Author: hollyanderson86

2 of our u17 athletes had a fantastic day down at the Moorways Stadium in Derby for SIAB. 

Every u17 wishes for the chance to represent Scotland at the Schools International, Ray Taylor & Kishi Aremu successfully secured their position at the prestigious event back in June at the Secondary Schools T&F Champs where in order to be selected they had to finish top 2 in the country in their events to run up against the top two athletes from England, Wales & Ireland. 

Kishi Aremu who is coached by Bryan Roy finished 2nd in Scotland in both 100m & 200m at Grangemouth Stadium back in June, fast forward to the big day today when she went ahead and finished first overall in both events. 

In the 100m Kishi finished in a seriously impressive 11.77 seconds, beating both 1st & 2nd UK ranked.  

Her 200m race ended in a massive PB of 24.19 throwing her into the UK top 10 AND breaking a FVH club record (previously 24.73 by Selena Henderson on 31/08/2014). 

Kishi has been blazing up & down the country recently and with all the hard work Kishi & Bryan are putting in I am sure there’s plenty more to come! 

Ray Taylor, a name you’ll have heard over the years through his mid distance success secured his spot in the 800m & 4×4 relays back at his home stomping ground The Grangemouth Stadium in June where he finished 1st in Scotland on the day. 

In his 800m race today he finished 3rd over all with a rapid time of 1:54.26. I was lucky enough to see the video – and the finish was a close one. 

After the 800m Ray alongside teammates AJ Campbell, Alex Clark & Alistair Street competed in the 4x400m relay race, where they finished 4th behind England 1st, Ireland 2nd & Wales 3rd. 

Ray is coached by a team of Happy Coaches, Jerome Vareille, Robert Christie, David Culliton & Blair Mitchell and the hard work these guys put in is evident as we watch Ray going from strength to strength. 

Team Scotland finished 3rd overall once all the points were added up throughout the day.

All results can be found here.

https://esaa.org.uk/s-i-a-b-track-and-field-championships/

FVH ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2025

ANY 4 EVENTS COUNT TOWARDS THE ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2025

21 June – Loch Lomond 5k 10K

25 June – SVHC – Clydebank 5K

17 August – Paisley – 10K

24 August- Forth Road Bridge – 10k

31 August – RTH – 10K

7 September – Stirling – 10K

28 September – Linlithgow – 10K

28 September – Loch Ness 5K – 10K – Marathon

5 October – Great Scottish Run, Glasgow – 10K – Half Marathon

Entry details for any race can be found on the fixture page of Scottish Athletics website.

• Any 1 Half Marathon   
• Any 1 Marathon

– please advise the details of your race and performance if you have already done a half or full marathon in 2025 by emailing enquire@falkirkvics.com and this can count towards the Road Race Championships

Criteria: 

Must be a fully paid up Competing Member of FVH at the time of any race you wish to be included.

Categories and Scoring

Scores will be calculated using wava age graded percentages.

Trophies will be awarded to the male (Willie Day Cup) and female (David Lothian Cup) with the highest individual wava percentage.

For the series there will be trophies awarded to the male (Wattie Garner Trophy)  and female (Caroline Lawless Trophy) with the highest average wava scores calculated over four races from the series. 

The minimum number of races required to be run is four. If you run more than four your best four wava scores will be averaged. Runners up and bronze medals will be awarded to the second and third highest average scoring males and females who complete a minimum of four races.
Kind Regards

Falkirk Victoria Harriers Committee
Holly Anderson – Secretary
 

Over the weekend of 28th & 29th June Kishi Aremu represented team Scotland while Kaya Slater team Great Britain at u20’s in the Mannheim Junior International.

Kishi had a record breaking trip – not satisfied with breaking 1 record, she went for 2!

Kishi Aremu broke the Scottish U17 all time Record for Women’s 100m, running a swift 11.69– taking down the 11.70 mark set in the 1980 by Linsey Macdonald – this magnificent run makes 16 year old Kishi the second fastest Scottish woman this year.

An hour or so later Kishi alongside her u20 relay team mates Sophie Thomas, Emma Clark and Holly Whittaker went on to break the long standing Scottish u20 relay record of with a fantastic 4×100 time of 45.60.

Well done to Kishi & her coach Bryan Roy!

Kaya Slater made her GBu20 debut in Mannheim. Also running the 100m & relay! Finishing the u20 100m in 2nd Kaya clocked a windy PB of 11.45(+2.4)

Kaya Slater took part in the relay on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday she ran 3rd leg in the GB relay team where they won in a seriously impressive time of 44.29. While on Sunday the team finished 5th with a 45.40.

The first taste of competing at such a high level has left Kaya hungry for more – she has her heart set on the u20 European Championships next month in the 100m & relays.

Well done Kaya & proud coach Roddy Slater.

The FVH team showed up in force today at the RPC in Dundee where we had 10 teams entered.

Our u15 boys medley come out on top winning GOLD in their medley, a race with 300m Callan C, 800m Adam K, 200m Nathan B & 600m Thomas M. Their time was 4:48.75.

50% of the u15 boys medley team had already bagged themselves 3rd place in the 4x100m relay where Alex M, Nathan B, Hamish G & Callan C ran heats & finials earlier on in the day finishing the final in a time of 48.29.

Also nabbing themselves some bling were our senior men’s 3x800m team which consisted of Callum Hendry, Luke Culliton & Calum Little who ran their way to 3rd place with a seriously impressive time of 5:52.21.

Our senior woman’s team, made up across the age groups with u17/u20/sen athletes found themselves on the podium in 3rd place in the 4×100, Enam Evong, Allanah Snowden, Ellie Buchanan & Kishi A powered around the track crossing the line in 48.90, behind by a hair to 1st 48.11 & 2nd 48.84.

Our u17 girls narrowly missed out on the podium in the 3x800m where they finished 4th. Particularly impressed by this team due to brining an u15 up an age group who showed great strength in running & sportsmanship slotting in with the u17’s, in this team was Emily C, Ella S & Josie A.

Big shout out to our u13 medley! These boys had their first taste of a big national event, their first real call room experience & they took it all in their stride finishing 4th in their heat. A medley relay with 4 of our youngest members 600m William L, 200m Hugo K, 600m Ben A, 200m Patrick M.

We had 2 u15 girls medley teams. The 300x800x200x600 relay is always a fun one to watch . Our teams were A – Aine M, Skye R, Kirsty M & Neve T. B – Becca L, Megan B, Emmie M & Erin W

Our 4×100 u17 relay suffered a last minute change in plans due to injury, so one runner left the 800m straight to the call room to fill in! That’s what I call team spirit. Laura, Mel, Josie & Aimee narrowly missed a place in the final by a split second.

Our senior woman 3x800m team ran an impressive 7:51.44 Charlotte Horne, Katie McGuire & Caitlyn Christie, all training team mates showed some great running!

On Saturday 7th June Sofia Vidak took part in her first British Milers Club Grand Prix at Birmingham University.

Sofia was in the A race for woman’s 800m and finished with an impressive new pb of 2:05.71 thus gaining Sofia a place in the elusive Scottish top 50 all-time list. After speaking to Sofia she admitted this was a tough race, but her last 100m was very strong. I predict there is plenty more to come from this young athlete! More PB’s in the bag this season.

Sofia has also just passed her level 1 coaching and began to assist with one of our coaching groups too – a wonderful role model for the athletes & a great asset to Falkirk Victoria Harriers.

At the weekend Grangemouth Stadium hosted it first major championships since reopening after being taken over by the Grangemouth Sports Trust. It hosted the Scottish Secondary School’s Pentathlon Championships.

Falkirk Victoria Harriers athlete had major success in his first multi event championship. Falkirk Victoria u15 athlete Callan Campbell representing Braes High School had an extremely successful day. With personal bests in all five events (LJ, 80 hurdles, shot putt, 200m & 800m) he secured a silver medal in second place just behind K McKay with M Massey coming third.

Aine M & Kirsty M represented the girls & finishing 10th & 11th places out of a whopping 50 u15 girls.

To crown off the day medal presentation was carried out by Heptathlon Olympic Gold medal winner Denise Lewis the current President of UK Athletics.

Giving the recent uncertainty surrounding our wonderful home Grangemouth Stadium having such a huge name presenting awards and being involved in the event marks a monumental milestone.

Denise was patient & happy to pose for photos, mingle amongst & inspire the awe struck teens involved in the event.

If we ignore the traditional Scottish weather displayed over the long day it really was a great day for FVH & Grangemouth Stadium!

We are awaiting official times from SSAA, but there are some great photos of the action over at https://www.mike3legsphoto.co.uk

First date in the diary is 2nd July and entries are now OPEN!

https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2025/GBR/fvh-oog1-25/

Be quick! It is due to be a busy one.

2 of our most seasoned road runners have participated in every Edinburgh Marathon since the Edinburgh Marathon Festival became an annual event in 2003. 

Peter Thomson & Jim McLaren make up 2 out of only 12 people to have completed every Edinburgh marathon. 

The Edinburgh Marathon begins in the City Centre & finishes in Musselburgh. Taking in some landmarks such as Royal Mile, St. Giles Cathedral, and Edinburgh Castle, and finishes on a flat coastal stretch into Musselburgh. 

This year Jim completed the 26.2 mile course in 4 hours 24 minutes & Peter in 5 hours 25. 

In 2003 Jim clocked in at 4 hours 8 minutes with Peter 4 hours 10. 

Mallory Park near Leicester is used to hosting motor car racing over its undulating loop, but Saturday 3rd May saw finely tuned athletes in place of finely tuned motors. The Anglo Celtic Plate (ACP) is run over 100k, and competed between teams of runners from Scotland, England, Wales, N. Ireland and Rep of Ireland.
Falkirk Vics very own Danielle (Danni) Callaghan was selected to run, in her first outing in the Scotland Vest, and her first outing over the 100k distance. She was in a team of 3 women and ran a very strong race. Pacing well over a very testing 3 mile course, with a challenging hill each lap and described by a four time ACP veteran as the toughest course the event has been held at, Danni showed the grit and determination needed for such a gruelling event. Working steadily she found a second wind after about 75k and continued to move well until she had finished. She was 2nd counter (of 3) for her team, and Scotland Women won the Silver medal. The event was also used for the SAL 100k championship and Danni won Scottish Bronze.
As well as the SAL management team Danni was supported on the day by coach Grant Matheson and training partners Dougie Hill and Fiona Matheson.
I’m sure the whole club will take pride in knowing that the fine tradition of Falkirk Vics is alive and well, and has now extended internationally to the 100k distance.

Words by coach Grant Mathieson

https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/ultra-special-acp/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6ZMxEtTCXp39EM0IYrLZJkGTK2yaclQCiChIm2X85npbUPxKN9fe516g9nUQ_aem_9RSDBtMPsd0pD-5TNmyZiw

As the big city marathon buzz around Boston, London and Manchester begins to die down Falkirk Vics break new ground as Danielle (Danni) Callaghan is the first club member to gain International selection for Scotland in a 100k ultra event. Danni is donning her first Scottish vest on Saturday 3rd May in the Anglo Celtic Plate, an annual 100k event competed for between teams from the four home nations and Ireland. This year it’s being held at Mallory Park race circuit near Leicester. It’s an undulating 3 mile loop which is run 20.72 times!
Danni is no stranger to ultra running and won the Blast Running 6 hour ultra in Edinburgh last July.
Danni’s is part of the Vics Good Morning Runners training group and her international debut will swell their Scottish representation to four. The squad train on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in public parks around Falkirk. Her schedule has seen many runs of longer than marathon distance and high mileage weeks, including a meet up and session with her Scottish teammates at last year’s venue in Perth.
Picture shows Danni trying on her Scottish kit for size.