COMPETING at the Scottish National Relay Championships at Grangemouth on Sunday, the Moorfoot Under-14 Girls team brought home silver medals.
Drawn in the last of three heats, in the 3x800m, against hot favourites Giffnock North, who boasted the Scotland numbers one and two in their ranks, Ailsa Innes on leg one and Fiona Grant on leg two both ran considerable personal best times allowing third leg runner Selkirk-based Zaynah Aziz to ease home for a comfortable second place and qualification for the final.
With Mairi Wallace subbed in as planned on leg one in the final, and Zaynah having a fair bit left in the tank, hopes were high that some sort of Moorfoot medal was on the cards.
Come the final, another smashed personal best from Mairi saw the team vie for fifth at the first changeover. Fiona then lifted the team to a close fourth with another all-out effort as the baton passed to Zaynah for the final two laps.
Down the back straight for the first time, third place already looked to have been secured. Giffnock’s huge lead for top Scot Erin Wallace on the final leg meant that gold was assured for them, but there was no settling for bronze for Zaynah as she set her sights on the second placed Victoria Park City of Glasgow runner some 50m ahead.
And with sensible even- paced running the gap was steadily closed to 10m going into the final bend.
It was Zaynah’s strong finishing kick off the final bend that took her into second place, crossing the line in 7 minutes 44.07 seconds to be met by her three delighted team-mates.