Thursday 26th May 2022

Magical Moments at Monument Mile

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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