What a fantastic weekend we had at Ayrshire Athletics Arena for the 2024 West District Track & Field Championships. The weather was phenomenal and our athletes were out in force in a wide range of events. After 2 days of action, 9 Ayr Seaforth athletes took home a total of 12 medals (2 Gold, 6 Silver and 4 Bronze). This is more than double compared to last year!
Thank you to those who officiated and provided help and support over the weekend. It makes a huge difference to the athletes and the overall experience for everyone involved.
Medals
Gold
Matthew Cox – U17M Triple Jump (11.31m)
Findlay Ledger – U13B High Jump (1.42m)
Silver
Matthew Cox – U17M Hurdles (15.10s)
Findlay Ledger – U13B Hurdles (13.73s)
Rory Cumming – U15B 300m (41.25s)
Jamie Muir – U17M High Jump (1.57m)
Sofia Maclean – U13G Discus (15.21m)
Sebastien Ballantyne – U15B Discus (28.78m)
Bronze
Isla Milligan – U13G 100m (14.26s)
Piper Jackson – U13G Javelin (19.85m)
Piper Jackson – U13G Discus (14.22m)
Anna Campbell – U15G Triple Jump (9.37m)
Highlights
There were many highlights across the 2 days. It was great to have lots of new athletes taking part, and this was the first “big” competition for quite a few of our members.
Sprints and Hurdles
Isla Milligan (U13 Girls) qualified 3rd fastest in the 70m Hurdles lowering her PB from 13.20s to 12.85s. In the final she lowered her best again to 12.40s but was just pipped into 4th place. Being the tough athlete that she is, Isla went straight into the 100m and set another PB of 14.40s to easily qualify for the next round. A further improvement of 14.29s sent her into the final where she took the bronze in a time of 14.26s. Rory Reynolds and Findlay Ledger were both running the U13 Boys 75m Hurdles for the first time. In round 1 Rory was 2nd in his heat in a time of 14.40s. Findlay’s heat was a little faster and he managed to qualify for the final despite a little stumble at the first hurdle. In the final, Findlay pipped the 2nd place athlete at the last hurdle to take Silver with Rory finishing in 6th.
Rory Cumming had an outstanding debut competing over 300m! A Silver medal in a time of 41.25s. We look forward to seeing what he does next over the distance. Luca Stewart set new PBs in the 100m and 200m but just missed out on qualification through to the finals in the U17 age group. I’m sure he will be happy with his results given his recent recovery from injury.
Throws
Our young throws athletes were on fire with U13 Girls Piper Jackson and Sofia Maclean leading the way. It’s fantastic to see big results coming through after lots of hard work from these girls. Sebastien Ballantyne also grabbed a Silver medal in the U15 Boys Discus after adding more than 4m to his personal best! Nico Stewart also set a massive new PB of 21.39m in the Javelin. Coach Craig and his support team will be delighted to see these improvements.
Jumps
Findlay Ledger claimed his second medal of the championships winning the Gold medal in the U13 Boys High Jump setting a new personal best of 1.42m. Matthew Cox was another Gold medallist, winning the U17 Men Triple Jump with his second round jump of 11.31m. Anna Campbell (U15 Girls) smashed it in her first ever Triple Jump competition pushing herself into 3rd place with a leap of 9.37m. Maisie Howlett improved her Triple Jump PB by over 40cm with a best of 8.64m finishing in 5th place.
Middle Distance
U17 athlete Finn Love was competing in his first big 1500m competition, managing to lower is previous best time by 12 seconds! Willow Challis ran another quick time in the 1500m, after setting a new PB last week, to take 6th place in the U15 Girls race in 5:27.75s. Emily and Abigail Good were also competing in the 1500m for the first time. Crossing the line together in a familiar fashion, the girls almost ran down the athlete who was in 3rd place but had to settle for 4th and 5th. A brilliant debut over the distance!
Congratulations to the athletes, coaches and their support team. These results reflect the collective hard work of the full team.
High quality photos taken during the event by Bobby Gavin can be purchased at https://www.thatonemoment.co.uk/gallery.html. A limited number of free photos are shared on Scottish Athletic’s Facebook page after each event.
