There have been an array of fantastic performances over recent weeks from TEL athletes plus the sight of a few familiar faces from past years.

Leading the way at the Scottish Primary Schools Cross Country Championships in Kirkcaldy on 20^th April, was Tom Ibbs who won the P7 boys event.

There was more success in the Scottish Universities Championships at Grangemouth on 20^th April. Laura Buchan – representing Edinburgh University – starred with a gold medal in the triple jump (10.60m) following an earlier silver in the long jump (5.33m). Adam Hoole – representing Heriot Watt – also came away with medals, winning both the shot put (13.10m) and discus (39.92m). Alister Mackay – representing Strathclyde – won bronze in the javelin with 43.78m and also reached the final of the 400m with 52.66s.  Meanwhile, Erin Hall – representing Stirling University – was 6th in the long jump with 4.69m and Kerry Morris, competing as a guest, jumped 5.15m in the long jump and ran 12.97m in the 100m. For those older TEL athletes, it was great to see friends who have moved to pastures new, with Fergus (LJ), Flora (5000m) and Catriona (400m) competing for RGU and Glasgow.

Meanwhile at the Glasgow Sprints Gala on the 28^th of April, Ben Anderson ran a great 100m in 12.62s and 300m in 40.63s to consolidate a strong start to his outdoor season. Morven Kenny also ran 300m in 46.14s shaving time off the pb she set a few weeks before.

The Scottish National Athletics League season is also underway, and our athletes have been turning out in force to gain team points as well as aim for season and personal best performances. At Grangemouth on the 5th of May, congratulations to Isaac for pbs in the 200m and 400m, Jake for a pb in 1500m and season’s best runs for both Eily and Jamie in their 1500m races.

Finally, on the back of their success at Grangemouth, Laura, Adam, Maja and Alister were back in England competing in the British Universities and Colleges Students Championships in Manchester from the 4^th to 6^th of May. It’s great to see TEL athletes representing their universities at a GB level event and it hopefully bodes well for the rest of the season.

Laura Buchan (Edinburgh) jumped a season’s best of 10.86m in the triple jump qualification, edging close to her pb and 4.79m was her best in long jump qualification.  Erin Hall (Stirling) jumped 4.47m in LJ qualifying was a SB.

Adam (Heriot Watt) had a busy Saturday with a pb to qualify for the 110m hurdles final, 7.35m to qualify for the long jump final and a 4th place in the final of the pole vault, finishing with 4.58m.  Unfortunately, Alister (Strathclyde) had to retire from the high jump after a SB of 1.73m and this also meant he missed the PV and LJ.

Maja Thomson (Edinburgh) ran a great SB of 2:19.01 to qualify in second place in her 800m heat but sadly pulled up in the semi final.

Monday brought two strong performances from Adam – a pb in the hurdles of 14.25s bringing a bronze medal in a hotly contested race, whilst in an exciting LJ final, another 7.35m jump was pushed into second place on the last jump of the competition.

As always, our thanks go to all of TEL’s dedicated, encouraging team of coaches!