Elgin High School pupil Holly Whittaker equals British hurdles record while Moray Athletics Group colleagues impress on national track and field
A British record-equalling run by Elgin High pupil Holly Whittaker capped a fabulous February for Moray athletes.
The 16-year-old took under-17 gold at the English Championships in Sheffield in her starring event, the 60 metres hurdles with her best-ever run.
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A lightning-quick time of 8.39 seconds at the National Indoor Athletics Centre equalled the UK under-17 record, finishing ahead of the Izzy Rae, the sixth fastest of all-time in Britain over that distance.
Holly, who also smashed the Scottish under-17 record for 60m hurdles last year, had won two gold medals in the Scottish Schools Indoor Track and Field Championships in Glasgow among a string of Moray successes.
She was one of four Elgin High pupils at the Scottish schools, and not the only gold medallist.
Jenna Gage, in the under-15 category, reached the semi-finals of the 60 metres sprint with a best of 8.70 seconds.
But she really rose to the occasion over the same distance over hurdles, equalling her personal best time of 9.80 in the final to claim the title.
Whittaker won her under-17 60m hurdles heat then produced a championship best time of 8.62 in the final to claim gold, a feat she matched in the long jump with a second championship best effort of 5.67 metres.
Also representing Elgin High at under-17, Gemma Forgie won her 60m hurdles heat with a PB of 9.45, then improved on that in the final with 9.40 to finish fifth. She also got to the final of the long jump, managing 4.81 metres to come in seventh.
The eldest of the Elgin High athletes was Ruaridh MacKenzie-Copp who competed at under-20s and won his 200m heat with a time of 24.03, before finishing fourth in the semi-final with 24.06. He also took part in the 400m, finishing fourth in his heat in 55.39.
Elgin Academy’s Lauren Abbott endured a tough opening day as she had to race three times in the under-20 400 metres.
She won her heat in 1.00.02, and her semi in 59.66, but unfortunately fell having just moved into second place in the final.
Lauren recovered to win her 200m heat on day two and came in fifth in the final in 26.44.
Members of the Moray Athletics Group compete for Aberdeen AAC at national level and were involved in the Scottish National Indoor Combined Events Championships at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena.
It was a national debut for Lili Sharman when she lined up in the Scottish National U13 Pentathlon Championships and despite spraining her ankle, she won a bronze medal.
A personal best effort in four of her five disciplines helped her amass an impressive score. Lili won the shot put in 8.15m, placing her second on the Scottish under-13 rankings for this year.
The following day, Gemma Forgie competed in the Scottish National U17 Pentathlon Championships, and also won bronze.
Gemma was at the peak of her game in all five events, with PBs in shot putt and 800m, an indoor PB in long jump and also close to best in hurdles and high jump.
In the final event, the 800m, Gemma battled all the way to beat her closest rival for the bronze, and her time of 2.40.03 was almost nine seconds quicker than her previous best over the last 12 months.
