Elgin Amateur Athletics Club win superb 24 medals at North District Championships in Inverness
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NINETEEN Elgin Amateur Athletics Club members took home a combined 24 medals at the North District Championships.
Ten golds, 12 silvers and two bronze medals were awarded to Elgin AAC athletes in a range of events at the championships in Inverness.
An additional four first places and one third place were awarded to the under-20 women and under-20 men – but no medals are presented to under-20 or senior competitors.
A total of 17 personal bests were achieved at the competition, with medals achieved in every single event aside from discus.
Elgin AAC chairperson and coach Scott Hamilton said: "The achievements of the 19 athletes are fantastic.
"We've got a really strong group – we were missing 10, who probably would have got medals too.
"We can see how well they are doing. They've trained hard over winter and are really seeing the reward now.
"It's exciting times."
Holly Whittaker, competing at under-15 girls level, achieved a competition best performance and new personal best in long jump with an amazing jump of 5 metres 11 centimetres.
Furthermore, Holly was a gold winner in 100 metres and 75 metre hurdles – a quite tremendous treble.
Fellow under-15 girl Lexi Grant smashed the championship best performance to win gold in the triple jump with a distance of 10.37 metres. Lexi also won silver medals in long jump and 75 metres hurdles – both with new personal bests.
The club's other two under-15 girls were also winners. Lauren Abbott won gold in the 300 metres and silver in the 800 metres – with a PB in both. Lillia Clarke, meanwhile, set a new personal best en route to winning silver in the 200 metres.
In the under-13s girls, Gemma Forgie was a double gold winner in 70 metres hurdles and long jump – setting a new PB in the latter.
Eilidh Neillie-Rutherford was a triple silver winner – finishing second in 70 metres hurdles, javelin and high jump, where she set a new PB. Jenna Gage won silver in long jump and bronze in 70 metres hurdles with two PBs. Under-17s girl Niamh Scott won silver in long jump.
The boys were just as successful – with under-17 Tom Palmer a double gold winner in the 100 metres hurdles and the 400 metres hurdles.
Roy Taylor, who trains in Buckie, was also competing in the under-17s and won silver in the 1500 metres and the 800 metres with PBs in both.
Under-15 Ruaridh MacKenzie-Copp won gold and set a new PB in the 300 metres, while Archie Smith won bronze in long jump. Ted Bosomworth, at under-13s level, won silver in 100 metres.
While no awards were handed out, Emma Jones won the high jump and triple jump at under-20s.
Kyle Wilkinson won in long jump and came third in the 100 metres, while Gabriel McFarlane placed first in hammer.
New personal bests were also set by Quentin Fowlie and Sylvie-Mae Slater in 100 metres, and by Rowan Bain in 70 metre hurdles and long jump.
Scott added: "Everybody achieved something.
"It's all about being happy and healthy. Medals are not my concern but if they're won then that's all the better."
The next event for Elgin AAC is the Scottish Schools on Saturday, June 11.
