Nairn athlete Will Hodi hit the high spots to win the under-20 men’s heptathlon title at the Scottish combined events championships in Glasgow.
The Loughborough-based student scored a personal best 4,993 points, which is a marked improvement on the 4,675 he achieved when finishing sixth in the English championships at Sheffield last month. It also places him in equal ninth position in the Scottish under-20 all-time rankings.
Hodi notched individual event personal bests in the shot (10.89m), high jump (1.86m), 60m hurdles (8.35secs) and 1000m (2:44.15). And he wasn’t far from his best in the 60m (7.45), long jump (6.57) and pole vault (3.97).
He said: “I am really happy as it went well in all the events. I might have done a bit better in the pole vault and long jump, but overall I have no complaints.
“My performance at Sheffield wasn’t so good, because I was just coming back after suffering from Covid. I didn’t have much in the way of symptoms, but it definitely affected me.
“But I knew I could do better and I’m happy to have done that at the Scottish championships.”
Hodi moved to Loughborough at the end of the summer and is thriving in his new environment.
He said: “I’m doing much more training than I’ve been used to, but I’m enjoying it a lot and it seems to be paying off.”
There was also a series of fine performances from Alister Mackay (Inverness Harriers), who picked up the bronze medal by setting six individual personal bests for an overall score of 4,487. His clearance of 13.77 in the shot was the top mark of all athletes in the competition.
His other lifetime bests came in the 60m (7.55), long jump (6.23), high jump (1.80), 60m hurdles (8.98) and pole vault (3.57). The only event he fell short in was the 1000m (3:10.89), which is often the Achilles heel of multi events specialists.
Stroma Fraser (Inverness Harriers) brought another title to the north when winning the under-17 women’s pentathlon with a personal best score of 3,210. She produced a series of consistent performances in the 60m hurdles (9.86), high jump (1.51), shot (10.66) and 800m (2:34.60).
Luc MacLeod (Banchory Stonehaven AC) won bronze in the under-15 boys’ pentathlon with a score of 2,399 points. Luke Pichler (Blyth Running Club) won with 2,835.
The Deeside athlete, who won the under-13 title in 2013, notched personal bests in all five disciplines, his best performance arguably coming in the 60m hurdles, which he completed in 9.41.
He cleared 5.33 in the long jump, 1.57 in the high jump, 8.57 in the shot and completed the 800m in 2:19.90.
Finn Bryce (Aberdeen AAC) was fourth in the under-17 men’s heptathlon with 3,361, while Tom Palmer (Elgin AAC) was sixth, 2,748.
Clark cruises 400m in Glasgow despite pacing problem
Aberdeen AAC’s Zoey Clark cruised to an emphatic victory in a women’s invitation 400m at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena.
The Tokyo Olympic Games relay runner clocked 53.09secs, the second fastest by a Briton this year, when finishing ahead of her Aberdeen clubmate Roisin Harrison, 53.60. Pitreavie’s Rebecca Grieve, 55.21, was third, while Banchory Stonehaven AC’s Kathryn Christie finished fourth, 55.61.
Clark said: “I got a bit carried away and went through the first 200 quicker than intended, which didn’t set the rest of my race up well.
“But it has given me confidence because, despite my misjudged pacing, I managed to hold my form reasonably well. It’s a baseline to improve on outdoors.”
Harrison was rewarded with her second personal best time inside seven days. The previous weekend she had clocked 53.80 when winning another invitation race.
It was a similar story for Christie, who improved by 0.83 from the earlier race.
Stephen Mackay (Inverness Harriers) was beaten into second position by Great Britain under-20 international Kane Elliot (Falkirk Victoria Harriers) in an exciting invitation 800m.
Elliot, was fourth in the 1500m at last summer’s European junior championships in Estonia, won in a personal best 1min 50.87sec with Mackay just 0.08 behind.
Ben Potrykus (Inverclyde AC) was third in 1:51.64, with Michael Ferguson (Aberdeen AAC) fourth in 1:52.94.
Mackay’s time is close to his outdoor PB and comes just a week after he finished second behind GB international Guy Learmonth (Lasswade AC), clocking 1:19.65 in a 600m race.
Anne Howie (Aberdeen AAC) recorded 11:20.58 to finish second behind Falkirk’s Fiona Matheson, who broke her own world record in the over-60 women’s age group 3,000m at the Scottish Masters indoor championships. Matheson recorded 10:56.89 to improve on the 11:01.55 she ran last month.
Breathing struggles hamper Simpson in Getafe half marathon
Banchory’s Robbie Simpson struggled with breathing difficulties when taking fifth spot in the Getafe half marathon on the outskirts of Madrid.
Kenya’s Peter Brandon won by sprinting through the tape in 1hr 2min 12secs to finish two secs ahead of Ethiopia’s Habtamu Birlew Denekew, while Simpson came through in 1:05:24 – 57secs outside his best set at Inverness in 2018.
The Deeside runner, who tackled the race at the end of a one-month spell of warm weather training at Monte Gordo in Portugal, was frustrated with the outcome.
He said: “I felt so good early on when I was running in a group of six or seven. The pace was fine and I was comfortable.
“But as soon as I tried to push any harder I struggled with my breathing and I ended up being on my own from about 5k onwards.
“I don’t know if it was just the dry air or pollution, but my lungs and throat were burning. I had to pick up three water bottles on the course and usually I wouldn’t need anything on a race of this distance.
“I’ve never had that problem before and I’m not sure why it happened. It’s frustrating because my training had gone well in Portugal and I was looking forward to getting a fast race.
“Maybe it was just the change in conditions, because it was very humid on all my runs in Monte Gordo, whereas the first thing I noticed when arriving in Madrid was how dry it felt.
“I guess the travel arrangements didn’t help either, as it took me 12 hours to get here from Portugal as I had two flights and a six-hour wait in Lisbon.”