Promoting Athletics in Orkney

Orkney Athletic and Running Club

2 days ago

Day Two of the 4J National U18 and Senior Championships in Aberdeen brought a second Orkney bronze medal, this time for William MacDonald in the senior men’s javelin. William was clearly full of confidence after his Orkney record in the discus yesterday as he threw past the 50m mark which has eluded him all season with his first, third and sixth attempts, his final one being the furthest at 51.11m, a personal best. William was sitting in the silver medal position until the final round of throws when David Lees threw 52.47m to knock William down one spot, but any medal at senior national level is a fantastic achievement

Elsewhere, there was an U18 Orkney record of 22.57s for Max Tulloch in his U18 200m heat as he qualified for the final with the second fastest time of any athlete in the field. In the final, he ran 22.77s, finishing sixth in a group of four athletes separated by only .14s chasing the bronze medal. It was a tough schedule for Max over the weekend with five races in a little over 24 hours, so bringing away two personal bests, a senior and an age group Orkney record is some haul in two of the most competitive events on the schedule.

After a difficult day yesterday, Freya Kemp bounced back brilliantly in the U18 women’s 200m, taking three tenths off her PB in finishing fourth in her heat in 26.43s - it turned out to be by a long way the fastest heat and Freya’s time would have qualified automatically in any of the other three, but was good enough to advance as the fastest non-automatic qualifier. Nuala Webb followed up her excellent showing in the 100m yesterday with a run of 27.62s today, finishing fifth in her heat. Freya’s semi final time of 27.09 was a little off her heat time in finishing 6th, but competitive with some high class sprinters.

After a season’s best in the 100m, Sian Smith clocked an overall PB in the 200m, taking two tenths off her previous best with a time of 26.30s in the senior women’s 200m heats, half a second inside the Island Games qualifying standard that Freya also achieved. In his 100m heat, Bobby Harcus clocked 22.70s and was another OARC athlete to miss out on advancing on thousandths of a second as the ninth fastest runner in a dead heat with the eighth and final qualifying spot.

In the U18 men’s high jump, Gerard Enemmuo followed up a successful 100m yesterday with a PB and Island Games qualifying standard jump of 1.78m, clearing the bar at his second attempt before failing with three attempts at an Orkney outdoor record of 1.83m. There was no Orkney vest in the senior men’s high jump, but Orkney Island Games athlete Angus Davren went over at 1.83m on his second attempt in the colours of Inverness Harriers.

In the U18 women’s long jump, Lizzie Harcus recorded a best of 4.40m and Madison Russell 3.88m, both recording three legal jumps of a similar distance but not advancing past the half way cut in a very large field of 18, meaning ten athletes were restricted to three jumps. Lizzie then went over to the shot put circle and threw a new PB of 9.28m, adding 2cm to her previous best at the U18 weight of 3kg, whilst Millie Dennison equalled her PB of 8.60m with the 4kg senior shot put, following on from her high jump medal yesterday.

Over 1500m, Finlay Risbridger ran a courageous race, leading out the field and probably pushing a little too hard too soon before fading to finish 12th in 4:47.51. Drew Miller’s U18 long jump wasn’t quite up to his usual standard today, perhaps understandably after his heroic effort in the 400m yesterday, with two fouls followed by a legal jump of 5.15m which wasn’t enough to beat the field cut, whilst Dillon Hume’s senior long jump best was 5.52m, just shy of his PB: with all six of his jumps legal and over five metres, Dillon is definitely building the consistency needed to compete.

Well done to everyone who traveled to compete, and thank you to those that traveled to support our athletes both this weekend and last: between the two we’ve had nineteen folk compete (and Connor do both!) and picked up three bronze medals as well as a hatful of PBs, SBs and a sprinkling of Orkney records as well. We return home next weekend to the outdoor season closer, the Sinclair General Stores Open Graded, for which entries close TONIGHT so sign up now if you intenNorthLink Ferriesps://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2026/GBR/oarcsept26/

Thank you to NorthLink Ferries for sponsoring the travel of some of our athletes for this competition, it's much appreciated! ... See MoreSee Less

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Orkney Athletic and Running Club

3 days ago

Fantastic news from Daegu overnight as Calum finishes 4th in the world in the V40 shot put at the World Masters Championships with a throw of 14.29m extending his own Orkney record by a further 6cm. A fantastic achievement as this level of competition and in these conditions, and a beautiful looking GB vest! Congratulations to Calum - our third Orkney record of the weekend but hopefully not the last! ... See MoreSee Less

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Orkney Athletic and Running Club

3 days ago

Two Orkney records were improved by their current holders and Millie Dennison claimed a bronze medal in the high jump on the first day of the 4J Scottish U18 & Senior Championships in Aberdeen today as William MacDonald (discus) and Max Tulloch (100m) headlined a day of strong Orkney showings.

Having only picked up the discus this year as his third throws event behind the javelin & shot put, William has come on leaps and bounds in this event and is now competing on this national stage against the likes of 2024 Olympian (and of course, Island Games gold medallist for the Isle of Wight) Nick Percy. William put 26cm onto his own Orkney record set in April with his first throw and then a further 105cm with his second, landing the discus at 37.91m and taking fifth place overall. William is now ranked second in Scotland at U23 level, and will throw in his preferred javelin tomorrow.

The senior women’s high jump had only three entrants - somewhat surprising as most events at nationals are stacked and deep fields - but all three medals were awarded so Millie Dennison walked away with our only medal of the day, a bronze for her successful second jump at 1.44 before narrowly missing out on a PB at 1.49m. Congratulations Millie - you have to be in it to win it!

Max was one of several Orkney representatives in the 100m: he was joined in the U18 men’s event by Gerard Enemmuo, with Nuala Webb and Freya Kemp on the women’s U18 lineup and Connor Harcus and Sian Smith in their respective senior events. Sian clocked 12.57s in her heat while Connor’s 11.48s was good enough to put him through to the semi-final but Connor didn’t feel quite right and didn’t line up for the next round.

At U18 level, Freya Kemp had a tough break in being disqualified for a false start after following an athlete on her outside out of the blocks early. I must say I’ve not seen the second athlete out of the blocks disqualified before now, but hopefully Freya can use it as motivation for tomorrow’s 200m. There was a happier experience for Nuala Webb, who qualified as one of the best non-automatic qualifiers with a time of 13.08s from the final heat and followed that up with 13.11 in the semi final. Nuala is very young for the age group and two performances right up around her PB on this stage is a great sign for the future. Both girls go in the 200m tomorrow.

For the U18 boys, they faced a strong field with three athletes with sub-11 second bests including visiting Irish athlete Abdullah Adeleke, who a quick google suggests is the younger brother of Olympian Rhasidat who won silver at the Europeans in Birmingham over 200m last month. Some serious pedigree there! Max was in the first heat and clocked 11.07s in wind illegal conditions, finishing second and guaranteeing his spot in the semi, with Gerard joining him from the fourth heat, finishing second to Adeleke in 11.40s. The pair were then in the same - wind legal - second semi final where Max finished third in a new Orkney record of 11.17s - two hundredths ahead of his previous PB - and Gerard fourth in 11.36s. Max went straight through to the final, but there was a wait to find out Gerard’s progression as he and another athlete had clocked identical times as the final time qualifiers. I assume there must have been thousands of a second available somewhere as Gerard did not progress despite having clocked his time in a significantly less advantageous wind and put in a better time in the heat. One to look up in the rulebooks over the winter perhaps! Still, a fantastic outing for Gerard who is very young for the age group and has the high jump to look forward to tomorrow.

There was just an hour between the semi and the finals for the 100m and everyone was on their third race of the day, so a real challenge for Max but a third excellent run, this time finishing fifth in 11.24s: two of the athletes ahead of him were representing Southampton & Ireland, so I’m calling it third Scottish finisher! 200m for Max tomorrow, hopefully after a good night’s sleep!

Bobby Harcus ran in the senior men’s 400m, clocking 50.93s, finishing fourth in his heat ahead of tomorrow’s 200m, whilst Millie Dennison clocked 65.72 in the women’s event, ahead of the shot put tomorrow. Lillie Giggle-Bain will go in the 1500m tomorrow after a 2:20.30 performance in today’s 800m.

Finally, perhaps performance of the day in a strong field might go to Drew Miller over 400m, who ran a PB of 53.11 in the heat and then a second - this time 52.92 - in the final to finish fourth in the U18 400m. For an athlete who has only really been training over this distance since the start of the summer, a tremendous performance and one that will hopefully set him up well for tomorrow’s long jump.

Almost everyone goes again tomorrow, along with first showings for Finlay Risbridger (1500m), Dillon Hume (long jump) and Lizzie Harcus (shot put & long jump). Good luck to everyone!

First photo is from official SA photographer Bobby Gavin, other photos thanks to Chris Webb & Lynsey Tulloch. ... See MoreSee Less

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