Tokyo titans

Tokyo Titans do Renfrewshire Proud

Scotland certainly punched above its weight this Olympics by coming home with no less than 11 medals. Renfrewshire can claim their fair share of these local heroes.

Paisley born Jack Carlin returns with a silver and a bronze for his part in the Men’s Team Sprint and the individual Men’s Sprint races. Mum, Gill, told the press that there was “no way he was walking away without a medal.” Neah Evans, originally from Langbank, although lives now in Aberdeenshire, returns with a silver from the woman’s team pursuit – an amazing result for someone who only started cycling for fun in 2014. Kilbarchan Athletics Alumni provided a strong presence at these games. 800m runner Jemma Reekie, and marathon competitors Callum Hawkins and Steph Twell battled hard but failed to medal. Jemma ran incredibly well in the 800m heats coming fi rst in the semi fi nal, however she narrowly missed out on a podium place by ninehundredths of a second. Her training partner and silver medal winner in the 1500m Laura Muir was devastated for her friend as she tweeted, “Speechless. Wow, wow, wow. Gutted for Jemma Reekie, an amazing young lady who has such a bright future in this sport. So so so proud of you.” Callum Hawkins from Elderslie has a long history with Kilbarchan Athletics. His dad is a coach and his brother Derek also runs for the club. Steph Twell is an English-born athlete and her connection with the club is a little different. Her mum is from Paisley and Steph has been friends with the Hawkins family for many years. In 2017 she competed and won the Scottish XC in an ACC vest. Both Steph and Callum had their hopes pinned on the marathon, but both suffered injuries early on, which kept them from progressing. Callum eventually pulled out of the race citing ankle pain which had plagued him in preparation for the games. When interviewed shortly after he declared that he needed rest and a beer. Steph, who had been injured through lockdown said to scottishathletics.org, “I was running with neural pain the whole way through. I couldn’t fi nd my rhythm very easily. I felt I was running with the brakes on .... I did so well fi nishing and I am proud of that.” And she should be. A team of heroes. Every. Single. One. by Rona Simpson