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Ross County teenager Ali Young claims bronze at Edinburgh Marathon Festival 5k


By Will Clark

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Ali Young claimed one of the biggest results of his athletics career after he finished in third place at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival 5k.

Ali Young
Ali Young

The Ross County Athletics Club teenager won bronze in the capital after crossing the line in a time of 17 minutes and 36 seconds.

Jacob Hiom of Durham University Athletics and Cross Country Club took victory in 16:43 with William Beattie from Falkirk second in 17:29.

Young (15) a fourth year pupil at Dingwall Academy, says considering the standard he was up against, rates last weekend as the best performance of his career so far.

He said: “I felt good during the race, the first two kilometres was uphill which made it a tough start to the race.

“But the remainder of the course was downhill and I think it was a good time overall. It was a fast field and there were 20 runners that finished under 20 minutes.

“Considering the course, those times show the quality of the field I was up against.

“It was the first time I have finished highly in a race and it has been one of the highlights of the season.

“It rivals my race last month when I ran a personal best of 17.02 at the Scottish National 5k Championship at Silverknowe.”

Ali Young (right) with William Beattie (left) and Jacob Hiom (centre).
Ali Young (right) with William Beattie (left) and Jacob Hiom (centre).

Young has been running with Ross County Athletics Club for seven years.

But he feels his performances have risen significantly since 2020.

“Previously I finished back of the field, but since lockdown hit, I picked it up more as a way to keep fit during that period.

“I have kept improving since then and my times kept going down.

“This season is the first one where I have been competing well and started breaking personal best times by up to 20 seconds and have kept up momentum.”

Young is now preparing to compete in the 800 metres and 1500 metres in the Scottish Schools Championships in June.


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