.60 to get through to the final.
The final for the seniors was run later the same day where they managed a sixth place and can be proud of being the first Central team ever to make a national senior indoor relay final.
Gaining experience at relays were the under 13 and under 15 girls’ teams. The under 13 team of Amy Drysdale, Maddie Peterkin, Eilidh Connor and Anwen Bowen managed to get round in 2:18.52 and the under 15 team of Ana Mckie, Anna Gunn, Ella Tanner and Fia Watkin came home in 2:06.25.