Monday 11th July 2022

Read on to hear how Saints students got on when they took the #SheCanSheWill Football Cup to a local training session

In the 2021-22 season, University of St Andrews Women’s 1st team won the #SheCanSheWill Cup (full coverage found HERE). In a brilliant fashion, the club have taken this as an opportunity to inspire the next generation of players by taking the prestigious cup ‘on tour’.

On 24th June 2022, two members of the Saints Women’s Squad attended a training session in Auchtermuchty to meet and inspire the 9-12 year old Bellvue Colts Girls Squad. Sophia Anderson of the Women’s 2nd team and Daisy Beddall, one of the finalists and penalty shoot-out scorers from the first team, made the final session before the summer holidays memorable for the 15 girls in attendance.

A fun warm up, a dribbling skills challenge and a match that put the students through their paces ended with the opportunity for the girls to hold the trophy and ask questions. There were smiles all round as the players heard the opportunities in football at university or college after school!

Stuart Milne, Director of Football at University of St Andrews, was delighted with the session and said:

It is really important to the club to be able to help and support grow the women’s game in Scotland. The club is committed to helping provide young girls and women as positive role models to look up to, that in turn will encourage and inspire them to play the game for as long as possible.

Each week during the academic year we have players from the club who volunteer their time to coach with the St Andrews and East Neuk Girls Football Club. We wanted to help use the success of winning the #SheCanSheWill Cup for the first time, to further showcase our players and give the next generation something to aim for”

The #SheCanSheWill Cup knockout tournament will return in 22-23 so look out for entries going live!

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Monday 6th June 2022

The final SSS Medal Table of the 2021/22 season is here!

The SSS Medal Table is a method for institutions to see how successful their student-athletes have been over the course of the SSS season.

The table includes all events in which medals have been awarded during the 2021/22 season.

All semester 1 and 2 events which took place have been added.

The table defaults to alphabetical but can be sorted by any of the column headings.

 

SSS Medal Table 2021/22

InstitutionGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Abertay University43
411
Ayrshire College112
Borders College11
City of Glasgow College4217
Edinburgh College224
Edinburgh Napier University4217
Fife College1427
Glasgow Caledonian University96318
Heriot Watt University10111334
Queen Margaret University123
Robert Gordon University510722
Scotland's Rural College112
UHI51410
University of Aberdeen23361978
University of Dundee34212075
University of Edinburgh876652205
University of Glasgow466245153
University of St Andrews714138150
University of Stirling433731111
University of Strathclyde32333398
University of the West of Scotland116623
Z-Guest Entries12111538

 

Total Events: 73 (88% of planned activity)

Last Updated: June 2022

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Monday 30th May 2022

The 21-22 Cycling season came to a thrilling finale with the Criterium Championships sponsored by Le Col at Fife Cycle Park.

The 21-22 Cycling season came to a thrilling finale with the Criterium Championships sponsored by Le Col at Fife Cycle Park. The day started with a coaching session in the morning for beginner student cyclists taking their first steps into racing. The session was made possible thanks to funding from Scottish Cycling allowing students to participate at no additional cost. There was strong turnout with first time races alongside seasoned veterans learning from coach Anna Fairweather as they both looked to sharpen their skills heading into day’s racing.

Students before the coaching session

The Men’s Championship started at a blistering pace, as many races at Fife Cycle Park do, which saw an elite group of seven away early. Not blistering enough however for Edinburgh’s Ciaran McSherry, who attacked the group and was gone, proceeding to build an extraordinary lead, eventually lapping all but one of his competitors. The rest of the podium was decided though a series of attacks eventually seeing Edinburgh secure the 1-2 with Louis Moore proving strongest in second and Matiss Robertson of UHI securing his second student podium of the season in third.

Ciaran McSherry (University of Edinburgh) crossing the finish line

The Women’s Championship saw a similarly explosive tempo from the gun, with Beth Maciver (GCU)  and Arianne Holland (Edinburgh) showing no mercy to their competitors, riding away in the opening laps, never to be caught. It was a display of textbook cornering technique and smooth rotation between the two, who both ride for the Alba Development Team. It eventually came down to the final sprint where Maciver taking first position round the last corner and then launching an unbelievable sprint to take the title by several bike lengths with Holland rolling home in second with Maisie Aubrey (Stirling) proving the strongest of the rest to take home third.

The Women’s Podium. Maisie Aubrey (LEFT), Beth Maciver (MIDDLE) and Arianne Holland (LEFT)

Both races included the “Ride Faster, Ride Further” Combativity Award sponsored by Le Col won by Neelesh Corey Batchasingh and Catriona Barbour for the men’s and women’s races respectively.  Both showed incredible spirit and perseverance during their races and were thoroughly deserving of their place on the podium.

The results of the day sealed the Institution Series win for the University of Edinburgh with 480 points, beating out Dundee in second with 398 points across the year, with Stirling just pipping Glasgow for third with 231. Points were earned for every Scottish Student Cycling event of the academic year, combining off-road and on road performances for one combined ranking.

In addition to the student races, the day also featured category 4 races for men and women as well as an open race. All three included some thrilling racing with non-stop attacks and some stand out performances with safe and sensible handling being shown by all riders involved.

A special thanks goes to Le Col for sponsoring the event, Scottish Cycling for funding the coaching session and all the commissaries, marshals and volunteers, without them none of this would be possible.

Photo credit: Nico Anelli

Congratulations to all Medallists! Full results can be found HERE. Photos can be seen HERE

Men’s

1st Ciaran McSherry, University of Edinburgh
2nd Louis Moore, University of Edinburgh
3rd Matiss Robertson, University of the Highlands and Islands

Women’s

1st Beth McIver, Glasgow Caledonian University
2nd Arianne Holland, University of Edinburgh
3rd Maisie Aubrey, University of Stirling

Ride Faster, Ride Further Combative Award

Men’s: Neelesh Corey Batchasingh, University of Dundee
Women’s:  Catriona Barbour, University of Stirling

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Thursday 26th May 2022

Students shone at Stirling as they took on the epic Monument Mile challenge

The Monument Mile has established itself as a special event over time and this year’s iteration certainly lived up to that expectation. Records were broken, inspired by the brilliant crowd that came out to support the athletes, and students showcased their talent brilliantly.

It is an age-old simple, yet challenging concept the event is based on: who can run the mile the fastest? 35 students from 8 institutions joined runners from across the country as they attempted to answer that question on 20th May.

The athletes were set off in races seeded by personal best times round the University of Stirling track – warming up the crowd almost as much as the flame machines at the side of the track – as we edged ever closer to the eagerly anticipated Elite Men’s and Women’s races.

The Women’s Elite Race was a spectacular race, with all barring one athlete finishing in under 5 minutes. Overall 1st and 2nd place runners were Niamh Carr and Katie Lowery respectively (both University of Edinburgh) who controlled their race, utilising the pace set by others and putting in a brilliant kick in the final 200m. As Niamh took the Elite Women’s Prize, the student prizes were awarded to Katie Lowery, Hannah Anderson and Kirsty Purcell in top-down order. With Hannah and Kirsty also from Edinburgh, the famous Haries green decorated the podium!

It was then all eyes on the Men’s Elite Race which featured 4 student men battling for the overall prizes as well as the student prizes. Ben MacMillan (University of Stirling) took to the front of the pack to help lead the race behind the pacer and Kieran Reilly (University of Stirling) joined him to maintain a stunning pace. It was a kick at the 400m mark from Ben MacMillan, coupled with windless conditions, that sealed a brilliant win in under 4 minutes! This makes Ben the first Scot to break the 4-minute mile time in Scotland since 1985 and was also a Meeting Record. Kieran did enough to seal second place, holding off Jack Patton from Kilbarchan, whilst Kristof Hornyik (University of St Andrews) and Ben Sandilands (Scottish rural College) also had superb runs. With Ben claiming the Elite Men’s prize, the student men’s medals went to Kieran Reilly, Kristof Hornyik, and Ben Sandilands.

A Student Team Prize was awarded to the 4 student runners from one institution who achieved the fastest overall cumulative time. This went to University of Edinburgh runners Niamh Carr, Katie Lowery, Callum Tharme and Blayne Wright.

Massive thanks to Michael Wright and the rest of the Monument Mile team for partnering with SSS this year to provide a student championships within the competition, we look forward to working with you again. Thank you also to the officials and volunteers who gave their time to support the event!

You can catch up on the action via the recorded YouTube LiveStream HERE and photos HERE. Full results can be found HERE.

All images used in this article courtesy of Bobby Gavin.

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Wednesday 25th May 2022

SSS are delighted to announce the signing of a new partnership agreement with Scottish Squash. This agreement will support both organisations toward strategic goals set for the next 3 years (until 2024).

SSS are delighted to announce the signing of a new partnership agreement with Scottish Squash. This agreement will support both organisations toward strategic goals set for the next 3 years (until 2024).

Jack Brodie, Club Development Manager at Scottish Squash, shared their excitement for the updated agreement by saying:

‘Scottish Squash are delighted to be working with Scottish Student Sport to grow squash within universities and colleges across Scotland. We are positive that this partnership will allow squash to thrive and provide more opportunities for students to experience the physical, mental and wellbeing benefits of the sport.’

This collaboration will ensure the continued development of student squash in Scotland. The partnership will focus on growing participation numbers to return the sport to pre-pandemic levels, improving the competition offering and focusing on engaging more female players via the new HIIT Squash sessions.

Jess Barrows, Events Coordinator at Scottish Student Sport, added “As an indoor sport, squash has been one of the sports hardest hit by the pandemic. We’ve already seen good signs of recovery in the student sector, but it is clear a collaborative effort is needed to re-energise the sport and bring players (specifically women) in to the game. We are excited to work with Scottish Squash in this capacity!”

You can view the full document HERE. If you wish to see which other governing bodies have partnered with SSS, see our Partnerships page.

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Thursday 30th January 2020

The Scottish Student Netball Championships 2020 has been rearranged to Saturday 14th March 2020 at University of Strathclyde.

We are delighted to announce that the Scottish Student Netball Championships 2020 has been rearranged to a different date after popular demand. The event will now be taking place on Saturday 14th March 2020 at University of Strathclyde.

Venue: University of Strathclyde

Date: Saturday 14th March 2020

Time: 0900-1800

Full event details and the entry form can be found on the Scottish Student Sport website. Entries will be accepted until 28th February, 4pm.

If you want to be involved with supporting the running of this event, check out the exciting role of the Scottish Student Netball Chair! We are looking for an energetic and committed individual to act as the lead volunteer within Scottish Student Netball. Be quick – the deadline for applications is Sunday 2nd February!

We look forward to seeing the best student netball clubs from all over Scotland compete in this prestigious event.

Thank you to University of Strathclyde and Netball Scotland for their support.

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Thursday 16th January 2020

Under the dramatic backdrop of Stirling Castle, the 2020 Inter Districts Cross Country Championship was to be one for the ages.

Photo credit – Bobby Gavin

Incorporated this year within a British Cross Challenge event, the Scottish Student teams battled against elite home countries national squads and top club athletes alongside the usual fare of East, North and West district teams. All in all, there was a total of 113 athletes in the Women’s race and a total of 161 athletes in the Men’s race.

Owing to the strong fields assembled for each race, competitors surged from the start line at an electric pace and coping with this early surge in pace would be essential to getting the best out of oneself on the day.

The late, great Muhammad Ali once quipped “Ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong” and the Men’s and Women’s Scottish student teams overcame more than a few thrills and spills on the muddy, twisty course, to become
Inter District silver and bronze medallists respectively.

“Today our student athletes demonstrated that they can mix it with top international athletes, their performances are a product of the excellent support they receive from their families, teammates, coaches and institutions. The results also reflect the up and coming nature of the sport amongst the student population, watch this space!”

Michael Rimicans – SS Cross Country Chair

In addition to our Inter-Districts team, there were also some stellar performances from other student athletes present. Particularly noteworthy were the results of the student athletes running for the National Squads, well done to Annabel Simpson (Glasgow University), Zoe Plfug (Edinburgh University), Holly Little (Queen Margaret University), Constance Nankivell (Edinburgh University), Kerry McAngus (Strathclyde University), Eloise Walker (Glasgow University), Niamh Carr (Edinburgh University), Jack Leitch (Edinburgh University) & Hamish Hickey (Stirling University). There was also an encouraging number of student athletes running in club vests.

The following athletes competed for the Scottish Student Sport team, where the first 6 finishers counted towards the medals. Please note that position only refers to placing against other Inter District athletes:

Women:

3rd Rebecca Johnson – University of Edinburgh

14th Lynn McKenna – University of Glasgow

16th Rhona Mowat – University of Heriot Watt

17th Zoe Bates – University of Aberdeen

30th Polly Edwards – University of Edinburgh

32nd Hannah Addison – University of Edinburgh

33rd Aofie Carr – University of Glasgow

38th Niamh Shaw – University of Dundee

41st Caitlin Arnott – University of Aberdeen

42nd Rhona Tytler – University of Edinburgh

43rd Carolyn Cameron – University of Edinburgh

 

Men:

8th Alexander Chepelin – University of Edinburgh

9th Eilsha De Mello – University of Edinburgh

11th Craig Jardine – University of Strathclyde (pictured, photo credit Bobby Gavin)

17th Alex Muir –  University of Edinburgh

18th James Dunn – University of Heriot Watt

22nd Callum Tharme – University of Edinburgh

23rd Tom Graham-Marr – University of Aberdeen

32nd Cameron Smith – University of Glasgow

34th Luca Fanottoli – University of Stirling

40th Alastair Thomas – University of Edinburgh

42nd Andrew McAngus – University of Strathclyde

47th Steven Murray – University of Aberdeen

Thank you to Stirling Council, the officials, organisers and volunteers for putting on such a fantastic showcase event for our sport.

Full results can be found HERE

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Friday 8th February 2019

The Scottish Student Games have once again been and gone – but what a Games it was. Each of the 4 Championships which took place across the City of Edinburgh brought brilliant performances from OVER 600 STUDENTS and provided memories to last a lifetime. Read on for a snapshot of the action!

Scottish Student Climbing Championships – Eden Rock

Despite the weather causing disruption to travel, 21 students from across the country made it to the brand new Eden Rock climbing wall in Loanhead, Edinburgh. Students attempted multiple bouldering problems, in various degrees of difficulty, over a 3.5 hour period and scored points depending on the number of attempts it took to complete them. Those who mastered the challenges with the least attempts qualified for the Finals which brought a new element to the competition – a race against the clock!

The finalists (4 Men and 4 Women) were allowed just 3 minutes to study the new routes and rehearse their movements. Those ranked 4th were given 3 minutes to complete the routes, whilst the others remained in isolation. Each climber then attempted the climb in ranked order, scoring points for the number of holds they successfully reached, before repeating this on another route. With multiple spectators, aching bodies and the clock against them the pressure was truly on, but the determination to succeed was rife amongst all finalists providing thrilling viewing. In particular, well done to Keira Farner (University of Edinburgh) who managed to finish in 2nd place despite being ranked 3rd after qualification!

In sport however, there can only be one winner. Congratulations to Lucy Ross (University of the West of Scotland) and Fraser Moodie (University of Strathclyde) for taking the titles in the Women’s and Men’s Championships, respectively. Sophie Moodie (University of Glasgow) took third in the Women’s event whilst Charlie Hosier (Edinburgh Napier University) and Jack Blunt (University of Edinburgh) collected the silver and bronze medals for the Men’s. Great to see the Moodie brother and sister combination taking home their fair share of the silverware! Well done to all competitors and we hope to see you at our next Climbing event. Thank you to Mountaineering Scotland for providing additional support and prizes for the event, and to Stuart Younie (CEO, Mountaineering Scotland) and Calum McBain (East Regional Development Officer, Mountaineering Scotland) for attending.

 

Scottish Student Fencing Beginners’ Open Championships – Edinburgh Napier University

Everybody starts at the beginning, and competing can often be daunting, which is why we offer a Beginners’ Championships in our Fencing programme each year! This environment allows students who have less than 2 years’ fencing behind them to experience the joy of competing and learn more about the sport. We saw students develop in confidence throughout the Championships and witnessed spectacular displays of fencing well beyond their years!

Saturday brought two Women’s events (Epee and Sabre) and Men’s Foil. Well done to University of St Andrews who placed in all Womens’ Epee medals positions (Cassidy Ainsworth-Grace, Lucy Warrington and Emily Matthews, respectively)! University of Aberdeen won a gold and bronze medal in the Women’s Sabre from the excellent performances of Maike Miller and Ella Willsmore, respectively. Lucy Warrington also added to the University of St Andrews collection by winning the silver. University of Edinburgh dominated the Men’s Foil podium through the golden efforts of David Rinaldi and double bronze medals for both Tommy Young and Javier Pérez Rodriguez. Lukas Rossmanith (University of St Andrews) did well to take silver.

Sunday’s competition brought even more excitement! We shine the spotlight in particular on Ruaridh Smith (University of Aberdeen) who came back fighting to avenge his second place Sabre position in the 2018 Championships. His speed, improved technical skill and sheer determination not only won him gold in Men’s Sabre this year, but also the Men’s Epee! With only 10 minutes in between finals, after a long day’s fencing, this is quite the achievement. Good news also came in the form of family spirit as the parents of Dominic Lee (University of Dundee) travelled 110 miles to see him compete in his first ever Fencing competition! With support like that behind him, success soon followed and Dominic took the silver in Men’s Sabre. Heriot Watt University student, Arthur Pak Hei Mok, also showed dramatic improvement from last year’s event to take the Sabre bronze, alongside Lukas Rossmanith (University of St Andrews). Men’s Epee silver was won by Alex Krabbendam (University of Edinburgh) with bronze medals claimed by Alex Strauss-Jones (University of Edinburgh) and Thomas Iken (University of Aberdeen).

The Women’s Foil event was dominated by University of Glasgow students who took gold, silver and bronze! Congratulations to Camille Hauffmann, Justyna Toporkiewicz and Phakanadh Sutthent for taking the silverware back to the West. Cassidy Ainsworth-Grace (University of St Andrews) added the final medal to the Saints tally with a Foil bronze.

Congratulations to all competitors for your fantastic efforts, full results can be found on our website here. Winners of all weapons have not only won themselves the silverware, but also a free place in our Individual Championships! The fencers have just over a month to fine tune their skills before going up against the best student fencers in Scotland – a brilliant learning opportunity for all.

Scottish Student Trampoline Open – Sport and Exercise, Pleasance

Elegant, powerful and gravity-defying trampoline routines were displayed across the Student Games weekend by students from all over the UK! The prestigious Open event attracted over 500 participants from 33 institutions and brought with it a return of the Home Nations event, hosted for the first time in Scotland last year.

Sensational displays were seen across all categories, and with strong competition from the Home Nations, Scottish students did well to secure 21 places on the podium (click here for Scottish medallists, full results can be found here). Hard fought golds were taken by Charlotte Marshall (University of Edinburgh) in the Intervanced DMT, Austen Waite (University of Glasgow) in the Intermediate Men and Murray Findlay (University of St Andrews) in the Pro-Elite Men. These sterling performances, joined with the other Scottish results saw the hosts retain their Home Nations title for another year – well done everyone!

Many thanks to Steve Paige (Head of Development) from Scottish Gymnastics for attending and to all those involved in the fantastic organisation of such a large-scale event.

Scottish Student Table Tennis Championships – St Leonard’s Land

2019 has brought the largest number of student entries to our Table Tennis Championships on record! This is an excellent sign that table tennis, and student sport, is only on the rise in Scotland. The sun shone on the day, which whilst a positive sign for some, the glare of which brought an unexpected additional challenge to the knockout stages. Not fazed by this, we saw excellent performances across the disciplines.

Yao Tang (University of Stirling) seemed unstoppable as she didn’t lose a single set in the qualifying stages of the Women’s singles. She met a strong opponent in Yuhan Wang (Edinburgh Napier University) who took Tang to 4 sets, however Tang remained strong and took the title. Yuhan Wang came a hard-fought second place, whilst Lydia Fu (University of Edinburgh) took the bronze.

Similar dominance was seen in the Men’s Singles as Commonwealth Games 2018 athlete, Colin Dalgleish (Robert Gordon University), took on the best students in the country. It was no surprise that the 9th place finisher in the international competition would storm to the title, though he was put through his paces by Scottish Student Table Tennis Chair Yubo Rasmussen in order to get there! Well done to Johannes Laute (University of Edinburgh) who took the silver and John Hannah (University of Dundee) who claimed bronze.

The Mixed Doubles is an open event, which sees students from different institutions play together, as well as mixed-gender teams. With the momentum from their podium places in the singles, the duo of Johannes Laute (University of Edinburgh) and John Hannah (University of Dundee) stormed to the Gold! Women’s singles gold medallist, Yao Tang, joined forces with Keir Morton (both University of Stirling) whilst Colin Dalgleish (Robert Gordon University) & Zeid Naseem (University of the Highlands and Islands) competed for the final places.

Full results from this event can be found on our website here.

To top off a great day of sport, Richard Yule (Chief Operating Officer, Table Tennis Scotland) attended the event. A long-term supporter of student sport, and table tennis in particular, it was excellent to see him take in the action and present the medals! Many thanks to Richard for his ongoing support.

 

Overall, the Scottish Student Games 2019 weekend was a huge success! It couldn’t have happened without the efforts of all our volunteers, excellent venue staff and the student competitors who make it all worthwhile – we thank you all. Here’s to another great year of student sport!

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Friday 19th January 2018

Scottish Student Sport is delighted to announce the selected men’s training squad for the 1718 season.

Scottish Student Sport is delighted to announce the selected men’s training squad. The team will face Scotland U19s at the end of February and compete in an exciting international fixture against Irish Students in early March.

The squad will assemble for training sessions throughout February to prepare for the fixtures with an extremely strong group of players who will look to build on last season’s reincarnation where they put the student game back on the international map. Players have been selected from Scotland’s top performing institution teams with a specific criteria being put in place by the management team.  Selected students represent University of St Andrews, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde, University of Dundee and University of Stirling.

Ben Philip, Head of Competitions at Scottish Student Sport, said: “It is great that the Scottish Student Rugby squad will again compete against Scotland U19s in 2018. The match against Irish Students adds a further challenge for the team. The size of the student rugby programme in Scotland means it is only right that we have a team to showcase the quality of player in the system and to offer the opportunity to the best students from our institutions to represent their country of study.”

Scottish Rugby’s Student and Participation Manager, Darren Burns added:  “Scottish Students’ Men’s Rugby Team recognises and rewards the top performing players from the student game.  More and more players are attracted to playing a creative style with and against their peers.  This increase in student numbers, along with the excellent rugby programmes offered by institutions, has seen the standards of student rugby rise and they will be very competitive games against Scotland U19 and Ireland Students”.

Forwards                                                           Institution

Murray Devine                                                    University of Dundee

Rob Thomas                                                        University of Edinburgh

Nick Stephen                                                       University of Edinburgh

Edward Russell                                                   University of Edinburgh

Scott Burnside                                                    University of Edinburgh

Archie Whittingham-Ingram                             University of Glasgow

Jonny Spence                                                      University of Glasgow

Chris Barnes                                                        University of Glasgow

Theo Nwosu-Hope                                             University of Glasgow

Charlie Thomson                                                University of Glasgow

Fraser Christie                                                     University of Glasgow

Stephen Tue                                                         University of St Andrews

Fergus Bradbury                                                 University of Stirling

Lyall Archer                                                          University of Strathclyde

Duncan Wither                                                    University of Strathclyde

Angus Neilson                                                     University of Strathclyde

Finlay Simpson                                                    University of Strathclyde

 

Backs                                                                 Institution

Max Stobbs                                                        University of Aberdeen

Bruno Smith                                                      University of Edinburgh

James Small-Edwards                                       University of Edinburgh

Robbie Kent                                                       University of Edinburgh

Ben Rose                                                            University of Edinburgh

Jon Price                                                             University of Edinburgh

Kerr Stoddart                                                    University of Glasgow

Fraser Grossse                                                  University of Glasgow

Finn Murphy                                                     University of St Andrews

Toby Hall                                                           University of St Andrews

Scott MacGregor                                              University of St Andrews

Roland Walker                                                  University of St Andrews

Luke Earl-Wright                                               University of Stirling

James Couper                                                   University of Stirling

Owen Jarvie                                                        University of Stirling

 

More information on the fixtures vs Scotland 19s and Irish Students will be released shortly.

 

More information:

Head of Competitions at Scottish Student Sport, Ben Philip ben@scottishstudentsport.com

SS Men’s National Rugby Squad Team Manager, Guy Richardson guy@eigerperformance.com

Twitter: @sss_rugby and @ScotStuSport

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScotStudentRugby/ and https://www.facebook.com/ScotStuSport/

 

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Wednesday 17th January 2018

The annual Inter-District Cross Country Championships pits the very best Scottish athletes against each other over an undulating, grassy mile circuit against the dramatic backdrop of Arthur’s seat in Holyrood Park.

The annual Inter-District Cross Country Championships pits the very best Scottish athletes against each other over an undulating, grassy mile circuit against the dramatic backdrop of Arthur’s seat in Holyrood Park. The race is the perfect re-introduction to the Cross Country season after the festive period, a fantastic spectacle for all and quite handily a mere stone throw from SSS HQ. A Men’s and Women’s National Student Squad were entered to compete against the regional teams in this highly anticipated event.

This year lived up to expectation, with 26 student athletes across both the senior men’s and women’s races. The race is largely a grudge match between the rival districts and the student teams, with the first 6 athletes across the line for each team counting toward the team placing. The winning team is decided by the team with the lowest score (i.e. 1st place= 1 point, 2nd  place = 2 points etc). This means the race truly is a team effort and every place counts, making it really exciting to compete in and spectate!

The Women’s race was off at 10:40 promptly for the four lap (6km) race, with a blistering pace being set from the off. Annabel Simpson (University of Glasgow), Gillian Black (Queen Margaret University), Zoe Bates (University of Aberdeen), and Naomi Lang (University of Edinburgh) were among the early leaders, holding their own in a stacked field. They were closely followed by the chasing pack which included University of Edinburgh athletes Amy Frankland, Catriona Graves and Rebecca Johnson.

As the race drew to its concluding stages, the leading pack began to splinter with the win taken by Fionnuala Ross (Shettleston Harriers) representing Team West in a time of 22:27. Our athletes stuck together and pushed for a sprint finish as a team. Annabel Simpson was the first Scottish Student home in 24:08 to finish 19th, narrowly ahead of Zoe Bates (20th, 24:09), Gillian Black (21st, 24:12) and Naomi Lang (22nd, 24:20). A big push from Amy Frankland (26th, 24:29) and Catriona Graves (28th, 24:32) coming home one after the other completed the counting places and concluded a very strong team placing for the students. Completing the student contingent were Rebecca Johnson (31st, 24:42), Laura Stark (34th, 24:53), Lauren McCulloch (39th, 25:11), Hannah Addison (40th, 25:15) and Sophie Collins (45th, 25:49).

This meant the Women’s team placed 3rd overall, comfortably ahead of the North District team! Full results can be found HERE.

The Men ran the same course but with an added long and short lap to take the total distance to 8km of muddy Cross Country goodness. As with the Women’s race, the starting pace was blisteringly quick, the first kilometre covered by the leading athletes in just under 3 minutes!

Logan Rees (University of Edinburgh) was among the early leaders, going toe to toe with GB Orienteer Kristian Jones in the early stages of the race. Keeping a close eye on the leaders were Aidan Thompson (University of Stirling) and Euan Gillham (University of Edinburgh) in the large chasing pack. Kristian Jones went on to win in 25:55 and a great effort from Logan Rees to hold off Alastair Hay secured his placed on the podium in 3rd place, in a time of 26:35. The majority of the Men’s student team packed really well to take further coveted high finishing positions, crucial for the overall team competition.

Aidan Thompson (9th, 27:02) and Euan Gillham (10th, 27:04) had a friendly tussle for places and finished as the 2nd and 3rd Men’s students across the line. Hot on their heels were Heriot-Watt University student Jonny Crickmore (13th, 27:16) and University of Glasgow’s Ross Gollan (14th, 27:19) who maintained a healthy competition the whole race. Alex Carcas of University of Edinburgh (16th, 27:21) managed to hold off fellow club mate Jacob Adkin (17th, 27:22) to take the final counting position – quite a feat after running the race at each other’s heels! Finishing the Men’s team performance was University of Glasgow’s Tristan Rees (23rd, 27:40), Gavyn Chalmers (38th, 28:21) also of University of Glasgow, James Donald (43rd, 28:42) of Dundee and Angus College and Ewan Davidson from University of Strathclyde (44th, 28:49).

Fine performances from all, which earned the student team 2nd place in the team competition, a mere 5 points off the winning East team. Full results can be found HERE.

All in all, a fantastic day of Cross Country action and a very successful day for our National Student Squads. Well done to all athletes! A special thank you to all race officials, volunteers and especially our Cross Country Chair, James Dunn, for his fantastic work.

Next on the SS Cross Country and Road calendar is the Road Relay Championships on the 3rd March on Glasgow Green – save the date and see our students in action!

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