We are gearing up for the track and field season with a busy weekend coming up in the middle of May. That’s when the first scottishathletics championship events of the season are held with the District Champs taking place at three venues – for the U17, U15 and U13 age groups. And for Senior and U20 athletes, we have a programme of National Open Events also taking place over the weekend of The three venues are Inverness for the North, with events on Friday and Saturday; and Grangemouth (East) and Kilmarnock (West) on the Saturday and Sunday. In the National Open Events, the Sprints and Jumps wi ..read more

Mhairi Maclennan (centre) is set for London Marathon debut this weekend Luke and Sara win Scottish Marathon titles Scottish athletes will compete for medals at the TCS London Marathon on Sunday. It’s the latest event in our Road Race GP series which covers five distances over the course of the year. Scottish National Championship medals are thus up for grabs via performances in London The Men’s 1-2-3 looks highly competitive with the elite field led by the likes of Weynay Ghebresilassie and Callum Hawkins. Cambuslang Harriers duo Ryan Thomson and Fraser Stewart will have high hopes, too, and a ..read more

RRGP 2024 rd2 Seven athletes have landed shares in our Road Race Grand Prix after the most recent race. The Scottish 10-Mile Champs were staged at Strathclyde Park in the Tom Scott Road Races on March 31. And fine performances at the top end of the race saw athletes land shares as well as Scottish Championship medals. There were four A standards in the Men’s race and a B standard. Lewis Hannigan (Kilbarchan AAC) at 49:07; Sean Chalmers (Aberdeen AAC) 49:18; Ryan Thomson (Cambuslang Harriers) 49:35) and John Bell (Inverclyde AAC) 49:46 all landed A shares. Dermot Cummins (Corstorphine AAC) adde ..read more

Scotland U17 Men at the event in London last year (photo by Neil Renton) London Mini Marathon – our 2023 report Scotland teams head for the 2024 TCS London Mini Marathon this weekend. We are thrilled that 25 young Scots will have an opportunity to represent us in London in the U17 and U15 races and the Para event. This well-known event now takes place on a Saturday, the day before the main London Marathon. Races are now over a shorter course of 2.6k, which was introduced in 2021 and featured in the event back in October 2022 when Scotland teams were among those to compete. We thank organisers ..read more

Andy Douglas and Holly Page are among a strong cohort of Scottish athletes seeking GB and NI selection  There is a busy weekend of racing on Skiddaw, Keswick, over the coming weekend. Mountain runners with international aspirations will be competing in the uphill only trial from Dodd Wood to the summit on Friday. In the Europeans, there is an uphill only and an up and down for both juniors and seniors. Athletes can double up but many are concentrating on the one event this year. The uphill only trial is on Friday night from Dodd Wood running up the back of Skiddaw. Thomas Hilton (Moorfoot ..read more

By Katy Barden The passing of distance running icon Leslie Watson was a reminder that we all stand on the shoulders of giants. Like Dale Greig before her – who had become one of the first women to run a marathon and set a women’s world best for the distance – Watson took the sport forward so that future generations could go further and faster. A Scottish mile champion in 1966 and a multiple national cross country champion (twice narrowly defeating Greig), Watson went on to become a prolific marathon runner with a best of 2:44.18 in 1982 and over 60 marathon victories around the world. The Mary ..read more

Kirsty Law at the Loughborough International last year (photo by Bobby Gavin) International Handbook (see Track and Field) Scotland are heading back to the Loughborough International once again this year. Loughborough University will host this year’s event on Sunday 19 May 2024. And we are delighted to be taking a Scotland team south for the annual event as a track and field international opportunity. Scotland will compete against England, Wales, GB and NI U20s, Loughborough Uni and a select from the National League. As per our international handbook, we are looking to select for the following ..read more

Round the Houses 10k Results In blustery but better than anticipate conditions, GB and NI international Scott Stirling was a runaway winner of the 56th annual Round the Houses and 17th Jim Dingwall Memorial 10k. Scott just missed the course record held by Commonwealth Games marathon bronze medallist, Robbie Simpson, as he clocked 30.10 (six seconds outside the Record), as Annabel Simpson took the Women’s race. Ochill Hill Runner athlete Fergus Roberts was second, also gaining East District silver in 31:28 with Jamie Philpott third in 31:46 . East District bronze and the Scottish Student Sport ..read more

Aberdeen Throws GP info Calling all throwers and throws coaches! The summer season is almost with us and we’re keen to highlight the first scottishathletics Throws GP of 2024. Aberdeen Sports Village is the venue on Sunday 28 April and entries are closing on Thursday of this week. Athletics are invited to enter now and events on offer are hammer, shot, discus, javelin and seated throws. Enter online Please note that entries will close at 5pm on Thursday 18 April. This is the first of three Throws GP events scheduled by scottishathletics for this summer at three different venues around Scotland ..read more

Photo via England Athletics Matthew Tait won the England Athletics U20 High Jump gold with 2.10m PB leap. On way back north from Sheffield, Matthew and coach Allan Smith posed for a fun Border medal pic. Here, coach and athlete tell us more . . . Allan Smith How long have you been coaching Matthew?  I have been coaching Matthew since 2019 from first year U15. Currently we are training four days a week. 1 sprint session, 1 weights session, 1 plyometrics session and 1 high jump session per week. I train with Matthew in person three times a week, with the Wednesday sessions be ..read more