Falkirk Victoria Harriers: Youngsters take on 4J SUPERteams event with aplomb

The 16-strong group made the early start to the East End of the city for the under-12s event, with two boys teams and two girls teams competing in a number of different disciplines.

These included the long jump, shot put, a 60m event and the team 4x200m relay. Each athlete earns points dependent on distance thrown or how quickly they ran, with these statistics being combined with their fellow teammates to give an overall team score.

SUPERteams is a first-step for many athletes and offers a safe environment in a team context with a chance for development; with coaches and officials helping youngsters with explanations and tips on technique and protocol.

Central Athletics Club were the overall boys winners on the day, with Giffnock North Girls taking home the overall girls prize.

The Falkirk Vics’ teams

Falkirk Vics’ girls A team: Kirsty Moffat, Ariana Bennett, Niamh Flaherty and Erin Donaldson.

They finished as the 11th team out of the 48 that competed. Kirsty finished as the second highest points scorer in the girls out of almost 200 competing.

Falkirk Vics’ boys A team: Kostas Jakubiak, Lewis Hodge, Patrick Mcatarsney and Lucas Aagesan.

They finished as the 14th team out of 46 that competed. Kostas finished the highest of the group coming in at 16th out of almost 200 competitors.

Falkirk Vics’ girls B team: Remy Carnegie, Sapna Bhosale, Megan Blair and Amy Taylor.

They finished as the 29th team out of the 48 that competed. Remy finished the highest of the group coming in at 25th out of almost 200 competitors. This was a superb finish for a team containing some first timers.

Falkirk Vics’ boys B team: Calvin Smith, Thomas Luke, Benjamin Anderson and James Allison.

They finished as the 36th team out of the 46 that competed. Once again, the group included first timers to a competitive event.

Scottish Athletics’ head of development David Fallon hailed another successful event, saying: ‘There is a lot of learning which happens at the SUPERteams.

‘We don’t just see new faces in the participants, we see it in the families who come along to watch and support the youngsters. Across the board, there are lots of people here who are new to athletics and we’re delighted to give them a taste of it and even the Emirates as a venue.

‘Our Officials are brilliant, not just by applying and explaining rules but also in offering guidance and encouragement. You can see in the relays they are actually working really hard to help the young athletes get round as a team.

‘These U12s, and our athletes at U13 and U15, are very important to the sport.

‘We get feedback from clubs about an anxiety about competing but hopefully an event like the SUPERteams can dilute that and ease those concerns via ‘softer’ competition without too much expectation and more of a focus on having fun.’