SUCCESS For Junior Athletes From Glenpark Harriers

29 April, 2022 | Sport

GLENPARK Harriers’s juniors got their outdoor track season off to a flyer with lifetime best performances.

Over a busy weekend, Harris Morrison was first to compete at the Livingston Open meeting, over 400 metres.

Harris, who recently moved to the distance, started conservatively as he strode down the back straight. Reaching the 200-metre mark, he went into a higher gear and moved into contention for a leading position.

As he hit the home straight, Harris was stride for stride for the win, crossing the line just a fraction of a second off the leader, recording a new lifetime best of 52 seconds.

Later on, Summer Taggart lowered her personal best in the 1,500 metres to under the six-minute barrier, recording a speedy 5.50 minutes.

At a busy joint league meeting at Grangemouth, Jude Dolan set the standard for his teammates to follow, competing over 800 metres.

Keeping in contact with the leading group, Jude showed maturity to avoid the blustery head wind on the home straight before he strode for glory with 300 metres to go.

There was a sprint finish from the 200-metre mark and it was nip and tuck coming into the last 50 metres as the endurance background of Jude came to the fore.

He broke clear to claim victory in a seven-second lifetime best of 2.06.

Nyah Gillan,  Jude Dolan, Simon Okiti and Harris Morrison

Also in the 800-metre event, Nyah Gillan ran a tactical race. She cruised through the halfway stage before increasing pace to pass her competitors before reaching the home straight where she crossed the line equaling her own best time.

Ruby McGill dropped down to the 800 metres and gained valuable race experience, setting a personal target which she will work toward in the coming season.

In the 100 metres, the Harriers’s fastest athlete, 17-year-old Simon Okiti, was fresh from his recent lifetime best of 11.20, confident of matching this run, only for the Scottish weather to put a dampener on that with a very challenging headwind.

Undeterred, Simon was out of his blocks and powering through his sprint phases to hit maximum speed as the athletes went through the 50-metre line.

Simon’s endurance work was profitable as he moved into the lead to claim victory in his heat stopping the clock at 11.57, one of the fastest of the day.

Moving from the shortest event to the longest, 3000 metres, Kyle Johnstone put a marker down on the track after his recent aquathon successes, completing the seven and a half laps in a creditable 10.51 minutes.

Glenpark’s juniors now move on to local club races before coaches and parents start the travels throughout Scotland for the forthcoming national events.

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