Elgin Amateur Athletics Club's young athletes do their club proud at the SUPERteams National Final in Aberdeen
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LAST month's SUPERteams national athletics finals for under-12 athletes brought the best out of two teams representing Elgin Amateur Athletics Club.
The event in Aberdeen saw Elgin AAC's girls' quartet finish sixth out of 26 teams, with one of the team winning the individual long jump competition.
The boys' team also finished 11th with some fine individual displays.
Considering Moray is one of only two council areas in Scotland without a synthetic running track, Elgin AAC can't boast anything close to the same kind of facilities enjoyed by their rival competing clubs, making their achievement in the Granite City all the more remarkable.
Led by coaches Kyle Wilkinson and Lauren Cruickshank, the boys and girls teams did their club proud.
While the boys came 11th out of 22 teams, the girls finished sixth out of 26, and individually they also produced some great results.
Top of the pile was Gemma Forgie, who came first out of 102 girls in the long jump (3.66 metres) while team-mate Jenna Gage was sixth (3.21).
Almost picking up a second girls' individual win for Elgin AAC was Sophie Nelson, who was just edged into second place in the power javelin following a throw of 9.68 metres.
Brianna Allen threw over 8 metres in the same competition to finish tenth.
A second victory for the club was achieved by one of the boys, Cameron Johnston whose throw of 14.15 metres in the power javelin earned him first place out of 148 competitors.
Just behind in third place was Leo Grant with a throw of 12.83m, while Charlie Collins was 15th (9.23m) and Dexter Flett was 18th out of 148 in the long jump (2.84m).
Elgin AAC's performances on the track were also impressive, as they took part in the 75m sprint and the relay.
Leo Grant was 17th, Cameron Johnston 26th, Dexter Flett 55th and Charlie Collins 73rd, all in the top half of a field of 148.
Gemma Forgie showed her versatility by finishing 7th on the track as well, not far in front of Jenna Gage in 23rd, Sophie Nelson in 29th and Brianna Allen in 33rd.
Coach Lauren Cruickshank said: "The children are dedicated to their athletics and continue to turn up to train twice a week, no matter the weather and give up their weekends to compete to improve their skills.
"They were up really early to travel to Aberdeen for SUPERteams and although nervous, they focussed their nerves to turn them into fantastic performances which gave the bigger Scottish teams a bit of a scare.
"They always give 100 per cent and their positivity and energy rubs off on all of us at the club."
