[Not a valid template]The Grangemouth refinery flame in the background gave an Olympic feel to the Scottish U14 and U18 Championships on Saturday and it was a successful trip for Oliver Wakefield and Alex Catherwood. Oliver started the day by winning the U14 long jump with 5.50m (wind -1.2), more than half a metre clear and Alex soon followed with a win in the U18 high jump with a clearance of 1.65m. In the 100m, Oliver won his heat in 12.47 sec (- 0.4). The final came later in the afternoon when conditions had worsened considerably but the final went ahead. The final was won by Michael Olsen of Edinburgh, a talented athlete who had headed Oliver previously at the Scottish Indoors in March. Oliver came 2nd in 12.46 sec (-2.1) with another old rival 3rd in Robbie Marrs of Lisburn.
This is the first year that Athletics Scotland has had even numbers in its Age Group Championships and while this bviously suited Oliver, it made Alex at 15 very young in the U18’s.
Two other athletes appear under North Down in the results but, eager as we are to recruit talented athletes, we have to confess that they are not known to us (maybe yet).