JK'26 Day 4 - Stars Shine for Relay Finale
Four bronze medals for FVO brought the 2026 Jan Kjellstrom International Festival to a close, following the relay at Tullochroisk today, and there was a special award for one of our stars.
There was a record entry of 28 teams for the races, with a number of quality runs right across the classes. The Intermediate Men (Fraser Cheyne, Lucas Baikie and James Edward) were amongst the favourites for their title, and didn't disappoint, as they were back in the paddock in 61.02, six seconds off the silver medal, with Lucas having the quickest 2nd leg time (9.27).
The Senior Men were able to bring in Andy Llewellyn for his event debut (on the park at least; he's been very busy behind the scenes with entries) and he linked up with Will Hensman and Roger Goddard for the second Bronze of the day, as they held off the challenge of another FVO team, comprised of Steve Feltbower, Marcus Pinker and Sam Hunt, in 113.47.
The Veteran Women (Cathy Tilbrook, Rona Molloy and Kirsty Jones) were always in contention in their race, and came away with the bronze in 83.19, while the UltraVets featured three women in their lineup, to take advantage of the 10 year dispensation in the class for females, and Hazel Dean, Heather Fellbaum and Alison Cunningham were four minutes clear for yet another medal (85.41).
There were close-run things in three more classes, as Fiona Berrow, Beccy Osborn and Sarah Rollins were 4th in Senior Women, as were Ben Stansfield. Fraser Purves and Jason Inman in Veteran Men and Lachlan Carruthers, Ethan Baikie and Sean Truswell in the junior relay.
The icing on the shortbread for the weekend was the announcement of Hannah Inman as Festival Athlete of the Championships. Hannah was one of just seven individuals to complete the weekend undefeated, and the deciding factor in her nomination was a massive 12 minute winning margin in the Long race yesterday.
Finally, it can't be underestimated how much work Jon Cross and his team put into the whole event, ensuring a truly-quality experience in very difficult weather conditions. Hopefully they can enjoy their rest now, at least for six weeks until we're back in the saddle to organise the Scottish Relays!