Published in 2014, our publication on Scottish athletics, The Past is a Foreign Country, covering a history of athletics in Scotland through the stories of the athletes themselves, is now available to read and download for free.

Just go to Book on the menu on the right, click on the photo of the book and a pdf copy of the book will open up. The pdf copy has been updated to correct a few small errors that have been identified since publication.

It is planned that further updates will be made to the book to keep information up to date.

Hard copies of the book are available to buy at a discounted price - in time for Christmas -see the Book page for details.

It is also available on Kindle - just click on the link to go to the Amazon page.

10 November 2018.  Central AC's Jamie Crowe recorded the finest win of his career a he was victorious at the NCAA South Central Regional  Cross Country Championships at College Station, Texas, running for Lamar University.

In sixth place through the first 2,000 metres and third place through 6,300 metres, Jamie became the first Lamar Cardinal to ever win an NCAA Regional race. He reached the first split in 6:15.4, trailing runners from Arkansas, UTRGV, North Texas, Rice, and Texas A&M. Crowe began to make his move by the 6.3k split, reaching that mark in third place with a time of 19:49.8. He completed his incredible race in 31:36.3.

"This was a great performance for Jamie," said cross country coach Tony Houchin. "We have had a lot of great athletes come through this program and Jamie is our first ever regional champion. "

(Information taken from the Lamar website)

26 October 2018. LAURA MUIR is the winner of our SATS Challenge 2018. It is her third victory, having won in 2015 and 2016, and she reverses the positions with last year's winner Eilish McColgan, who was second. Third for the third successive year was Eilidh Doyle, winner of the challenge in 2014.

Jake Wightman rose to fourth place, the highest ranking for a male athlete in the five years the Challenge has been held, bettering the 5th places achieved by Andy Butchart and Jax Thoirs.

After her record-breaking season, Beth Dobbin rose 40 places to sixth, and there were top twenty entries for Neil Gourley, Kirsten McAslan and Jemma Reekie.

You can see the top 100 and the age-group results on the SATS Challenge pages.

25 October 2018. We cover positions 21 to 40 in today's SATS Challenge countdown which reveal many athletes on the up after a successful 2018 year.

Mhairi Maclennan enters the lists at 38, thrower Joe Bloomfield, returning after several years out, comes in at 37, and our highest new entry is George Evans, after an impressive first year as a senior at Kansas University.

Declan Gall, 2nd in the under-20 challenge, moves up 31 places, Grant Plenderleith is up 35, Sol Sweeney 44 places, Nikki Manson rises  12; there's an 18 place rise for Luke Traynor, 24 for Ciaran Wright and 43 for Jamie Williamson.

But a special mention for triple jumper Zara Asante, now classed as a veteran, with a jump from last year's 100 to this year's 31!

You can follow the countdown as it unfolds this week on the SATS Challenge page.

24 October 2018. We are into day 3 of the top 100 countdown and that takes us into the top 50.

That sees entries into the lists for decathlete Tom Chandler, Fife's Logan Rees, Central AC's Jamie Crowe (pictured, running for Lamar University) and Inverness hurdler Anna Nelson.

There's a rise of 48 places for hammer thrower Natalie Robbins who moves up to no. 51, 

With two days to go, there's still three new entries into the list and 5 athletes rising up the table into the top 40, include an athlete who has entered the veteran stage!

You can follow the countdown as it unfolds this week on the SATS Challenge page.

23 October 2018. Our under-17 winner Kane Elliott enters the senior lists at 74 ... other new entries include steeplechaser Jonny Glen, Kilbarchan's Anthony Young and long jumper Calum Henderson. 

There are rises for hammer thrower Ross Douglas, up 20 places; sprinters Michael Olsen, up 6, and Katy Wyper (pictured winning the Scottish), up 18.

But who's missed out this year - just outside the top 100 were Alec Thomas (100 metres), Ellie O'Hara (Triple jump), Jack Moncur (Javelin), Mhairi Patience (400m hurdles) and Sean Fontana (5000m).

22 October 2018. The countdown of the SATS Challenge top 100 for seniors begins with positions 81 to 100. 12 of the 20 are new to the lists this year which is going to mean the usual turnaround from the previous year.

This year, through injury or retirement, there's no place in the top 100 for Andy Butchart (last year's number 5), Lennie Waite (12), Rachel Hunter (18), Myra Perkins (24), Sarah Inglis (29) and Susan McKelvie (30) among others, while athletes dropping out of the top 100 include Chuxx Onyia, Avril Jackson and Stephie Pennycook.

The Challenge scores the top 3 outdoor track and field performances on our scoring tables along with bonus points for performances at championships.

You can follow the countdown as it unfolds this week on the SATS Challenge page.

20 October 2018. SATS documents the historical aspects of Scottish Athletics and 2 new publications have been added to the website.

The Scotland Track and Field Internationals is an up-dating and re-styling of the information that was on the website into a 200+ page pdf document that can be viewed and downloaded. It gives a complete record of Scotland's 260 international matches from 1895 to 2018, with a full detailed athlete record.

Accompanying this publication is Scotland's Road & Cross Country Internationals which is a first attempt to record the record of all of Scotland's internationals across road, ultra, and cross-country matches, including age-group representation as well.

You can find both publications in the Scotland section of the website here.

Great Scottish 10k winner Adam Craig who has returned from a successful spell at University of Mount Olive in the USA to live and work in Glasgow is joining Inverclyde AC. He is among a number of athletes whose change of club has been approved by scottishathletics with effect from 1 November 2018. The full list is:

Joe Arnaud, Inverness Harriers to Shettleston Harriers; Anna Cameron, Central AC to VP Glasgow AC; Jonathan Campbell, PH Racing Club to Pitreavie AAC; Ruaridh Campbell, Arbroath Footers to Metro Aberdeen; Gillian Capuano, Kilbarchan AAC to Beith Harriers; Renee Conneff, Calderglen Harriers to Whitemoss AAC; Adam Craig, Edinburgh AC to Inverclyde AC; Wayne Dashper, Telford AC to Moray Road Runners; Hannah Devey, PH Racing Club to Carnegie Harriers; Elaine Eadie, Kilbarchan AAC to Edinburgh AC; Kevin Farmer, Clydesdale Harriers to Calderglen Harriers; Tamsin Fowlie, Moray Road Runners to Elgin AAC; Rhona Galloway, Shettleston Harriers to Airdrie Harriers; Suzanne Goodall, PH Racing Club to Pitreavie AAC; Gavin Harvie, Kirkintilloch Olympians to Garscube Harriers; Aaliyah & Mica McCloud, Moray Road Runners to Pitreavie AAC; Finlay Milne, Dunbar RC to Team East Lothian; Kai Newell, Whitemoss AAC to Cambuslang Harriers; Lucy Oldham, Troon Tortoises to Moorfoot Runners; Kara Rafferty, Metro Aberdeen RC to Garscube Harriers; Tom Roche, Insch Trail RC to JSK Running Club; Craig Ruddy, Belgrave Harriers to Inverclyde AC; Luke Traynor, Glasgow City AC to Giffnock North AC; Cameron Welsh, Herne Hill Harriers to Edinburgh AC; Alexander Young, Larkhall YMCA Harriers to Giffnock North AC; Lynne Zabek, Falkland Trail Runners to Kinross RR.

19 October 2018. The SATS Challenge continues with the Under-20 title going to sprinter Alisha Rees. With a Scottish record at 100 metres, World Junior semi-finalist at 200 metres, Alisha moved up from her 2nd place in 2017 to head off the challenge from her rivals.

In 2nd place, improving from 8th last year, with strong performances at 400 metres hurdles was Dundee Hawkhill's Declan Gall, who placed ahead of Giffnock North's World Junior 1500 metres finalist Erin Wallace.

Prominent in the top 20 were the men's pole vaulters and long jumpers, earning 6 places between them, and decathlete Joel McFarlane, last year's under-17 winner, entered the under-20 list in 4th place.

Overall, the points scores were down on 2017, when there were 6 athletes over 3000 points compared with 3 this year.

The full top 20 can be found on our SATS Challenge page.

15 October 2018. Our strongest-ever Under-17 age-group produced a number of major contenders for the leading positions in our SATS Challenge. We have only ever had 4 athletes in a year achieve 2500 points - this year we had 10 reach that total. 

Such was the strength in depth that two of our England Athletics Championship winners are outside the top 10!

Ellie O'Hara, who has re-written the under-17 triple jump records this year scored 2788 points for 3rd place, a total that would have won the title last year.

Multi-eventer Scott Brindley, with 2802 points from his pole vault achievements took 2nd place.

Our winner is Falkirk Victoria's Kane Elliott who bettered the 1500 metres record by over 5 seconds with his 3:46.84, who gained 2858 points to take our 2018 SATS Under-17 Challenge.

The full top 20 can be found on our SATS Challenge page.

11 October 2018. The SATS Challenge moves on to the under-15 category and our winner is Fife AC's Anna Hedley. Three sub-10 3000 metres runs and a Scottish 1500 metres title scored highly to put her clear at the top after a third place in 2017. She becomes the first track runner to win the under-15 title.

In second place, after a tremendous season of pole vaulting and multi-events was Aidan Brindley of North Ayrshire AC, who set a Scottish record of 3.71 metres.

Aidan finished ahead of Edinburgh AC's Alexander Poustie-Williamson, Scottish record-holder at 300 metres.

The full top 20 can be found on our SATS Challenge page.

8 October 2018. The SATS Challenge is underway with victory in the Under 13 age-group going to last year's winner Meghan Porterfield. Last year's winner with 1219 points, she increased her tally to 1510 points with Scottish record throws in the shot combined with fine hammer throwing.

Pentathlete Stroma Fraser moved from last year's 13th position to 2nd this year with 1147 points, edging Dunfermline's Mya McMahon (4th last year) into 3rd position.

Finlay Ross of Harmeny was top boy with 1078 points in 4th place, 25 points ahead of Giffnock North's Daniel Martin. 6 athletes bettered 1000 points this year, a drop from the 9 that achieved this level in 2017.

The full top 20 can be found on our SATS Challenge page.

(Right) Meghan photographed at the Scottish Championships by Bobby Gavin.

6 October 2018. The popular SATS Challenge is returning for its 5th year of athlete rankings. 

Last year, Eilish McColgan took our senior award, edging out Laura Muir. With 17 Scots gaining selection for the European Championships in Berlin, the challenge for the top 10 will be fiercer than ever. 

Jake Wightman was 7th last year, Zoey Clark 13th, Neil Gourley 21st, Jemma Reekie 27th and Beth Dobbin had risen to 46th.

What's it going to look like this year? We start on Monday with the Under 13 rankings where last year's winner, Meghan Porterfield, could be on for a double success.

13 August 2018. The European Championships in Berlin has ended and the competition can be considered another successful one for Scottish athletes. 5 medal winners is more than has been achieved in the 84 years of the championships and continues the growing momentum of recent events.

Laura Muir was undoubtedly the highlight of Scottish performances, taking the 1500 metres by the scruff of the neck to totally dominate her rivals. After an opening lap of 69.72 seconds, she went to the front and produced a second 400 of 62.59, went even faster through the third quarter in 61.89, to win thoroughly convincingly in 4:02.32 (her final 400 was 64.84).

Eilish McColgan ran the race so many of us had hoped for. No hesitancy, taking the lead early on and up to nearly halfway, putting in the hard work before the final sprint. She led through 1000 in 3:03.01 and 2000 in 6:01.62. Although through 3000 in 4th in 9:00.24, that 3rd 1000 metres was run in under 3 minutes. She followed up with a solid 4th kilometre in 3:03.57 before wrapping up with a final 2:49.24 for a convincing and clear second behind the classy Sifan Hassan. She was not put off by the calamity that befell the Israeli athlete Salpeter who 'finished' a lap too early (but was subsequently disqualified for an earlier infringement) and her time of 14:53.05 was just 0.22 outside her season's best - closer than any other Scot got to their season's best on the track!

Jake Wightman runs with the self-confidence of someone who has every expectation of a medal and he produced again in an excellent men's 1500 metres race, won by the 17-year-old sensation Jakob Ingebritsen in 3:38.10. Jake was 11th at half-way in 2:02.18, moving up to 6th at the bell and producing a final 400 of 53.52 seconds - the last 200 run in 26.41, faster than Ingebritsen, to finish in 3rd in 3:38.25, behind the even faster-finishing Pole, Lewandowski, who clocked 26.05 for the last 200.

4 x 400 metres medals have come regularly to Scots in the British team but only once before have we had 2 Scots in a medal-winning team (Eilidh Doyle (then a Child) and Kirsten McAslan at the 2015 Worlds). Zoey Clark led the quartet off with another solid opening leg of 52.5 while Eilidh Doyle, making up for the disappointment of a poor run in the hurdles final, came through to overhaul the Italians with a fine last leg of 51.50 to capture the bronze medal.

20 July 2018. The picture is of Tim Cheruiyot, winner of a remarkable Diamond League 1500 metres race in Monaco this evening in a world leading 3:28.41, leading 12 athletes through in under 3:35, including a 17-year-old Norwegian, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, in 3:31.18!

Pacemakers Bram Som (NED) and Jackson Kivuva (KEN) took the field through 400m and 800m in 55.4 and 1:51.8 respectively, with Chris O'Hare going through in 10th in 56.8 and 1:53.3, and Jake Wightman a couple of places behind in 1:53.7. 

As Cheruiyot hit the bell in the lead at 2:33.7, Jake was 8th in 2:35.4, just ahead of Chris in 9th at 2:35.7. Chris came through with a final 400 of 56.4 to finish 9th in a new Scottish record of 3:32.11, bettering his own record of 3:33.61, set at the same event in Monaco last year. Jake's final 400 was 58.5 to finish in a personal best of 3:33.96.

The top 10 1500 performances of all time are now: 3:32.11 O'Hare (2018), 3:33.61 O'Hare (2017), 3:33.83 John Robson (1979), 3:33.96 Wightman (2018), 3:34.01 Graham Williamson (1983), 3:34.13 Williamson (1984), 3:34.17 Wightman (2017), 3:34.35 O'Hare (2017), 3:34.75 O'Hare (2017) and 3:34.83 O'Hare (2015).

1 July 2018. Scottish athletes won 4 titles and 17 medals at a successful, high-quality British Championships at Birmingham at the weekend.

Pride of place has to go, not for the first time this year, to Beth Dobbin who won the 200 metres, breaking the Scottish record in both heat (22.75) and final (22.59, into a 1.3m/s wind). Her strong finishes in both races were decisive and brought her a championship best and an automatic place for both the World Cup and the European Championships.

Chris O'Hare (pictured) was in no way less impressive . After a bad start to the year indoors and at the Commonwealth Games, he ran a controlled, confident race against a strong field and had enough to hold off Jake Wightman's fast finish. With Neil Gourley coming through strongly for 3rd, last year's Scottish 1-2-3 was repeated.

Laura Muir was a class apart from the rest of the 800m field, covering the final 200 in 28.62 for a comfortable and predictable victory in 2:01.22. Less predictable was the women's 5000 where Steph Twell surprised her opponents to produce the strongest finish to win another British title. 

Four more Scots gained automatic qualifying places for the European Championships when finishing 2nd, perhaps the biggest surprise being David Smith who equalled his indoor PB of 2015 and the qualifying standard of 2.26. Chris Bennett (hammer), Jake Wightman (1500) and Kirsten McAslan, with a 400H PB of 56.48, are also there, but 2 other silver medallists, Jemma Reekie and Kirsty Law, are still short of the standard. Reekie is 10th ranked in the UK but overcame others who were faster on paper with a lung-bursting finish, while Kirsty Law's season best of 54.63 is short of the discus standard of 56 metres.

7 Scots took bronze medals, the most impressive being Neil Gourley's fast finish in the 1500 and Nikki Manson's fine 1.87 high jump. There may be team places for Manson, Guy Learmonth, Allan Smith and Eilish McColgan, as well as the recovering Eilidh Doyle, while Zoey Clark could earn a relay spot. Disappointment, however, for Josh Kerr and Lynsey Sharp, 5th in the 1500 and 800 respectively.  

19 Scottish records have been officially confirmed by scottishathletics at their recent board meeting. 

23 records from the indoor season were ratified at the meeting in March and a further 11 have now been approved, together with 8 more from the start of the outdoor season.

The majority of the indoor records were set at the indoor age-group championships where new marks were set by Meghan Porterfield (U13 Shot, 12.04), Lachlan Buchanan (U13 800, 2:15.33), Finlay Ross (who lost his 800 record) (U13 1500, 4:43.23), Erin Ramsay (U13 200, 27.21 then 26.83), Jenna Hilditch (U13 60H, 9.65), Mya McMahon (equalling her own U13 HJ, 1.56), Dean Springett (U15 300, 38.38), Ellie O'Hara (U17 TJ, 12.00) and Scott Brindley, with his U17 PV 4.46 during his record-breaking 5086 heptathlon).

Outdoors has seen senior records tumble to the women's 4x400 relay team of Zoey Clark, Kirsten McAslan, Lynsey Sharp and Eilidh Doyle, 3:29.18 at the Commonwealth Games,  and Beth Dobbin's 22.84 200, which bettered Sandra Whittaker's long-standing record of 22.98. Mehan Porterfield set a new U13 Shot record of 12.19, Keira Waddell a new U17 javelin record, 44.84, and Ellie O'Hara repeated her indoor feat with an 11.86, then 12.14 record at triple jump. Joel McFarlane has set new U20 decathlon figures of 6,625 and Alisha Rees has had her new U20 100 record of 11.59 ratified.

All records are recorded in the records section of this website. Performances achieved since the above meeting will now be considered at the next meeting of the records committee in September.

The King of the Road, Don Ritchie, has died at the age of 73. Ritchie set so many world records and established so many new standards of supreme quality in a wide range of events during his remarkably long career as a top level ultradistance runner that followers of the sport often indulged in healthy debates about which of his achievements was the most impressive. Often there was no consensus, the choice was too great, but the one thing most agreed upon is that this quiet-natured and extremely modest man from the North East of Scotland was surely the greatest male ultradistance runner in history.

When Andy Milroy and Dan Brennan, two of the most highly regarded long-distance running statisticians and historians, met up towards the end of 1999 to nominate their leading athletes of the past millennium, they had no hesitation in selecting Ritchie as the greatest ultramarathoner of this or any other era. In their all-time merit rankings, Don was unanimously acclaimed as outscoring the Greek Yiannis Kouros (the greatest ever 24 hour and multi-day competitor); South African Wally Hayward (a top performer in the 1950's); Britain's 19th century star Charlie Rowell (the “world's wonder” who dominated the professional long distance scene in the Victorian age); and Rhodesia's Arthur Newton (the dominant ultra man of the 1920's and 1930's). 

In tribute to Don Ritchie, we repeat here the chapter from the book The Past is a Foreign Country which was written by Fraser Clyne and Colin Shields.

Donald Alexander Ritchie, 6 July 1944 to 16 June 2018

9 June 2018.  Josh Kerr placed third in the 1500 metres on Friday at the 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships. 

The 2017 champion in the event, Kerr clocked a time of 3:45.02 at Hayward Field in Eugene as his patented last-lap kick fell just short at the line. Kerr finished exactly a quarter of a second behind Wisconsin's Oliver Hoare, who won in 3:44.77 and finished just 0.003 behind the silver medallist.

"It was very tactical and very physical," Kerr said of the race. "There was a tight pack all the way through. There was a lot of clipping and jumping around. It was a tough race to be in."

Kerr missed out on what would have been an incredible 4 in a row at the NCAA having won the indoor mile in 2017 and 2018 and the outdoor 1500 in 2017. Nick Percy, the 2016 champion, completed his NCAA career with an 8th place in the discus with 56.72 metres, well below his best for the year, and fellow-Scot George Evans, in his first NCAA, came 13th with 54.41.

For our record of Scots at the NCAA Championships, click HERE.

2 June 2018. It has taken all of 34 years but we have a new Scottish national 200 metres record for Beth Dobbin. Her time of 22.84 at the UK Women's League meeting today eclipsed Sandra Whittaker's long-standing record of 22.98, set at the 1984 Olympic Games at Los Angeles.

It was only in 2016 when Beth bettered 24 seconds for the first time with her 23.94 at Loughborough EAP meeting that July. Last year, she improved to 23.88 and 23.78 at UK League meetings, then 23.72 in Belgium and then a big breakthrough to 23,31 at the British Championships.

Coached by Leon Baptiste, she improved further to 23.14, winning the Loughborough international, before today's remarkable 22.84 at a meeting where Alisha Rees bettered the Under-20 record with 11.59.

Sandra Whittaker, now Seenan, was the first to congratulate her on the SATS Facebook page : "Well done Beth, absolutely delighted for you, fantastic time and great to see Scottish sprinting back up there again. Sorry to see my record go, but hey nearly 34 years. Holding a record for this time has been a privilege."
👌🏽

20 May 2018. The Scottish team equalled its best ever return of 7 event wins at the Loughborough international at the weekend, a feat last achieved in 2000. The experienced athletes, Mark Dry, Allan Smith and Kirsty Law all triumphed, Kirsty winning her event for the first time in a record 11th appearance. It was pleasing to see them backed up by a new generation of winners in Sol Sweeney (3000m), Jemma Reekie (a new PB in the 1500m) and Grant Plenderleith in the 400 metres, but let's give pride of place to a sprinter for once. Scottish sprinting has been in the doldrums for a while and only recently has there been signs of a revival. Beth Dobbin missed the Commonwealth Games selection standard of 23.30 by 0.01 last year, but here she stormed through to win in 23.14, a time (auto-timing) bettered only by national record holder Sandra Whittaker over 30 years ago.

Add to these 7 event wins, those of Kirsten McAslan and Jamie Williamson in Loughborough colours (Loughborough have priority in selection) and this was a fine day for Scottish athletes. However, despite these record-equalling wins, Scotland finished 5th out of the 6 teams when, arguably, 2nd could have been a target with more solid back-up placings. 

Bruce Tulloh, European 5000 metres champion in 1962, one of Britain’s best and most popular runners of the 1960s, trans-America record-breaker, and an ongoing influential figure in British athletics as a coach and writer, died on April 28, at his home in Marlborough, of cancer, aged 82.

Tulloh was the first non-African to compete without shoes in top-level international races, and he argued that the lack of any weight on his feet enabled him to accelerate more suddenly. That could give him a surprise winning break even on world-class fields like the 1962 European 5000, when he got away with 700 metres to go.

He represented Scotland in the International Cross Country Championships in 1960 and 1961, although his claims for Scottish eligibility seem rather doubtful. In 1960, he won a memorable 2 Miles race at the Edinburgh Highland Games, beating the Hungarian Laszlo Tabori by inches, both being credited with the same time of 8:45.6, a Scottish all-comers' record.

Michael Bruce Swinton Tulloh, 29 September 1935 - 29 April 2018

The death has occurred of the Scottish champion hammer thrower Iain Bain, who won the Scottish title on 3 occasions in the 1950s. He won the title in 1956, beating the holder Ewan Douglas, retained it in 1957 and then regained it in 1959.

He represented Scotland in the 1959 international match against Ireland at Murrayfield, He competed for Great Britain against Poland that same year.

He had been a successful junior athlete winning the AAA and SAAA hammer titles in 1952. His career best came in 1956, when he threw 184' 0" (56.08 metres).

A graduate of Fettes College and Oxford University, after his military service he went into advertising, then into book printing. He was so interested in the physical work of printing that after getting married, he set up a hand press in the spare bedroom. He went into publishing at Bodley Head before becoming Head of Tate Gallery Publications in 1972.

He was President of the Printing Historical Society, a Fellow of the Wordsworth Trust and of the Society of Antiquaries, a Past President of the Private Libraries Association, Vice-President of the London Typographical Society, and a sometime Fellow of the Society of Typographic Designers. He did sterling work in areas of art, design and the history of art and design. In especial, he retrieved the mislaid work and added to the resplendence of the artist, Thomas Bewick, leading to Iain being recognised by Northumbria University for his work as a scholar and typographer, being conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Civil Laws by the University in 2003.

Iain Stuart Bain, 16 February 1934 to 20 April 2018.

10 March 2018. JOSH KERR has won the NCAA Indoor Championship Mile for the 2nd year in a row when he took the title at College Station, Texas on Saturday. Having won the outdoor 1500 title last year as well, he has now won the 3 consecutive NCAA titles. He joins fellow Scots Meg Ritchie and Kathy Butler with 3 track and field titles (although Butler was consider Canadian at the time of her achievement).

This year, Kerr was the man to beat. He was the odds-on favorite, a position he strengthened after running the sixth-fastest time in NCAA history in February and winning his preliminary-round heat on Friday. In Saturday's final, Kerr moved up to the front after the first lap before ceding the position halfway through the eight-lap race. He eventually moved back into the lead with about three laps to go, out-kicking the field over the final 600 meters. He closed the final 400 meters of the race in a field-best 54.23 seconds. Kerr's final time was 3:57.02, more than 1.3 seconds ahead of runner up Vincent Ciattei of Virginia Tech. Kerr's mark was also the eighth-fastest time in NCAA Championship history.

Behind him NEIL GOURLEY, 4th last year finished 7th in 4:00.64 in his 3rd race of the weekend. Having qualified for the mile final on Friday, he also anchored the Virginia Tech team to gold with a final leg 3:58.64 1600 metres (approximately 10 metres short of the mile) to bring Virginia home in 9:30.76, 0.46 seconds ahead of Notre Dame.

That's the first time in NCAA history that 2 Scots have won gold at the same championship. For the record of Scots athletes at the NCAA, follow this link.

LAURA MUIR confirmed she is now a presence on the World stage with a double-medal winning performance at the World Indoor Championships at Birmingham last weekend. 

Both the 3000 metres and the 1500 featured the same three athletes in the medal positions and the races run in similar style - a slowish start, then a wind-up to the finish. The first kilometre in the 3000 was reached in 3:14.67 before Klosterhallen took the field through the next 1000 in 2:52.95. The final kilometre took just 2:37.43 with Hassan, veering to the right, holding off Muir for silver; Muir delighted at gaining her first global medal.

The 1500 went Dibaba's way as well , winning in 4:05.27 after a final 700 in 1:44.46 (sub-2 pace for 800). Muir "I ran my socks off" reversed the placings on Hassan to become the first Scot to win two medals at an individual World Championships, indoor or out. Although the insinuations on Dibaba because of her coach hang over her, she remains one of the true greats of athletics, winning her 5th World indoor title.

Eilidh Doyle gained the first-ever medal in the women's 400 by a Briton in a strong run that won her the bronze medal. She was only a metre behind Wimbley, who has an outdoor 50.36, and improved her time in each round, reaching a season's best 51.60 in the final.

She and Zoey Clark benefited from the numerous disqualifications to reach the final and Zoey performed well to reach the final before going on to anchor the British quartet to the bronze medal in the 4x400 metres.

The men's 1500 turned out to be a 700 metres race after the first 800 was reached in 2:23.68. That left the two Scots Jake Wightman and Chris O'Hare trailing in the wake of faster finishers,with Jake 0.48 off the bronze medal position in 6th. Chris was troubled by a foot injury and related lack of confidence but will hopefully have enough time to strengthen before the Commonwealth Games. 

Grant Plenderleith performed exceptionally well on his international debut. Part of a British team  that finished 6th in the 4x400 final, he produced an excellent 45.75 time on the 2nd leg. Mhairi Hendry ran a solid 2:02.65 in the 800 heats, faster than her pre-2018 best, and will learn greatly from this experience.

Finally, a word about the disqualifications that blighted some events - while undoubtedly correct under the rules, in Lord Coe's brave new world for athletics where entertainment is the key, spectators will not want to be left wondering what will change after the event is run. There may well be pressure on IAAF to review the rules in this area.

1 March 2018. North Ayrshire hammer thrower Rachel Hunter has been forced to withdraw from the Scotland team for the Commonwealth Games on medical grounds,  Team Scotland announced today. This follows on from earlier withdrawals by Jax Thoirs, Emma Nuttall and Andy Butchart. Rachel was ranked 7th in the Commonwealth last year.

The updated team going to the Commonwealth Games is:

Men: Chris Bennett, Mark Dry, Callum Hawkins, Guy Learmonth, Chris O’Hare, Robbie Simpson, Allan Smith, David Smith, Jake Wightman.

Women: Amy Carr (para), Zoey Clark, Eilidh Doyle, Sammi Kinghorn (para), Maria Lyle (para), Holly McArthur, Kirsten McAslan (relay), Eilish McColgan, Nikki Manson, Lynsey Sharp, Kelsey Stewart (relay), Stephanie Twell, Lennie Waite.

20 February 2018. British Athletics today announced a team of 31 athletes, including 8 Scots, for the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 from 1-4 March.

That is double the previous largest number of Scots selected for these championships. For a full record of past selections and performances, visit our complete record page.

Reigning European indoor champion Laura Muir confirmed her place with victory at the SPAR British Athletics Indoor Championships at Arena Birmingham – the same venue as the World Championships – at the weekend. Muir will be at chasing the 1500m/3000m double she achieved at last year's European Indoor Championships.

Fellow British indoor champions Eilidh Doyle, Jake Wightman and Eilish McColgan also had their selection confirmed.

Zoey Clark and Chris O’Hare have also been selected to represent Britain again six months after the IAAF World Championships in London and there are international debuts for Mhairi Hendry in the 800 metres and Grant Plenderleith in the 4x400 metres relay.

The team is:

Men - 60m: CJ Ujah, Andrew Robertson. 400m: Lee Thompson. 800m: Elliot Giles. 1500m: Jake Wightman, Chris O’Hare. 3000m: Jonathan Davies. 60m hurdles: Andrew Pozzi, David King. High jump: Robbie Grabarz. Long jump: Greg Rutherford. 4x400m: Lee Thompson, Jamal Rhoden-Stevens, Grant Plenderleith, Owen Smith, Sebastian Rodger, Efe Okoro. 

Women - 60m: Asha Philip, Daryll Neita. 400m: Eilidh Doyle, Zoey Clark. 800m: Shelayna Oskan-Clarke, Mhairi Hendry. 1500m: Eilish McColgan, Laura Muir. 3000m: Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan. 60m hurdles: Marilyn Nwawulor. High jump: Morgan Lake. Pentathlon: Katarina Johnson-Thompson. 4x400m relay: Eilidh Doyle, Zoey Clark, Amy Allcock, Anyika Onuora, Meghan Beesley, Hannah Williams.

10 February 2018. Glasgow and Boston were the venues for outstanding Scottish performances as the record book continues to be re-written. 

First up was Laura Muir who bettered the 12-year-old native indoor record of Susan Scott in winning the 1500 metres in 4:05.37, taking 6.02 seconds off the old record.

Then Nikki Manson, who just missed out on Commonwealth Games selection, improved her high jump best from 1.87 to 1.90, a 2cm improvement on Emma Nuttall's Scottish indoor record, having dismantled the native indoor record of 1.83 that has lasted for 29 years with an earlier jump of 1.85.

Over to Boston and for the second time in a week, Scottish athletes produced a 1-2 in the States. A week ago, Chris O'Hare led home Josh Kerr at the prestigious Wanamaker Nile at the Millrose Games; today he was victorious over Jake Wightman at the New Balance IAAF Grand Prix over 1500 metres in a new Scottish indoor record of 3:37.03. Wightman, whose last indoor 1500 was a 4:02.43 at the Scottish Schools in 2012, was second in 3:37.43 to move 2nd on the indoor all-time lists.

The previous day, Nick Percy improved his Scottish indoor best for the weight throw for the 3rd time this year with a 21.69 throw.

There was bad news, however, when it was announced that 3 athletes - Andrew Butchart, Jax Thoirs and Emma Nuttall - have had to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games team through injury.

28 January 2018. RECORDS TUMBLED at the FPSG Scottish Senior Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow today. Laura Muir became the first Scot to break 2 minutes for 800 metres indoors to set new National and Native records, winning in 1:59.69. Behind her, Mhairi Hendry became the 3rd fastest all-time with 2:02.41 and Philippa Millage set a Masters best performance of 2:05.96 for the bronze.

Zoey Clark showed she is in excellent form with an opening run of the season of 23.58 in the 200 metres to better Susan Burnside's native record of 23.67 and Melanie Neef's national record of 23.62.

In the 60 metres hurdles, Heather Paton sped to a title win of 8.34, a time which equals the national record held jointly by her and Gemma Werrett, and betters her own native record set last year of 8.37.

There were 3 Scottish indoor masters V35 bests for new vet Gillian Cooke in the pole vault, long jump and triple jump, and one also for Mhairi Porterfield who won the shot title in 13.54, a performance that removes her previous best, under her maiden name of Mhairi Walters, from the all-time lists.

15 January 2018. The Great Edinburgh XC International Challenge may have seen its last race in the city following a decision from City of Edinburgh Council to withdraw its financial support. The annual backing, reported to be more than £100,000, comes at a time when authorities are being asked to make deep cuts to budgets, But the decision to end the capital’s lone world-class event, following on the closure of Meadowbank Stadium, is a major blow to the sport and effectively moves Edinburgh off the map as an athletics venue.

scottishathletics chief executive Mark Munro said: “This year, the public were running from point to point to watch Laura Muir’s victory in the 4x1km relay. Quite simply, it’s an event that brings the athletics community and general public together,” he said. “Whilst understanding the financial challenges we all face just now, it is extremely disappointing that the City of Edinburgh Council have made the decision to remove their financial contribution. We will work with Great Run Company and Event Scotland to see if there are opportunities to continue with the event elsewhere in Scotland.”