Promoting Athletics in Orkney

Orkney Athletic and Running Club

22 hours ago

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Orkney Athletic and Running Club

3 days ago

Today’s Inverness Half Marathon and 5k saw a small army of Orcadian runners descend on the capital of the Highlands, completing the 13.1 mile course in a race that doubled (tripled?) as the Scottish Half Marathon Championships and North District Half Marathon Championships as well.

Congratulations to local dentist Annabel Simpson, representing Fife AC, on winning the women’s race in an unbelievably impressive time of 1:13:47 and becoming the first person ever to hold the Scottish Half Marathon and Dounby 10k titles simultaneously. Now there’s a record that might stand the test of time!

Elsewhere in the field, as a club we were absolutely delighted to see two of last year’s Couch to 5k participants - Karen Petrie and Jennifer Rosie - make their way around the course with our Couch to 5k course leader Carrie Gunn in 2 hours, 31 minutes and 30 seconds (Jenny actually seems to have been given a chip time of 2:31:29 so I guess she gets the bragging rights!). It’s such a tribute to the work that Carrie and Sarah put in that folk have stayed running beyond the course and carried on building the miles up until they can cover this distance - is St. Magnus next?

The race organisers were keen to announce that this was the first ever gender balanced Inverness Half, but Orkney thoroughly overdelivered on International Women’s Day - at my count there were at least 26 Orkney women competing and just three representing the fellas! There was also a notable contingent of five women from Westray, the Queen of the Isles being well represented on race day.

Congratulations to everyone who took part, and we look forward to you all lacing those running shoes back up for the Shapinsay 10k on 18th April and the rest of our home running season!

Some of the Orkney runners results (this is everyone who put OARC as their club and then everyone else I could find, but I know there are more - please let us know if you’re running and we’ll keep an eye out for the results)

Annabel Simpson 1:13:47 (representing Fife AC)
Colin Barnett 1:22:20
Chelsea Cook 1:25:30 (representing Metro Aberdeen RC)
Eion Ballantine 1:28:30
Vikki Budge 1:32:53
Dawn Williams 1:42:16 (representing Vegan Runners)
Hamish Shaw 1:47:52
Lisa Foulis 1:49:33
Rosemary Donaldson 1:51:25
Theresa Sandison 1:53:36
Tina Brown 1:55:02
Karriz Baird 1:56:25
Ruth Spence 1:57:43
Shona Croy 1:58:02
Paul Humphreys 1:58:31
Sasha Ratnayeke 2:00:20
Julie Johnston 2:00:38
Sarah Baillie 2:01:08
Shelagh Hutchison 2:00:39
Sarah Jessen 2:06:09
Kerry Michie-McDonald 2:07:55
Judith Bonner 2:09:08
Sherine Deakin 2:20:30
Kathleen Matheson 2:21:55
Gina McMahon 02:30:58
Karen Petrie 2:31:30
Jennifer Rosie 2:31:29
Carrie Gunn 2:31:31
Carla Deakin 2:41:20
Imogen Sawyer 2:53:58 ... See MoreSee Less

Orkney Athletic and Running Club

4 days ago

𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏: 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲

Elsie, Emily, Abi & Tristan are down in Glasgow this weekend at the Emirates competing in the Scottish Athletics U16 and U20 Age Group Indoor Championships. For the U20 Women, this is a two day event with one event each day, but for U16 Tristan this was two events in one day with up to three races in each event, so a tiring day!

Tristan was the first out of the blocks (although not literally, more on that in a moment) in the first heat of the U16 60m. This was Tristan's first official race over the shortest sprint distance and he clocked 8.33s to qualify for the semi-final as one the fastest outside the automatic qualifying times. He followed this up with 8.31s in the semi final, not making the final but a remarkable effort considering Tristan was not starting on blocks having not trained extensively with them: the 60m distance is basically all about the start, so starting from standing was a serious disadvantage and shows the potential Tristan has once he's more comfortable off the blocks. As we didn't have an U15 record to compare to, his semi final time of 8.31s is the inaugural U16 Boys 60m record.

Abi Coltherd was next in the U20 Women's 60m, finishing third in her heat in a PB and big improvement on her time from a few weeks ago in Aberdeen at 8.01. That 8s barrier (and the 7.97 Orkney U20 record) remained stubbornly but narrowly unbroken with an 8.02 in the semi final which just missed out on the final, but a good showing from Abi who goes again in her favoured 200m tomorrow.

Then it was the turn of Elsie and Emily in the 800m. Both went in the first of two heats, with Elsie putting in a brilliant performance to take more than 6 seconds off her indoor (and overall) PB with 2:29.02, finishing fourth overall whilst Emily put in a professional run to finish second in a comfortable for her time of 2:22.20 and secure automatic progression to the final.

The final was just over two hours later: Emily went out strong across the four laps of the indoor course, pulling the field with her to finish second in 2:13.32, picking up a silver medal. Emily and Elsie both run again tomorrow: Emily in the 400m, Elsie in the 1500m.

Tristan's second event was the U16 200m: he completed the lap of the indoor course in 26.61s, very close to his outdoor personal best on his first time racing indoors and only two places outside of qualifying for the semi finals. This will also be an inaugural U16M Orkney record.

Congratulations to all the athletes and thank you to Mags and Julia for accompanying them. Best of luck to those racing tomorrow, and also the large contingent of Orkney runners in the Inverness Half Marathon & Scottish Half Marathon Championships: Carrie, Dawn, Shelagh, Julie, Gina, Lisa, Jenny, Karen, Vikki, Judith, Tina, Theresa, Colin, Shona, Sarah, Carla and I'm sure plenty of others besides! I look forward to writing a long update tomorrow about your exploits. ... See MoreSee Less