JK'26 Day 1 - Dial M for Molloy
Grace and Peter Molloy made a small piece of history today, as they became the first siblings to win the JK Sprint in the same year, and also the first pair from the same club to simultaneously hold the titles, following a fast and furious race around Perth city centre.
The FVO team for the day was loaded for bear, with exactly 100 club athletes going to the start line, and they were rewarded with a record 11 Sprint medals, including no fewer than seven championship titles
Grace was first on the mark, as she stomped out an impressive time of 14.01, which featured all but the first two and last two quickest legs to take the title by one minute from EUOC's Imogen Pieters, and there was a tie for the bronze medal between Isobel Howard (EUOC) and Niamh Hunter (AROS) who were home in 15.03.
15 minutes later, it was a Molloy double on top of the podium; Peter was slower off the mark, but went to the front on the 6th leg of 28, just as the heavens opened and the streets became a skating rink, and held on to return to the arena at Perth Concert Hall in 14.53. James Hammond, meanwhile won the M20 class by almost two minutes (14.55), which would have been good enough for M21 silver.
W14 saw an all-Scottish podium, and Hannah Inman took the title in 15.17, with clubmate Esme Finch claiming her first major medal with the bronze in 16.24. In W10, Erinna Heron is a 2nd club member, but her bronze in 17.30 still counts for our overall haul.
The women's classes from W50 to W60 all have blue and gold ribbons on the champions trophy this evening; Sarah Rollins is closing in relentlessly on 100 championship medals, and her W50 win today in 11.46 is her 10th in the JK Sprint alone.
Rachel Kirkland is another athlete who thrives in the Sprint discipline and she won W55 in 14.02 for her third title. Alison Cunningham, meanwhile, extended her JK sprint winning record to four straight years, with W60 victory in 13.59, as Heather Fellbaum was also on the podium, in bronze (15.18).
Finally, there was hardly a dibber-width separating the top three in W75, and Liz Godfree added her third JK silver in 15.53, seven seconds off the win, but a crucial two seconds ahead of bronze.