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| Emma on podium |
The junior events took place on Saturday 3rd September in Glasgow Green with the established 3K run and the newer 1.5K event which is steadily growing into a popular event. Both races attract young athletes from 9 years to 17 years, from new runners to club runners. For the second year Emma Lawton ran the 1.5K to help her develop her experience running at big events and challenging herself against the many Glasgow based runners.
I know I speak with some bias, I always expect Emma to compete well in a race but she surprises me how well she does. The plan, as we did last year, was I stay with Emma at the start of race and my wife Sarah is at the finish. As a concerned Father/coach I tried to pass on some wisdom to Emma but she assured me she knew what to do and with that she lined up. After a brief mass warm up the runners were under way and my task was to get round all the barriers to the finish line which is no mean feat in fact, it’s near impossible!
As Emma’s race started so did mine - to get to the other side. I managed to get to the finish corridor next to the monument in Glasgow Green and as I did this I saw Emma in the distance on the back straight. I eagerly looked at the finish line and eventually spied Emma coming over the line at 4:58mins. At this point I got a frantic call from my wife saying she thought Emma might have a got a podium finish. This started a frantic 20 mins trying to track Emma down, find how well she did and locate my wife Sarah and other daughter Melissa. After hassling stewards and negotiating barriers I eventually saw Emma being marched away and we had a happy family reunion in the VIP tent (the nearest I will get to this is the physio tent!). So after tucking into free coffee and Danish pastries we were shown out to the presentation area where Emma had her hard work rewarded.
Emma, age 10, was 6th overall in the 1.5K event and 3rd female (1st female was 12 years old and 2nd female 14 years old) and her time of 4:58mins was 10 seconds shy of matching the 1st female. The award ceremony was the full works with a special trophy, flowers, and dignitaries along with photographers. It was great achievement and experience for Emma and great for raising the Calderglen Harrier club profile.
Apart from Emma’s notable achievement there were other young athletes from the Harriers and even though they may have not received a podium finish, it is always fantastic to see the junior Harriers competing in races. I strongly encourage this as you never know when your day will come to win a trophy. The 3K runners I saw on the day were Mark McKenzie (12:48), Drew Gordon (13:54), Kate Kane (14:40), Mark Phimister (15:43), Liam Woods (15:43), Emma Phimister (15:56) and Sarah Crawford (sister of Alistair) (18:32). My apologies if there is anyone else I have missed.
A special thank you to Drew and his family for cheering & supporting Emma at her award ceremony.
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