Sarah Inglis beats weather and chasing pack to take under 20 title

Jul 15 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

SARAH INGLIS beat atrocious weather conditions to retain the Scottish Athletics National Under-20 3000metres title at a wind-battered Pitreavie Stadium in Fife on Sunday.

At one point during the race, Sarah, who currently heads the under-20 Scottish rankings for the 3k distance, was actually blown off the track.

As expected, with conditions so poor, times were slow.

Sarah eventually stopped the clock at 10minutes 34.37seconds, which is just over a minute slower than her seasons best of 9min 32.66sec which she recorded at the beginning of last month at Grangemouth.

Despite the time, the Lothian Running Club star was pleased to be picking up another gold medal.

Sarah will return to Pitreavie again this weekend when she will contest the Women’s 1500m at the 118th Scottish Senior Championships.

The club’s Max McNeil contested the Under-20 Mens 3k and came home in sixth place in 10min 18.38secs.

The meeting also incorporated the Scottish Masters Championships and it saw the club’s Brian Turner take the M35 category 5000m title in a time of 17min 02.70secs.

Elsewhere, Lothian Running Club’s Edel Mooney retained her title at the Famous Grouse Crieff 10k Race.

Again, taking the conditions into account, it was no surprise that Edel’s time of 40min 41secs was just over a couple of minutes slower than her figures of 12 months ago.

This placed her 16th overall and first female.

The club’s Jim Alexander also contested the race finishing 93rd in 49min 20secs.

There was also a good representation of athletes from the Lothian Running Club at Saturday’s Famous Alva Games.

In the Open 90m handicap, Darren Thomson won his heat which qualified him for the cross-ties, where he finished runner up.

That was good enough to take him through to the final where he finished a close third.

Alan Stewart, of Blackburn, also progressed to the cross ties by virtue of a second place finish in his heat.

However he narrowly missed out on a place in the final being just pipped for the final qualifying spot.

Sister’s Ashley and Sarah Stewart, Blackburn, along with their grandfather John, Armadale, were all eliminated in the heats.

Thomson was also in the prizes in the 200m handicap.

He came through strongly to win his heat but was denied a clear run in the final and had to settle for fifth place.

Robert Inglis was in the prizes in the 800m handicap (sixth) before finishing fifth in the 1600m and 3200m.

His sister, Mhairi, ran both the 800m and 1600m, where she finished 10th and eighth respectively.

She didn’t go home empty handed however as she picked up a prize in the closing relay race.

Hannah Stewart, of Blackburn, went one better than her father in getting through to the final of the youth’s 90m handicap.

She finished third in her heat and crossed the line in fifth place in the final.

Bethany Nelson also contested the event but was lost in her heat.

In the Youth’s 1600m handicap Lauren Arbuckle, Addiewell, Hannah Stewart Blackburn and Bethany Nelson, Livingston crossed the line in fourth sixth and eighth respectively.

Lauren was also third in the youth’s 400m handicap.