News from Inverness Harriers AAC

Celebrating 60 years ......... 1947-2007

Latest News

28 March 08 - Craig's Scottish Call up

Craig Campbell, Fortrose Academy and Inverness Harriers, has been selected to run for Scotland in the Schools International today, Friday 28th March, taking place this year at Strathallan School, Perthshire. Craig who was selected after finishing 6th in the Scottish Schools Cross Country Championships at Irvine earlier in the month has been continuing to show promise and is looking forward to show his worth against the best runners in the country from England, Ireland and Wales. Craig was also a member of the Inverness Harriers under 13 team quartet picking up the silver medal at the Scottish Athletics National Cross Country Championships held last month at Falkirk.

28 March 08 - Calling all Mini-HIPPO's

An addition to the HIPPO concept is the Mini-HIPPO, a competition specifically for U11's (minimum age 9 on day of competition) that will be run during the 3 HIPPO events. U11's can compete in 3 events - 100m, 800m or long jump and their top 2 scores will be added to give an athlete score. The Mini-HIPPO Champion boy and girl will be crowned at the Grand final as the athletes with the highest cumulative athlete score over all three events.

28 March 08 - CANCELLED Club XC Awards Presentation and Club Disco

Unfortunately the Club XC Awards Presentation and Club Disco have both had to be cancelled. Presentation will be made at a future club training night - more details to be announced later.

27 March 08 - Craig Dunain 2008

David Gaille crowned 2008 Club Champion at Craig Dunain.
Results now online - go here
Online photos courtesy of Paul Matheson can be found HERE

21 March 08 - Club XC Awards Presentation and Club Disco

Looking to have a great night out? The Club is organising a Club disco which incorporates the Annual XC Awards Ceremony. So even if you didn't manage to get your name on a trophy this year, come out for a great night out and support our friends who did!

Bring your Mum, Dad, Auntie, Uncle, Granny, Grandpa and wee cousin Shuggie!
We'd all love to have a huge night out and we'd love for your family and friends to share your pride in your achievements over the winter and wouldn't it be great to say a big thanks for all their support for you in your athletics?

WHEN - Friday 4th April 7 til 10:30pm
WHERE - Caley Club in Greig Street
HOW - Tickets on sale soon from your coach

Let's make it a big end of season bash!!

21 March 08 - Follow-up Hammer Day CANCELLED

Due to the horrendous weather conditiond forecast the Hammer day has been postponed. A new date will be issued ASAP. Please pass this info on.

20 March 08 - HIPPO - what - where - when - how

HIPPO is a word you will undoubtedly come across over the next few weeks and to give you a heads up as to what it is, where it will happen, when it will happen, how it will happen and how it will involve you and what you will gain from it as a athlete, coach, official or team manager then you can read all about it HERE

20 March 08 - Only 4 weeks till the track season - non-athlete training

With only a few more weeks to go til the start of the track season, the club is looking for support for running events, officiating and in team management duties.

There is an officials course being organised for the 26th April for any budding officials out there - this day is designed for complete new comers and is the ideal starting point for anyone interested in finding out exactly what happens when you volunteer to officiate for the club at league matches. Club officials are just as important as our athletes - if we don't have club officials then we can't operate fully as a club. So if you think this is something that would interest you - please email Charlie F HERE for more details.

There is also a training session planned for anyone interested in finding out more about team management. Charlie Forbes, who has represented Scotland and GB on numerous occasions as a team manager with international teams will deliver the training. This has been scheduled for the 5th April - please email Charlie F HERE for more details.

18 March 08 - Places available for Edinburgh Marathon

Is anyone interested in running the Edinburgh marathon for free on behalf of Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland.
They have charity places left and are calling for runners to come along and enjoy the spectacular route and atmospheric day out whilst raising some funds for causes that effect the majority of the Scottish population directly or indirectly at some point in their lives. If you don’t feel up to running the whole 26 miles you can do it in teams and relay!

If any one from the club would care for more information or to take part please do not hesitate to get in touch with me Jenny Smith on 0131 220 9599 or jenny.smith@chss.org.uk

15 March 08 - 3 athletes selected for the BOS Javelin Development Day

Our top club javelin throwers were selected for the Bank of Scotland Follow-up Javelin Day held at the Queens Park track. Senior athlete Danica MacLaren travelled from Glasgow to attend the day which was lead by Scottish National Javelin Coach Robert Wilkie. Our top U15 thrower Paula Gass thoroughly enjoyed the day and our top U13 boy Gordon MacKay was also selected. All athletes benefited from the day gaining invaluable coaching points and tips from Robert.

15 March 08 - Top Juniors Selected for Regional Development Camp

Our top U15 athletes were selected to attend the Scottish Athletics U15 Development Camp held on the 15 March at Queens Park. Regional sprints coach, Martin Leyland led the morning session supported by Harrier Jamie Bowie who was invited as demonstrator for the fundamental movements session. In the afternoon session each event group split to cover specific developmental skills before coming together for testing to assess their progress over the winter.

Boys: Michael Bull, Stephen Bull, Ian Coghill
Girls: Charis Mair, Paula Gass, Eilidh Black, Julia Mollison, Mairi MacLennan, Tyler MacLean, Eilidh MacLennan, Mairi Taylor, Jennifer MacLeay

23 Feb 08 - The awesome U13 Boys XC team take Silver at Nationals

Leading the club forward and in style this weekend were the U13 Boys at the Scottish National XC Champs in Falkirk.
Summing the top 4 placed runners positions the team scored 115 points which equalled the VP Glasgow Team score and with Inverclyde AC on 116 points it was a decidedly close run Championship. Where teams score equal points, the winner is the team whose fourth placed runner has the highest finishing position and this weekend that gave VP Glasgow the Gold.

Our first placed harrier was the mighty Craig Campbell who crossed the line in a commendable 7th in a time of 11:57, 14 seconds behind him was Patrick Urquhart in 11th in 12:11, 32 seconds later Patrick Kelly picked up 31st spot with 12:43, Alexander Thorne only 32 second behind him in 66th place ran 13:25, next placed harrier was Connell MacDonald with 14:51 in 118th place then Niall Ross in 122nd place running 15:07 and Chris Mollison in 128th place in a time of 15:26.
So huge CHEER goes out to all our fabulous U13's - Our Scottish National Medallists!!!

Top placed individual performance for the day goes to Mairi MacLennan in the U13 Girls Championship who finished 4th in a time of 12:58 - just 13 seconds short of a medal! What a fantastic run! Mairi was backed up by Yuka Gallagher in 43rd place running 14:15, Alice Gordon in 55th place in 14:30, Elaine Murdoch in 86th running 15:23 and 5 seconds later Katie Stuart finished in 89th place running 15:28s. Overall the U13 Girls team finished 7th with 188 points.

In the U15 boys our sole representative was Ross Fraser who had a good run finishing 96th with a time of 17:49 and in the U15 Girls, Eilidh Black lead the race for home clocking 16:41 in 34th place, Paula Gass ran 17:29 finishing 59th and Tyler MacLean just 10 seconds behind ran 17:39 coming home in 63rd place.

In the combined U17 and U20 women's race, Nicky Chapman ran 19:50 and Zoe Beattie 22:07 to cross the line in 25th and 44th place respectively for U17 women.

A special mention has to go to Chris Fife in the U17 boys race where he finished 20th in 23:16; Chris performed exceptionally well this weekend beating one of his XC 'arch rivals' - **riding high Chris!!!**

23 Feb 08 - Jamie breaks into UK top ten!

Running at the Indoor AAA U20 Championships, Jamie Bowie has set another PB taking his best time to 49.41s.
Jamie's new PB jumps him 2 places in the UK power of ten rankings taking him to 10th in the UK!
More details to follow...

19 Feb 08 - 2 places available for Highland Cross

Lezlye Sutherland has 2 places available in their team for this years Highland Cross. Entry fee is £25 + £100 Sponsorship and the closing date is Feb 29th. So if you are interested please contact Lezlye asap at albagael@btinternet.com or 01463 238519

17 Feb 08 - Club takes 4 team titles in North District XC League

Congratulations to our U11 Girls, U13 Boys, U15 Girls and our Senior women's team who all won the North District XC League team titles.

We also had two individual age group Champions in the U11 Girls Bethany Irvine scored the maximum points of 400 to take the title and Craig Campbell also scored the big 400 in taking the U13 Boys title.

More results here

17 Feb 08 - Final Club XC Run - Craig Dunain

This weekend also saw the conclusion of the Club's XC Championships.

More details here

10 Feb 08 - U15 Juniors jump for joy at the Kelvin Hall

On Saturday 9th February, 6 of our top junior athletes travelled down to Glasgow to compete at the Kelvin Hall in Charis M in the blocks

the Indoor Age Group Championships. Starlet of the day was Charis Mair who took the silver medal in the U15 girls High Jump with a jump of 1.55m, just 1cm off her PB. This performance ranks Charis 3rd in Scotland and equal 4th in the UK rankings and to top it off, Charis has achieved the UK Top 100 target. She also competed in the 60m Hurdles clocking 10.03s in her heat qualifying for the semi final where she ran 10.12s.

Ian C 1.63m

Our second medal for the day came from Ian Coghill in the U15 boys High Jump. Ian jumped 1.63cm to equal his PB and claim the bronze medal, ranking him 3rd in Scotland and 12th in the UK! His next target must be 1.66cm to achieve the UK Top 100 Target and with more technical work coming up it is most definitely within his reach!

Not too far off the medals was Craig Campbell in the U15 boys 1500m clocking 4:59.39 to finish 5th in the final. This was an excellent run by Craig, ranking him 7th in Scotland and especially as this is his first race in his first year in the U15 age group. In the same final Harrier Patrick Urquhart finished not too far behind running 4:59.65 to come home in 8th position.

With a performance in the 800m which ranked her 25th in Scotland, Paul Gass finished 3rd in her heat running 2:36.10. Versatile Paula also competed in the shot finishing 13th with 6.45m. Meanwhile Katie Stewart competed in the 60m finishing 4th in her heat with a time of 8.75s ranking her 30th in Scotland and in the 200m she ran 28.85s to finish 2nd in her heat. Competing in 3 events on the day, Elaine Murdoch finished 3rd in her 200m heat in a time of 30.66s, 6th in the 60m in 9.07s and 24th in the long jump with 3.67m.

All in all an excellent performance by all which sets the pace for our forthcoming competitions both indoors and out!
A big thank you to our travelling coaches and parents - it wouldn't have happened without you!

10 Feb 08 - Nancy Hamilton

It is with great sorrow that we note the passing of club member Nancy Hamilton. Nancy who had been battling cancer courageously for a number of years was very popular within the jogging section and had served as club secretary and loyal committee member for a number of years. Latterly she was very involved in the organisation of the Fort William to Inverness Great Glen Relay which was organised by her partner Graham Whyte. Our thoughts are very much with Graham and Nancy`s family at this time.

3 Feb 08 - Harriers help Scotland triumph in Cardiff

Scotland won the Celtic Cup International in Cardiff today - all in part thanks to two of our senior athletes.

Representing Scotland, Harrier Jamie Bowie ran a storming leg of the 4x400m clocking an unofficial split of 49.5s. Earlier in the day Jamie, running in a very tight lane 1, won his guest race clocking 50.15s. While Kirsty Law threw close to her life time best in the women's shot put with 12.55m.

Scotland won both the senior men and women's titles to win overall with 79 points - a massive 29 points ahead of Wales.