PITREAVIE AAC youngsters proved four-midable as they raced to a clutch of medals at the Scottish Athletics National Championships.

The competition, held at Grangemouth Stadium recently for under-13, under-15 and under-20 athletes, saw hard work pay off for the club as they bagged four gold medals, five silver and five bronze in a highly-competitive field.

The two-day event began with the 800 metres, which featured under-15s Erin Macfarlane and Maya Millar, and saw the former reach the final and finish an excellent fifth with a time of 2:25.67, which was just outside of her PB.

A season's best for Caleb McLeod (2:13.51) saw him qualify for the boys' final where, against a strong field of older athletes, he finished sixth just outside his PB time, before under-20 athlete Cameron Keelan delivered one of the day's top performances to smash his best time by almost two seconds on his way to 400m hurdles silver.

The first Pitreavie gold came for Rebecca Grieve who, in the 300m, ran a championship best of 40.45 in the final, which was followed by a bronze medal in the same event for Fergus MacGilp, who ran a PB of 38.25.

The club's second gold went to Jade Hutchison, who sprinted to under-20 200m glory with a new PB of 24.57, while under-15 sprinter Sophie Wallwork – ranked number one in Scotland – eased through qualification before delivering a fantastic performance of 25.55 to claim a silver medal.

After Holly Gordon and Kate Richardson, in a strong field that included athletes from the Continent, ran well to make the 100m semi-finals, in which they ran times of 13.75 and 13.92, Grieve (5.35m) and MacGilp (5.73m) both claimed bronze medals in the long jump, while Isla Steel threw a distance of 31.68m to finish fifth in the under-20 women's javelin.

In the under-13 competition, Ailiyah McCloud ran an 800m PB to win a fine silver medal and was followed closely by team-mate Lily Simon, who took bronze in 2:27.27.

Billy Doyle continued his outstanding season with under-20 400m gold (48.51) in an event where he was joined by under-17 team-mates Ben Knowles and Ruaraidh Elder. Knowles qualified for the final, placing eighth (53.86), and although Elder just missed out, he did record a PB of 52.63 in qualifying.

In the 200m events, Laurie Hunter reached the semi-finals of the under-13 girls' event in 29.80, but an injury sustained in the 100m prevented Mica McCloud from taking to the start line.

There was good news for another under-13 athlete, Finlay Trotter, who in his first national competition, reached the final and finished an excellent fifth in 28.79.

Three Pitreavie athletes – Bethany McAndrew, Rachel Thomson and Tia Henry – contested the under-20 100m hurdles final, in which McAndrew won silver in 15.09, Thomson taking bronze in 16.68, and Henry finishing fourth in 17.33.

Hutchison missed out on a medal narrowly in the under-20 race, finishing fourth in 12.75, before Jamie-Lee Adie, Mica McCloud and Hannah Gray competed in the under-13 100m.

Although Gray claimed a PB of 15.08, McCloud was Pitreavie's sole representative in the final but a tumble on the track hit her hopes of success.

In the boys' events, Harris Mackie and Finlay Trotter both qualified for the final, with the latter recording a PB of 13.70.

The final gold medal for Pitreavie was earned by Henry in the women's under-20 shot putt (10.84m, PB), while Ryan Woods delivered a silver medal in a hard-fought under-20 high jump (1.82m).

Olivia Knowles produced a PB of 18.01m in the under-13 discus for a sixth-place finish, while Hunter, Adie and Gray all performed well in the long jump to complete a successful meet for Pitreavie.