A round-up of Scottish Seniors Championships action in Aberdeen

Local athlete Myles Edwards delighted the home crowd in the Granite City as he claimed 1500m gold at the Scottish Seniors Championships.

In doing so, the Aberdeen AAC runner prevented Andrew Butchart from completing a double with the 5000m champion forced instead to settle for silver in the metric mile event.

Scotland international Edwards became the first Aberdeen athlete to take a Scottish title at 1500m or the mile and was thrilled with that slice of local history.

“It was just the best feeling I have ever had in athletes, it was ace,” said Edwards after his 3:54.04 win over Butchart and defending champion Grant Muir.

“As I was closing on the line, I knew someone was getting close and of course it was Butchart! What an effort he must have made to get the silver only an hour or so after winning the 5000m title so fair play to him.”

Butchart had secured his first Scottish track gold with his 5000m success which came only 70 minutes or so before the 1500m final.

Aberdeen athlete Will Mackay led the race for a number of early laps but Butchart led the reaction from the pack and duly carved out his own sizeable advantage and won it in 14:28.37.

His Central team-mate, Alastair Hay, made the silver medal his own and Sean Fontana, champion for the past couple of years, made sure of his podium place by getting beyond the likes of Craig Ruddy and Lachlan Oates.

“I found the 1500 pretty tough going I have to say without much time to recover but I m glad I had a go at the double and it was good to win a Scottish title in the 5000m,” said Butchart.

Edwards hadn’t been the only Grampian face to the fore as European under-23 4x400m relay gold medallist Zoey Clark won the women s 400m and Alisha Rees took the 200m title at the age of 16 and just a couple of weeks before she heads to the Commonwealth Youth Games with Scotland.

With 53.31 Clark was close to her 53.11 PB in the one-lap race. Rees won the 200m title in 24.17, while Greg Louden took the men s title in 21.97.

Inverness-raised Kirsty Law bettered Meg Ritchie s record of seven discus title wins with No.8, while Jack Lawrie ended a long run of 400m hurdles title success for David Martin with a run of 51.69 for the athlete who was fourth in Sweden at the European junior championships last month.

Grant Plenderleith won his first Scottish title in the one-lap event. Kirsty Yates picked up another shot put title with 14.47m and there was a javelin success for Edinburgh AC s Aileen Rennie with 44.67m from her club-mate and rival, Paula Gass, who threw 43.66m in a good contest between Scotland s best two women in that event.

Mhairi Hendry held off the challenge of another VP-Glasgow athlete, Philippa Millage, to take the 800m crown, with Jake Wightman a comfortable winner in the men s in 1:49.46. David Smith, like Wightman a Hampden athlete last summer at the Commonwealths, won the men s high jump with 2.20m.

Hazel Ross and Iain McEwan collected the sprint hurdles titles and Sarah Warnock retained her long jump title with 5.95m off a short run-up.

National cross-country champion Maddie Murray took the women s 1500m in 4:17.02 while David John Martin of Shettleston Harrier won the men s long jump with 7.35m.

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