Strong city contingent are heading to Derby to contest National Junior League final

Published on 07/09/2012 12:27

Still buzzing from last weekend’s stunning victory in the UK Young Athletes League final in Manchester, many of the same athletes, coaches and officials from Edinburgh Athletic Club head for Derby on Sunday to contest the final of the 
National Junior League.

The main difference is that this time it is Team Edinburgh, a composite group of athletes from Lasswade, Corstorphine and Edinburgh, who qualified as winners of the Northern Premier Division. The Derby match pits them against the likes of Shaftesbury, Gateshead, Birchfield, Sale, West Wales, Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow and Blackheath & Bromley.

Included in the Edinburgh line-up are World Junior 800 metres finalist Emily Dudgeon, Bethanie Finlayson, who is finding some excellent end-of-season form in the sprints, last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games hammer silver medallist Kimberley Reed, Commonwealth Youth Games 200m champion Tom Holligan, and middle-distance runner Jake Wightman.

Meanwhile, Lynsey Sharp (EAC) will once again be up against English rivals Marilyn Okoro and Jemma Simpson and Olympic champions Mariya Savinova (Russia), 2012, and Pamela Jelimo (Kenya), 2008, when she competes in the 800 metres in tonight’s Diamond League meeting in Brussels.

She finishes off her season in Rieti, Italy on Sunday.