Rachael MacKenzie, of Inverness Harriers, produced one of the top performances at yesterday’s Scottish indoor cham- pionships at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena when she achieved a Commonwealth Games qualifying standard in the high jump.
The north champion, whose previous best was 1.77metres, cleared the required 1.80m before making an unsuccessful attempt at 1.83.
MacKenzie was delighted with her winning performance, but knows she needs to hit the standard once more when the outdoor season starts to be eligible for Commonwealth selection.
She said: “I left Inverness early this morning to get through the snow to Glasgow and it was definitely worth it.
“I’ve been attempting 1.80 for a while so, it was great to clear it. I felt good warming up. I had changed my run-up this week and it seemed to help.
“My previous best was 1.77. By the time I was trying 1.83m I was exhausted and it wasn’t going to happen but I’m happy enough with 1.80m.
“With the Commonwealth Games being in Glasgow, you really want to be there and I’ve always thought the standard was achievable for me. I feel confident I can get a second standard jumping outdoors.”
Kathryn Christie (Banchory Stonehaven AC) was also in excellent form when scoring an impressive sprint double in the women’s 60m and 200m, setting indoor personal best times for both distances.
The Aberdeen College student’s 60m time of 7.56sec marked a significant improvement on her previous best of 7.64 set when representing Scotland in the Sainsbury’s international at the same venue the previous week.
Aberdeen AC’s Zoey Clark, a member of the Scotland 4x400m relay team which recorded a national record time the previous weekend, won the 60m title ahead of Christie last year but had to settle for silver in 7.75.
Christie completed the double by clocking 24.20 in the 200m, which is the fifth fastest time by a British athlete this year. 400m specialist Clark was again runner-up but took some consolation by posting an indoor personal best of 24.62.
Aberdeen AAC’s Chuxx Onyia was another north-east athlete showing fine form when clearing a personal best of 15.21m to win the triple jump.
Onyia, who has won the Scottish outdoor title for the past two years, believes he still has room for improvement before the indoor season is over.
Mark Mitchell bounced back to form by winning the 1,500m in an impressive 3min 49.76sec to claim his first national senior indoor title.
The Forres athlete showed he has recovered from the bad cold which forced him to drop out of the 3,000m when representing Scotland in the Sainsbury’s international meeting the previous weekend.
Myles Edwards became the first Aberdeen athlete to win a medal in this event when he finished second in a personal best and club indoor record time of 3:52.85.
Title-holder Sam Lyon (Aber- deen AAC) had to settle for bronze in the long jump when clearing 7.01. Allan Hamilton won with a best jump of 7.42m with his Edinburgh AC team-mate Gary McKay finishing second with 7.04.
Hamilton also retained the 60m in 6.87 while Aberdeen AAC’s Stephen Dunlop was third in 6.95.
Aberdeen’s Catriona Pennet recorded 8.88sec to take third position in the 60m hurdles. She has now won three bronze and four silver medals in this event over the past decade.
Sam O’Kane (Caithness AAC) was silver medallist in the shot with a throw of 12.26, while Stornoway’s Donald MacLeod clocked 49.80 to finish third in the 400m won by Lasswade’s Greg Louden in 48.23 while Montrose athlete Gregor MacLean set a native record of 5.30m in the pole vault.