Photos by Gordon Innes
Report by Moira Maguire
It was a first class start for Glasgow Jaguars in the bright sunshine at the first National Athletics League Match in Derby, with athletes stepping up with PBs, SBs and filling in gaps with the enthusiasm that epitomises the strong team spirit.
With only the men’s 1500m to be added to the points scores, the team are currently lying in fourth place behind leaders TVH, Harrow, and WGEL.
This could change after the points for the 1500m are added but the team is to be congratulated on achieving a top six placing in this first match of the season with several regular team members unavailable for this match.
The warm conditions suited the sprinters and there was a fine win for newcomers to the team, Holly Whittaker in the B 100m in a PB time of 11.76 and a PB of 24.59 in fifth place in the A 200m for Ihinosen Ibhanesebhor.
Kathryn Christie had a PB of 54.66 in the A 400m for fifth place while Lauren Abbot (56.75) on her debut gained excellent points with a third place in the B race.
Ihinosen and Kathryn teamed up with Kishi Aremu and Stacey Downie for an excellent second place in the 4x100m relay.
It was four athletes competing for Glasgow Jaguars for the first time who brought the baton home for fifth place in in the 4x400m relay, Emily Fawkes, Erin McGurk, Lauren and Favour Ugwuocha.
Struan Linton was in fine form with a strong fourth place in the A 100m in 10.68 only 1hundreth shy of his lifetime best and second in the B 200m in a season’s best of 21.59. In the pink and black for the first time Owen Leonard ran a swift 10.91 for second in the third guest race and teamed up with Struan, Owen Murphy and Simon Okiti for an excellent third place in the sprint relay.
Luc McLeod continued to show fine form with a fourth place in the 400m A race in 47.67.
Fresh from her 100m PB, Holly finished fourth in the 100m Hurdles in a top-class field and Mhairi Patience had a win in the B 100m Hurdles (14.35) adding 10 valuable points to the team score.
Kati Hulme recorded a PB 0f 61.65 in the 400m H to take second and newcomer Favour Ugwuocha was just outside her best with 65.86 to take fifth place in the B event.
Ewan Purves had a busy day, gaining valuable points with a fourth place finish in the A 800 in 1.54.84, only a second short of his lifetime best, after finishing in fifth place in the B 400(49.14) . He finished his day by running a leg of the 4x400M.
Anise McAuley Orr had a fine win in the B 800 (2.16.52) and then gained valuable points in the 5k, finishing in third place in the B event, where she was joined by Kirsty Purcell, seventh in the A race, who had finished in fourth place in the A 1500(4.40.53).
Twin sister Caitlin was also a top points scorer finishing in second place in the B1500 (4.43.11) and in fifth place in the A800(2.16.38).
Sam Fernando ran his first 3k S/chase of the season and followed it up with a strong fifth in the B 5k (16.19.37).
Newcomers to the team Luke Gay and Sam McCarthy played their part in the strong team performance, with Luke, running a sub 60 in the 400 hurdles, making his debut in the 3K S/Chase for four points and running a leg of the 4x400m. Sam finished in sixth place in the A 5K (16.17.18) and filled in, too, for the 1500.
The throwers were in excellent form and in her first outing for the team Sophie Robertson, swapped Scotland kit for the pink and black and was rewarded with a PB of 54.61 for fifth place in the A event.
This was matched by Robyn Connelly’s fifth place in the B event (40.83). It was season’s bests for Kiera Maxwell (44.55) for fifth place in the A discus and a win for Alice Baxendale (42.33) in the B event on her debut for the team.
Andrew Peck was close to his season’s best with third in the discus with 50.08m, backed up by a solid fifth place in the B event from Logan Mitchell (38.35).
Andrew had a fine second in the B shot (12.74) while Logan was a fine fourth in the A event (14.46). Logan was delighted to record a PB of 47.60 in the Hammer and William Bailey was in PB form in the javelin, reaching 53.15 for fifth place in the A event. On her debut, Skye Davidson acquitted herself well with a sixth place in 33.29.
The horizontal jumps proved to be high scoring with Silver Nwabuzor taking the win in the A Triple Jump with 12.54 and Erin Hall, new to the team, finishing fourth in the B event with 11.40, an outdoor PB.
Hannah Wallace (5.72) finished fourth in the A Long Jump and it was third place for Laura Buchan in the B event (5.42).
Ben Macaffer recorded a windy PB of 7.07 for a fine fourth in the A Long Jump and Bera Ajala (6.86) finished third in the B event.
Sonny Campbell was delighted to go over 13.00 in the A triple jump for sixth and Euan Wallace competed in his fourth event of the match, finishing in a commendable fifth place in the B event (12.26), while competing in the javelin at the same time, having already competed in the 400 and 100 hurdles evetns.
Fifteen-year-old James Anderson made his debut in the High Jump, having made the long journey from Stornoway with a solid clearance at 1.86 and Daniel Reardon, also wearing the pink and black for the first time cleared 3.41 for third place in the B event and ran a leg of the 4×400 relay.
Charis Crawford was the sole Glasgow Jaguar in both the High Jump and Pole Vault, gaining valuable points with fourth in the A vault.
The Officials as always earned the team full points and thanks to them for their commitment to the team.
Full results can be found on Opentrack and photos from the event can be found on the Glasgow Jaguarrs Instagram and Facebook pages.
Huge thanks as always to sponsors Joma and Glasgow Life.
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Tags:
Derby, Glasgow Jaguars