Aberdeen athlete Hannah Cameron was thrilled to finally land her maiden Scottish title after winning the women’s 800m at the Scottish Senior Championships.
Cameron’s was one of a handful of standout performances from north-east athletes at the event which was held in Aberdeen for only the second time.
The 25-year-old old had previously finished second, third, and fifth in her three previous Scottish Championships – but she snatched gold from her rivals on Sunday whilst running one of her fastest times of the season.
It has been a year of steady progress for Cameron, who works as a physiotherapist for NHS Grampian at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Now led by Aberdeen AAC coaches Aaron Odentz and Malcom Stone, Cameron also reached the final of the UK Athletics Championships in June, where she went up against Great Britain internationals Jemma Reekie and Ellie Baker.
Since then she has run the second fastest time of her career, and has hopes of setting a lifetime best in her final race of the season, a British Milers Club meet in Loughborough, later this month.
Cameron’s performance to take the Scottish title was one of tactical aptitude and precise judgement. Tucking behind the front runners over the first lap, Cameron ensured she was in touch with the leading pair with 200m to go. A final injection of pace on the final bend and onto the home straight saw Cameron come home a deserved winner in 2:08.52sec – 0.79sec ahead of second place finisher Katie Johnson of Edinburgh. Fellow Aberdeen AAC clubmate Caitlin Purcell finished in fifth with a personal best of 2:12.91sec.
Speaking about her win, Cameron said the quality of her execution left her elated with the final result. She said: “I was really pleased with it – obviously my goal was to get the gold. I’ve had the silver and the bronze and a fifth place in the past five years so the one spot missing was the gold. I achieved what I set out to do. Times don’t necessarily matter in championship races – but I executed (the race plan) well I thought.”
Having opted not to lead the race – instead allowing rivals Katie Johnson and Philippa Millage to do much of the early running – Cameron was able to place herself in an ideal position to kick for home.
“Going off past experiences in the championships, it has always tended to go quite slow like that – it’s been quite tactical. I’ve made the mistake in the past of leading the race and being outkicked at the end. I was quite determined to make the last move, essentially.
“I was pleased Katie Johnson took on the pace. It was relatively steady though 400m and that kind of broke the three medallists away – then I made a good kick round the top bend at about 200m to go, and that weas enough to keep me clear for the rest of the race. I was pleased with the kick I had at the end.”
Cameron is now coached by Aaron Odentz who, perhaps unusually, is younger than the athlete he is coaching. Yet despite this anomaly, it is a relationship which works well, with Cameron explaining Odentz is receptive to her level of experience in the event.
“Initially, we had to find a good balance because I have a lot of experience – I know my body and I know where I want to go in terms of athletics. But he’s brought a lot of good ideas in terms of training and different approaches to our training regime.
“We now do a lot of tempo work before the session starts – so we get warmed up, do our drills, and generally we’ll do a five minute tempo before a session and actually get your body warmed up. It means you can start the session running.
“Generally we’ve learned that talking to each other and working together is the best way for us. He might put a session out which he thinks might be ideal, but with me being one of the only female athletes in the group, often the session might not be right for a female. Having Malcom’s input as well helps everything come together.”
Elsewhere at the Chris Anderson Stadium, Roisin Harrison completed her preparations for the European Championships in style, setting a new lifetime best to finish more than a second ahead of her nearest competitor. The PhD student is set to compete at the European Athletics in Munich this weekend as part of Ireland’s 4x400m relay team.
Kelsey Stewart, who has historically been better known as a 400m runner, enjoyed two strong performances in the shorter sprints. Competing in the 100m and 200m, the Stonehaven based athlete took a bronze medal in each event to complete her 2022 season.
After taking the Scottish Under 20 championship in the 100m hurdles in Aberdeen last year, 20-year-old Jane Davidson won her first outdoor senior title, running a lifetime best of 14.08sec in the process. Clubmate Catriona Pennet, who won a world championship title earlier this year for the 35-39 age category, ran a season’s best of 14.66sec to take bronze.
In the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, Fearghas Thomson also secured a podium place, finishing third in a new lifetime best of 9:42.97sec.
In the Under 17 age group, Ellon based Hannah Taylor continued her superb progress in 2022 by taking the Scottish 800m title. Running for Aberdeen AAC, Taylor has taken more than seven seconds off her 2021 best for the 800m, and sits at the top of the Scottish rankings for her age category with a time of 2:08.83sec.
Talented Aberdeen thrower Angela McAuslan-Kelly launched the hammer to a new personal best of 57.57m to win the Under 17 women’s title. The new distance means McAuslan-Kelly has cemented herself as Britain’s number one hammer thrower for her age group. Not content with the one medal, the 16-year-old also threw the discus 33.08m to take silver.
Inverness’s reputation as one of Scotland’s best regions in Scotland for young throwers lived up to its billing with a string of athletes taking home national medals. In the Under 17 men’s age group, Rory Stainsby and Sean Radabaugh took bronze and silver in the hammer, whilst in the Under 17 women’s category, Leona Fernandes set a new personal best of 46.52m to take bronze.
Rachel MacLennan took gold in the senior category for the women’s hammer as the only athlete able to surpass 50 metres. In the Under 17 men’s javelin, young Zak Fearn – who is also the Scottish age group champion for decathlon – narrowly won the javelin with a throw of 44.50m.
Jumping for Banchory Stonehaven, Claire McGarvey took the national title in the high jump after clearing 1.68m as the only competitor in the event.
In the women’s 1500m, Inverness Harrier and GB international Megan Keith came within 0.13sec of her personal best on her way to winning the national title. The Edinburgh University student, who took fourth at the European Under 23 Championships in Estonia last year, will race once more this month before closing her season.
