The annual Scottish University and College Freshers Match took place on Wednesday 21 October at The Emirates Arena, Glasgow. Twelve educational institutions from across Scotland, including the University of Edinburgh, sent athletes of all levels to this meet to showcase their talents. This university took 44 athletes to the competition, who took part in both track and field events.
The first race was the women’s 60m hurdles, with Sophie Parsons coming second in a time of 9.80 seconds – pipped at the post by Strathclyde by 0.45s. In the men’s 60m sprints heats, Edinburgh had nine athletes competing with six making it through to the second round. Of those six, four made it into the final, where Kyle Laing came 3rd with a time of 7.41 seconds. Sadly, he was left trailing by Glasgow, who took 1st place in a very quick 7.14 seconds. In the women’s 60m sprint heats we had nine athletes competing, seven of whom made it to the second heat. Of those
Elizabeth Murdoch was the only sprinter to make it to the final, running a commendable 8.65 seconds.
In the middle distance races, Evan Cornforth and Will King both ran in the 400m final – coming 3rd and 4th respectively, only separated by 0.07s. In the 800m women’s final, Sarah Bell came second with a time of 2 minutes 25 seconds.
There were three heats for the men’s 800m, and two of our four athletes made it into the final. Fraser White was in pole position going into the race but had to pull out due to injury.
In the 1500m men’s final, Magnus Thomson came 4th, narrowly missing out on a spot on the podium. In the women’s 1500m, Edinburgh dominated entirely, taking the top five positions. Caitlin Cole won the event in a time of 5 minutes and 12 seconds, and Kirsten Bamford and Emily Robinson took 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Edinburgh had eight athletes competing in the 200m heats. Half made it to the second round and two then progressed into the final. Michael Currie finished in 3rd place with a time of 23.93.
In the women’s heats three athletes competed, although no one made it into the final. In both the men’s and women’s 4x400m Edinburgh came 2nd. The men ran 3 minutes and 4 seconds and the women 4 minutes and 25 seconds. In the men’s 4x200m, Edinburgh had two teams, one of which came second in a time of 1:37. Two women’s teams made the 4x200m final – one of which finished 3rd.
In the long distance events, Edinburgh had two athletes in the men’s 3000m who finished 5th and 6th respectively. In the women’s 3000m Emily Kearney was the undefeated champion – winning the race in a time of 9 minutes and 52 seconds.
Edinburgh did significantly better than previous years in the field events. We had two male and one female athletes in the pole vault. Thomas Wang came second (3m cleared) and Katie Lowe won after clearing 1.80m. Five athletes competed in the long jump, with exchange student Luke Nui taking 3rd with a jump of 6.12m. In the women’s long jump Emma Boyle was our only competitor – coming 2nd with a jump of 4.69m. Wang narrowly missed a medal in the high jump despite a jump of 1.57m.
The shot-put was a popular event for our athletes, with six men and four women competing. Callum Cheshire finished 4th with a throw of 10.44m. Sarah Macdonald finished 6th with a throw of 7.72m.
Edinburgh did particularly well in the triple jump – three men and one woman competed. Nui jumped 12.73m finishing in 2nd place, and Eileen Hulse won the women’s event with a jump of 10.72m.
Although The University of Glasgow beat us by 14 points, this year’s Freshers Match was of the highest standard anyone has seen in years.