Autumn hope for Kintore’s man for all seasons Roche

Tom Roche (JS Kintore) is, like so many others at the moment, watching and waiting to hear where his next marathon might be.

The 2018 Scottish masters champion and 2019 Dublin masters winner, had his sights set on the Manchester marathon in April.

The race was rescheduled for October 11 but a final decision will be made on July 17.

Roche was aiming to improve on his best of 2hr 26min 38sec which gave him eighth position in the 2019 Scottish rankings.

He said: “My hunch is that some sort of long distance races in some format will be allowed in the autumn.

“I’m waiting for the Manchester decision but I have also applied for an elite entry to Amsterdam marathon on October 11th.

They are offering invitations to athletes who have run sub 2:30. There’s a chance it might be an eliteonly race.”

Meanwhile, Elgin AAC youngster Tayla-Jai Greenfield finished top of the girls’ leaderboard in the scottishathletics virtual Superteam challenge.

The event, for athletes in the under-12 age group, was held over a four week period and attracted 250 participants.

It featured a 75m shuttle sprint, a target throw, a standing long jump and an 800m run. Points were awarded for each performance.

Greenfield topped the charts ahead with 319 points and led her club to first position in the team event.

The other Elgin scorers were Lillia Clarke (281), Holly Whittaker (263) and Gemma Forgie (239).

Isla Burns (289) helped Inverness Harriers take third position. Lois Macrae (267), Sky Simpson (234) and Lucy Beastall (232) were the other counters.

Tom Roche