Promoting Athletics in Orkney

Orkney Athletic and Running Club

1 day ago

It's that time of year where we say goodbye to some of our athletes who are heading away south to universities across the country, and this year we have five women who have been a huge part of the fabric of the club for many years.

During their time with the club, all five have won medals at national age group levels with two of them pulling on Scotland vests, four of them being part of our home Island Games team and between them they hold 25 Orkney records.

Molly, Lucy, Emily, Jenna and Elsie: good luck with everything that comes next and with your athletics and sporting careers. Thank you for the time you've all given the club and for your hard work in training. You're all welcome back any time and I'm sure we've not heard the last of any of you!

And what better way to see you off than with the oldest photos I can find? ... See MoreSee Less

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Orkney Athletic and Running Club

2 days ago

Today’s season closing Sinclair General Stores Open Graded was the kind of day where correspondents are tempted to stud their reports with phrases like “spirits were not dampened”, but that would be untrue: everything was dampened, and some people’s spirits (including your correspondent) were thoroughly sodden after the third ‘the rain will stop at this time’ time passed without success. Rain washed out three-and-a-third of the four field events as well as the primary 200m, but the events that remained saw a high level of competition, even if much of it may have been legally classed as swimming.

The day started at the long jump pit in the driving rain, leading to some tricky take offs and sticky landings. All the jumpers were understandably a little way below their best, but Drew Miller (5.13m) managed the longest jump of the day with his first attempt and Dillon Hume (5.06m) also passed the 5m mark. Sophie Shearer (4.48m) was the first female, with all the athletes managing four jumps before passing on their final two as the rain came down even harder and made the relative comforts of the crush area (roof, range of delicious cakes) too hard to resist.

First up on the track was the 800m, with Annie Bruce (2:49.21) leading out a field otherwise largely composed of U12 athletes. There was a close race for second, with Primrose Robinson (3:15.87) finishing just ahead of Maeve Thornton (3:16.35) and Ruby Flett (3:17.10), with Primrose posting a three second PB in these conditions to show there’s plenty more improvement to come on a better day. Isla Cook (3:26.92) also picked up a PB on a day where they were rarer than a Merkitplace housing appeal passing without a hen’s teeth comment.

After an inspection at the shot put circle revealed it would be more suitable for Tom Daley than Daley Thompson (ask your parents and grandparents respectively, kids), the decision was taken that further field events could not take place safely: apologies to everyone who was hoping to compete in them, particularly if you didn’t have a track event. We will look to arrange alternative opportunities to set competition marks in the coming weeks, please stay tuned!

The 100 meters did go ahead, albeit every single race was wind illegal and most of them significantly so, with a strong backwind perhaps balancing out slick conditions underfoot when it came to the times. Max Tulloch once again swept home in the first race (11.26s), with Sian Smith (12.60s, hand timed), Elliot Sinclair (13.20), Mason Budge (15.03), Oliver Croy (16.56), Jessie Drever (17.15) and Harvey Croy (16.21) winning their respective races. A word for Anya Hepburn who slipped in the wet conditions but was back on her feet in a flash to cross the line in a very respectable time.

In the 400m, Millie Dennison ran a PB of 64.93, whilst Xander Sinclair ran the 300m in 42.87s to finish narrowly ahead of Tristan Hoque (43.71) with Annie Bruce just outside her PB in 50.27. The longest race of the day was the 1500m, with three runners: after a slow and tactical first lap, the race sped up and Craig Moar finished first in 4:52.67 ahead of Ava Luke (5:00.74) and the day’s only Orkney record came from the third finisher, Shawn Tait, who set the inaugural M60 record in a time of 5:48:00. Shawn still has a bit of work to do to catch up with daughter Anna who holds eight senior records!

With the track now very wet, the 200m went ahead with only the secondary athletes running: primary athletes, we’re working on an alternative opportunity in the coming weeks but sorry that it just wasn’t safe for today. The two 200m that did go ahead were probably run in the best conditions of the day, although that is not a competitive field! We did have two competitive fields across the two races though, with Sian (26.20s hand timed) pipping Abi Coltherd on the line before the final men’s race saw two Harcus brothers and Max Tulloch all run under 23 seconds: new Orkney record holder Bobby was first in 22.86s, with Connor finishing in 22.96 and Max in 22.99s. Both races were again run under illegal winds, but showcased strong performances all the same.

Overall, a pretty tough day out for the athletes who did fantastically well to put out good performances across the board, and probably an even tougher day for the officials and volunteers who spent almost all of it stood out in the rain (I suspect we’ve done a lot for dryrobe sales in Orkney today!). Thank you very much to everyone who came along and competed, officiated or spectated and for bearing with us whilst we rejigged everything several times to try and get as much of the competition done as possible. Thank you to Sinclair General Stores, Sanday for sponsoring the competition, and let’s hope for clearer skies to open the 2027 outdoor season when it comes round. ... See MoreSee Less

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