THE Cademuir Rollercoaster hill race on the south side of Peebles on Sunday saw a double win for Edinburgh University hill runners Angus Wright and Emily Shaw.

The excellent weather and firm underfoot conditions helped Angus to eclipse the men’s race record by 17 seconds with his winning time of 24 minutes 57 seconds for the 6km course.

Although an open race, the Rollercoaster doubled as the Scottish trial race for the forthcoming Junior Home International to be held in Ireland, so most of Scotland’s top under-20 and under-17 hill runners were in the field.

As an under-20, Angus secured automatic selection along with runner-up Rowan Taylor, of Lasswade. Local Moorfoot Runners member Thomas Hilton, who ran despite a tweaked ankle, finished third and will be hopeful of also gaining selection for the four-man Scotland team.

Lauderdale’s Marc Wilkinson was the first senior athlete home in fourth and although Gala’s Zico Field ran well for seventh overall, he looks set to miss out on selection with four under-20 men ahead of him on the day.

His clubmate Isla Paterson had a below par run, coming home fourth of the under-20 women, but will surely have enough previous form banked from a good season to secure her place on the team.

Her run was still good enough to take the under-20 title in this year’s Scottish Junior Hill Running League.

Fellow Gala Harriers Kirsty Rankine and Ava Richardson, who finished third and fourth in the under-17 women’s category, will similarly be keeping their fingers crossed for selection.

In the earlier 3km race, Moorfoot’s Jack Foley raced superbly on his local turf to record a 38 seconds win over Gala’s Seb Darlow and Charlie Dalgliesh.

In doing so, Jack secured the under-15 title in the Scottish Junior Hill Running League with a race to spare.

Anna Meek made the long journey from Inverness to win the under-15 girls’ race with Moorfoot’s Thea Harris and Bella Moran in second and third. And clubmate Emma Moran was a convincing winner in the under-13 girls’ category.

Race organiser Gregor Nicholson from Moorfoot Runners said: “A record total of 90 runners took part in the two races which justified our decision to move the race to a Sunday morning from its traditional Saturday afternoon slot.”