Inverclyde AC’s U’11’s were leading the way again in the latest Virtual Run Challenge
organised by scottishathletics. This was the 6th such challenge organised by our NGB and for
most athletes has been the only form of inter-club competition for the past year.
This was the third challenge that our U’11’s has taken part in since the recent lockdown
came into force and to the delight of both athletes and coaches, an easing up of the
restrictions regarding the coaching of U’11’s allowed this age group to meet with coaches in
small groups over the weekend and complete their 1.5K run with some competition, while
previous runs had to be solo efforts.
This latest challenge produced both individual top ten and team performances with Lucas
Wagstaff overall fastest and the Inverclyde teams. Finishing 1st , 3rd 5th 7th & 8th . To the
delight of their coaches, a number of those who have just turned 9 and moved up to the
longer distance all gave creditable performances to establish their new targets.
The U’13 team of Ewan Docherty, Liam Kane, Lexie Bremner and Emma Binnie also
performed well over their 3K challenge with Pb’s and a 5th team position. Keir Arthur
produced a Pb in his 4K run to finish 8th in the U’15 Boys event, while Abi Hammerman also
with a new Pb finished 2nd in the U’17 women’s event over 6k with Jonathan Cameron 8th in
the U’17 Men’s event.
Earlier in the first Virtual Challenge of 2021, as the Inter-District Cross Country
Championships were cancelled, this challenge offered the opportunity for athletes to count
for their district in a ‘Virtual Inter -District ‘ event. Inverclyde AC were delighted that Oliver
Wagstaff & Iris Paterson made the U’13 West team which won their age group and along
with Aaron Harkins they took a very creditable 8th place in the club team event. A fantastic 9
were in the winning U’11 West team with Lucas Wagstaff, Oliver Arthur, Grace Barry, Pearl
Paterson, Nuala Munro, Anthony Ward, Charlie Lyne, Olivia Lyne Olivia Law all claiming
team places. Lucas Wagstaff was fastest and the Inverclyde teams were 1st 5th & 7th .
Peter Bradshaw was fastest in the U’20 event and was a member of the 3rd placed U’20
West team.
Acting on the instructions from the Scottish Government and from our National Governing
Body, scottishathletics who strongly advised that even sessions for the Under 12’s should
be cancelled, Inverclyde AC fully complied and from the 6th January ceased delivering group
sessions.
This lockdown was always going to be different from the first; the lack of daylight, bad
weather pointed to this being a daunting task, yet to the credit of our athletes, parents and
coaches a lack of activity and communication was never apparent.
Once again, our social media platforms were well used with coaches issuing sessions, those
for the younger ones taking place under the guidance of parents. Challenges were posted
which could be completed indoors and even a few for the snowy conditions that some were
enjoying. The U’13 group online weekly conditioning sessions were reinstated. With
coaches only being allowed to coach 1 athlete at a time, this meant that those in the event
groups also had little or no contact with their coach and were pairing up to train in
accordance with regulations. Nevertheless, there were opportunities to virtually celebrate
birthdays and organise team quizzes, as well as outdoor training.
Over 40 youngsters, including Minis, from our after school weekly session for 5-8 year olds,
took part in our January Distance Challenge with the focus on improving the time taken to
run a distance depending on age group. All of the youngsters were in one of 4 teams with
team result and improved times being posted on our facebook group each week. Our
website www.inverclydeac.co.uk has been invaluable for submitting results for all our
challenges and we are grateful for the effort put in by club secretary Matthew Higgins in
making this a user friendly system and to the coaches who received these submissions and
posted the results. Parents also played a big part in both organising and supervising their
child while completing the challenges and then submitting the results. We really appreciate
this on top of the more structured ‘home schooling’ they were also responsible for.
February was busy with the club’s ‘Fearless February’ Distance Challenge as well as another
Virtual Superteams Challenge and a Virtual Power Quad for those age 13+ The focus of this
month’s distance challenge changed from improving time to how much distance could be
achieved each week and over the month. Minis & U’9’s were challenged with achieving
targets from 5K upwards with the U’11’s aiming for 15K + over the month. The Under 13’s
were working on a weekly 10% increase of their achieved distance.
Superteams gave an opportunity to participate in both shorter, faster running activities as
well as jumping and throwing. Once again, rolled up pairs of socks were used to aim at a
target for the throwing activity and the jumping activity could be performed indoors as well.
The Power Quad gave the same opportunity for the older juniors to test their speed
strength and agility. 22 Minis & U’13’s took part in Superteams with 15 completing all 4
events within the time- frame despite the awful weather conditions.
The clubs’ junior section, athletes and coaches are all now looking forward to being able to
return to participating in, and coaching group sessions. This will not be a quick return to
normal and the focus will be on re-establishing the fun and friendly ethos, our junior section
is known for.
For information on our sessions and programme contact inverclydeac01@gmail.com or visit
our website www.inverclydeac.org
Inverclyde AC is indebted to the continued support received from Inverclyde Council,
Inverclyde Leisure, Diodes Inc, Smiths of Greenock and Robert MacDonald of Succession
Wealth.
Results
Distance PB Challenge.
Improved performances over the month*
Minis 1K.
O. Bonnar* L. Morgan* E. Kane Z.McAllister R.Callan* T.Galloway* S.O’Brien Orlagh K* L.McFarlane.
A.Grieve S.McLAren * R.Currie I.Lafferty H.Thomson* J.McDougall
L.Thompson S.Buchanan
U’9’s 1K
M.Gerrard* A.Shand* E. Grieve* R. McLaren * E.Buchanan S.Fulton
U’11 1.5K
L.Wagstaff* O.Arthur * A.Ward* O.Lyne * P.Paterson C.Lyne O. Lyne* G.Barry *
B. Roxburgh N.Munro F.Jacher*. M.Farrish C.McDougall. R.Dow*. L.Kane* S.Currie*
U’13 3K
O.Wagstaff* I Paterson* A.Harkins* E.Docherty* L.Kane* B.Gerrard* J.Reilly* E. Binnie* R.Munro*
O.McEwan* E.Coggins* A.Fulton* N.Ward*
Team Event. Joint Winners.
Team B A.Shand R.Currie R. Callan T.Galloway H.Thomson. C.McDougall C.Lyne. O.Law. M.Farrish. L.Wagstaff
L.Bremnner. L.Kane. E.Binnie
Team D. I.Lafferty O.Bonnar. E.Grieve. S.Buchanan L.Thompson M.Geerrard. G.Barry H.Bjonness B.Roxburgh
A.Fulton E.Docherty I.Paterson J.Reilly
3 rd Team A. 4 th Team C
Fearless February Distance Challenge
Minis
20K E.Kane
10K L.Morgan H.Thomson
5K Z.McAllister
U’9’s
15K M. Gerrard
10K S.McLaren
5K A.Shand
U’11’s
60K. L.Kane
50K O.Law. O.Lyne C.Lyne
40K. A.Ward
20K. P.Paterson
10K R.McLaren
Superteams
U’11 Boys 7 th A.Ward M.Gerrard
U’11 girls 7 th O.Law E.Grieve L.Morgan
U’13 Boys 7 th E.Docherty B.Roxburgh H.Bjonness J.Reilly
U’13 Girls 12 th P.Paterson E.Binnie M.Farrish
Minis completing the challenge
O.Bjonness M.Jamieson S.Buchanan A.Grieve
Virtual Challenge 4.
U’11 teams
1 st L.Wagstaff O.Arthur. A.Ward
5 th O.Lyne P.Paterson C.Lyne
7 th O.Law G.Barry N.Munro
U’13 teams
8 th O.Wagstaff I.Paterson A.Harkins
11 th E.Docherty L.Kane L.Bremner
22 nd B.Gerrard R. Munro O.McEwan
Top 10 places
U’11 Boys 1.5K
1L.Wagstaff 5. O.Arthur. 10. A.ward
U’11 Girls 1.5K
6. O.Law 7. P.Paterson
U’13 Girls 3K
5. I Paterson
Virtual Challenge 5
U’13 Team Event. 2 miles
5 th . I.Paterson L.Kane. O.Wagstaff
7 th E.Docherty A.Harkins. B.Gerrard
12 th L.Bremner E.Binnie R.Munro
Individual
6 th I.Paterson
U’11 Team Event 1 mile
4 th C.Lyne O.Arthur. L.Wagstaff
8 th P.Paterson H Bjonness O.Law
Individual
7 th C.Lyne. 10 th O.Arthur.
9 th P.Paterson 10 th O.Law
Virtual Challenge 6.
U’11 teams
1 st L.Wagstaff O.Arthur. H.BjonnessFe
3 rd A.Ward C.Lyne. O.Law
5 th S.Devlin R.McLaren R.Dow
7 th C.McDougall M.Farrish L.Hunter
8 th S.Currie A.Shand E.Grieve L.Cameron
Top 10 Places
U’11 Boys. 1.5K
1.L.Wagstaff 3. O.Arthur. 4. H.Bjoness. 5. A.Ward. 8. C.Lyne 9. S.Devlin. 10 R.McLaren
U’11 Girls 1.5K
5. O.Law
Special mention for A.Shand E.Grieve L.Hunter & L.Cameron competing over this distance for the first time.
Comments