EAST Fortune Race Circuit was the venue for the Young Athletes Road Races earlier this month.
As host club, Team East Lothian (TEL) coaches, parents and athletes enjoyed working with scottishathletics to prepare for race day and welcome athletes from all over Scotland.
It was an insight to see what went on behind the scenes for an event like this, including measuring, marking and marshalling the course, as well as encouraging each and every young athlete that turned up to run.
The first event was the under-13 girls’ race, with one lap of the track making up a 2,500m circuit.
Cerys Wright, from Team East Lothian, set off at a steady pace and edged into first place with about one kilometre to go. She held on to that position and increased her lead to storm over the line to win gold, 13 seconds clear of second place.
Also having a brilliant run for Team East Lothian in the under-13 girls’ race were Flora Lawson, Sula Russell and Cara Lai, finishing in 13th, 33rd and 34th places respectively. Heidi Nicholson, running for Musselburgh, finished in 44th place.
The TEL under-13 girls’ team finished in fourth position.
Meanwhile, in the under-13 boys’ race, Josh Cooper was the sole entrant from the host club. He had a great run to finish in 25th position over the 2,500m circuit.
TEL were well represented in the under-15 boys’ race, with five athletes tackling the slightly longer 4,000m race circuit.
Howie Allison was first to finish for the club in a fantastic 10th position. Fraser Lupton was hot on his heels in 12th place, with Charlie Copp and Jake Page finishing closely together in 27th and 31st place. Thomas Gornall ran well to finish 44th and the under-15 boys’ team finished in fifth place.
The under-17 women had two full circuits of the track to complete and running for TEL over the 5,000m route were Olivia Robbins and Eily Sinclair.
Robbins had a strong performance to finish 14th, with Sinclair just behind in 15th.
It was the same 5,000m distance for the under-17 men.
Corey Campbell, from Team East Lothian, wound up the pace to reach top gear for the last lap and was completely clear of the field in the home straight, speeding over the line to gold in an impressive time of 14 minutes and 55 seconds.
Aidan Page raced the distance well to finish in 11th place, with Innes Wright also running well to come 14th.
Jamie Smith had a strong run to finish in 25th and the under-17 men won team silver.
Team East Lothian enjoyed being hosts for the day and were delighted to see so many podium positions, with two club members becoming Scottish Road Race champions, and the under-17 men’s team winning a superb silver.
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