Sporting round-up 16 June 2026
FOLLOWING on from the recent junior intercounty, a team of 12 athletes from Shetland Amateur Athletics Club travelled south to compete at the Scottish Schools Championships at Grangemouth Stadium.
Representing Aith Junior High School and Anderson High School and competing across U16, U18 and U20 age groups in both track and field events, the athletes produced a series of outstanding performances over two days of competition.
The competition began with U18 javelin thrower James Leask making his first off-island appearance. Competing in a strong field featuring several athletes throwing around the 50-metre mark, James performed well in difficult headwind conditions, recording a throw of 36.42m.
Although slightly below his personal best, the competition provided valuable experience against some of Scotland’s top young athletes.
Abigail Goodlad faced the challenge of competing simultaneously in both the U18 javelin and shot put competitions, requiring quick changes of footwear and frequent trips between events.
She rose to the challenge superbly, finishing fourth in the javelin with 26.39m and fifth in the shot put with 9.48m during her first off-island competition.
On the track in the U16s event, Ollie McCulloch continued his excellent recent form in the 100m, producing another personal best of 12.67 seconds. Unfortunately Ollie was 0.01 seconds from qualifying for semi finals.
In the U18 long jump, Reeta Moncrieff and Eva Thompson competed in a high-quality field under cold and rainy conditions. Eva produced a season’s best leap of 5.09m and narrowly missed qualification for the final, finishing ninth.
Reeta jumped 4.45m, just shy of her personal best, with both athletes performing strongly despite the challenging weather.
The final Shetland athlete in action on day one was Kian Redman in the U18 100m. Drawn in the unfavourable lane eight, Kian delivered another dominant performance, winning his heat in 11.21 seconds – the fastest time of all the heats.
With the sun shining over Grangemouth Stadium but with freshening winds, day two got underway with Ollie McCulloch competing in the U16 high jump. In a highly competitive field and tricky conditions, Ollie was unfortunately eliminated at his opening height. Nevertheless, it was a valuable learning experience in his first major mainland competition.
Annie Williamson was next into action in the first heat of the U16 300m. Demonstrating tremendous strength throughout the race, Annie won her heat in a personal best time of 44.23 seconds to secure qualification for the afternoon final.
In the U20 400m final, Abby Harcus battled blustery conditions to produce a strong finish and claim fifth place with a personal best of 65.02 seconds.
Reeta Moncrieff returned to the track for the U18 800m final. Running confidently in windy conditions, she recorded a season’s best time of 2:21.63 and secured an excellent sixth-place finish in a field of ten athletes.
Jake Crossan then delivered one of the performances of the weekend in the U20 800m final. Remaining composed throughout the race despite the strong wind, Jake ran 2:07.63 to secure the silver medal – a fitting reward for his dedication and hard work.
In the field events, Kiera Blance produced a season’s best triple jump of 9.86m to claim the U20 gold medal. Leif Stronach also reached the podium in the U18 shot put, throwing consistently throughout the competition before producing a final-round effort of 11.36m to secure the bronze medal.
Merrin Stemp competed in the 200m heats and ran strongly to record a time of 28.24 seconds. The championships concluded with Annie Williamson lining up in the U16 300m final.
In a very fast race, Annie produced another personal best, breaking the 44-second barrier for the first time with an impressive 43.93 seconds to round off a memorable weekend for Team Shetland.
The club said it would like to extend its thanks to NorthLink Ferries for its continued support in helping Shetland athletes access mainland competition opportunities.
A COMPETITION has been held by the Lerwick Amateur Swimming Club in memory of its coach Calum Scott, who died last year after a battle with Motor Neurone Disease.
At the Scholes Midsummer Meet 2026 a new SKINS event was introduced with the winners being presented with the Calum Scott Memorial Cups, kindly donated by Calum’s family, and which were presented by Caroline Scott.
Calum was said to be a fundamental part of the club for a long time.
He started as a swimmer and swam for Shetland at the first Island Games in the Isle of Man in 1985 and again in 1987 in Guernsey.
He continued as a masters swimmer before latterly coaching the club’s training squad swimmers.
The club said it is “very grateful” to have had Calum as part of the club both in the water and poolside.
They added: “Anyone who met Calum left with a smile on their face and he is sorely missed, not only for his skill as a swimmer and a coach but for the jokes, banter and camaraderie that brightened up the toughest sets.”
A SKINS event was chosen involving a series of back-to-back races which operate on a knock-out basis until only two swimmers remain for a head-to-head final.
The fastest six girls and boys from the 100 individual medley went through to the SKINS where 50m races of each of the four strokes, drawn at random before each one, are swum.
The club said after “an exciting set of close races” the first winners of the Calum Scott Memorial Cups were Caitlin Galbraith (LK) and Lockie Bullough (WS).
The club is organising a sponsored walk on Saturday 22 August from Sullom Voe Oil Terminal, where Calum worked as a firefighter, to Clickimin Centre to raise funds for MND Scotland and the local MND Support service.
LERWICK Amateur Swimming Club (LK) hosted the Scholes Midsummer Meet at Clickimin last week.
The club welcomed a team from Orkney (OY) together with swimmers from the four other Shetland-based clubs – Delting Dolphins (DD), Shetland Hurricanes (SH), South Mainland (SM) and Westside Sharks (WS).
Events were swum over 50m,100m, 200m and 400m in three age groups along with freestyle relays. The 800m free was also swum as an open event along with a 1500m free time trial.
Excellent performances from swimmers in each team saw the 13-year-old Shetland record for the 400m individual medley (15-16 years) broken by Julian Okroj (DD). There were nearly 350 personal best times set over all the age groups with the most notable detailed below.
Friday evening saw a great start to the weekend with excellent improvements on entry times in the demanding 1500m freestyle. The biggest improvements coming from Saoirse Robinson (WS) 4m 6s, Oisin Robinson (LK) 2m 43s, Lewie Redfern 2m 27s, Stela Okroj (DD) 1m 28s, Hamish Fleet (OY) 55s, Thea Williamson (LK) 37s and Archie Flaws (SM) 26s.
Times on Saturday morning also tumbled in all events. In the 100m individual medley Greg Leslie (SM) & Bjorn Irving (SH) both improved their times by 41s, Ava Swift (WS) by 26s and Fraser Wishart (WS) by 20s.
The 200m freestyle saw significant personal best times (PBs) for Lewie Redfern (LK) 41s, Taran Bird (DD) 30s, Sophie Burden (SM) 23s, Rohan Irving (SH) & Brodie Thomson (SH) both 21s, Ariah Sjoberg (SH) & Liam Williamson (DD) both 20s.
In the 400m Individual Medley along with Julian’s new Shetland record, Jaxon Anderson (WS) had a great PB of 46s.
The biggest PB in 200m backstroke came from Lowrie Adamson (SM) with a 10s decrease. Next up, in 50m breaststroke, Merryn Burgess (SH) took 5s from her time and in the 100m butterfly Ava Swift and Innes McDill (both WS) took 6s of their times. In the final event of the morning, the 800m freestyle, big PBs came for Oisin Robinson (LK) 1m 9s, Corren Williamson (LK) 1m 3s and Libby Redfern (LK) 44s.
In the 200m breaststroke, Caitlin Galbraith’s (LK) time came down by 54s and Ella Winks (SH) by 15s.
In the 50m butterfly Archie Greenwell (OY) took 8s from his PB and Campbell Adamson (SM) and Jacob Jackson (LK) took 6s off theirs. The 100m freestyle came next and saw a lot of good swims including a PB of 18s from Sophie Winks (SH), 14s Taran Bird (DD), 12s Katie Robertson (DD) and 10s River Sandison (SH).
Next, the 50m backstroke saw improvements of 8s for Sophie Winks, 6s for Carrie Johnson (DD) and 5s for Ella Winks (SH).
There was then two SKINs finals with each of the four strokes swum in quick succession – randomly chosen for each round. The number of swimmers reduced in each round and Caitlin Galbraith (LK) and Lockie Bullough (WS) were the first winners of the Calum Scott Memorial Cups and a cash prize.
Sunday morning kicked off with the 400m freestyle and more big PBs including one for Jaxon Anderson (WS) 36s, Ella Winks (SH) 24s and Hamish Fleet (OY) 20s. The 200m butterfly saw an 18s improvement for Lowra Tulloch (SM). After that the 100m breaststroke event saw strong swimming with lots of PBs – top ones being Sophie Burden (SM) 21s and Merryn Burgess (SM) 10s.
The 50m free splash and dash was next seeing more good PBs – Willum Smith (SM) dropped his time by 7s, Bronagh Graham, Erik Mouat (both SM) 6s, Taran Bird (DD) & Adam Smith (SM) 5s.
In 100m backstroke Brodie Thomson took 18s off his time, Ava Swift (WS) & Merryn Burgess (SM) continued their good run of times with 12s PBs and Jacob Jackson (LK) 10s.
Swimmers were still bettering their times right up to the last individual event of the weekend, the 200m Individual Medley, with significant PBs for Markus Laurenson (LK) 31s, Lora Tulloch (SM) 30s, Jaxon Anderson (WS) 14s, Tiger Johnson (LK) 12s and Sophie Burden (SM) 11s.
The final events were the 4 x 50m freestyle relays for boys and girls. In the girls 13 and under relay it was gold for Shetland, silver to Westside Sharks and bronze to Lerwick. In the 14 and over girls the gold went to South Mainland and silver to Westside Sharks. The boys 13 and under relay was won by Lerwick, silver for Westside and bronze for Shetland. Finally for the 14 and over boys the 1,2,3 was Westside Sharks, Lerwick and Orkney.
The medals won at the meet are below and the cups for the fastest swimmers aged 13 years and under went to:
Drive Shetland (Training) Ltd Cup – 400m individual medley
– Boys – Archie Flaws (SM)
C & M Building Contractors Cup – 400m freestyle
– Girls – Stella Okroj (DD)
– Boys – Archie Flaws (SM)
The club said it would like to thank its meet sponsors, Scholes Chartered Accountants and Irene Hambleton for presenting medals, the club’s officials, referees, starters, judges, timekeepers and recorders in addition to “all others who assisted in other capacities during the weekend – announcers, runners, marshals, club parents for providing lunches, and SRT pool staff”.
The club also thanked the Orkney team for making the trip north, and to all other swimmers and coaches who were involved.
THE JUNIOR boy’s table tennis doubles reached a conclusion last week, with the final being contested between open doubles winners Ruben and Dylan Ritch and cadet doubles winners Connor Burgess and Tiger Johnson.
Burgess and Johnson settled first, serving and returning well which gave them a platform to dominate the first two sets, taking them 11-5, 11-8.
Facing a straight sets defeat, the
Ritches rallied in the third set, winning it 11-8 and giving themselves a foothold in the match. This seemed to spark Burgess and Johnson back to life and a run of points at the start of the fourth set gave them an early lead, which they maintained to secure the title 11-6.
The U15 and U18 girls doubles finals pitted fierce rivals Peony Li and Eve Johnson, against Ava Swift and Hanna Sneider.
The first two sets were shared, then Swift and Sneider took a close third set 12-10 to give them the edge. Leading 8-4 in the fourth, Swift and Sneider had one hand on the trophy, but Li and Johnson staged a great comeback to take the 4th set 11-9.
They carried the momentum into the fifth set and a score of 11-7 was enough to see them crowned champions. Li and Johnson took confidence from the win and their game went up a level in the U18 final.
Scores of 11-7, 11-8 and 11-5 gave them a double of doubles titles to add to their Scottish Interleague title and providing a great conclusion to very successful season.
ALEX Elphinstone and Anne Robertson suffered their first defeat in the Simpson Pairs bowls league losing to Ann Napier and Rosie Jamieson.
This was a very close game throughout the 16 ends played, with Napier and Jamieson coming from one shot behind on the final end to draw two shots closer to the jack and win the game 14-13.
Napier and Jamieson, on seven points, are now just one point behind Elphinstone and Robertson in the league table. Also on seven points are Ian Scott and Gibbie Pottinger who despite losing the first end, ran out winners against Jim Wood and Bob Brandie (substitute for Margaret Robertson) 19-8.
Eric Muir and Billy Hay raced off to a good start against Bill Christey and Norman Manson scoring eight shots without reply and continued to play strongly ending the game 19-11.
The remaining pairings of the afternoon, John Jarmson and Caroline Smith against Gordon Stevenson and Jean Jarmson started well for Stevenson and Jarmson leading after five ends but dropped shots on nine of the remaining ends to lose 6-31.
TWELVE pairs entered Saturday’s Morton Lodge Pairs outdoor bowls competition, playing a round robin in three groups.
This was over two six-end sets with a three-end decider, where necessary. The three top teams progressed to the semi-finals plus the best runners-up.
The semi-finals saw Alex Elphinstone and Gibbie Pottinger defeat Caroline and Alan Smith and Anne Barron and Mike Bailey progressed against Eric Muir and Billy Hay.
The final resulted in a win for the Barron and Bailey partnership, after a long day of bowling where all the finalists had played a minimum of 66 ends (plus any ties).
The Morton Lodge Open Pairs Trophy was presented by club president Bob Brandie.
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