TALENTED teen Greg Williams of Inverclyde AC became the best under-18 800m athlete in Scotland last weekend - winning gold in the Scottish National Championships at Grangemouth.

Greg went into the championships looking to improve his personal best and after qualifying comfortably for the final, was looking forward to achieving this.

However, in true Scottish style, the weather put paid to that plan and a very competitive tactical race ensued as the gun went. With the lead changing between the front three athletes, Greg was always in contact approaching the bell for the final lap. He then opened up his huge stride and began eating up the ground, taking him into the lead.

He headed into the home straight and pushed on through his gears, taking him to a comfortable victory and securing the Scottish title.

After Greg, his teammates followed his accomplishment with Evie Semple powering down the back straight of the under-16 300m heat, hitting the front at 150m as a clear qualifier for the final. As the gun went for the final race, Evie enjoyed an explosive start and began making headway with the athletes outside her, going into the bend in medal contention. Entering the home straight, Evie was in a medal winning form and was hunting down the leader. As the finish line approached, Evie was just pipped and won silver with a very impressive mature performance.

In the under-18 1500m, Jonny Glen was a familiar figure at the front of the field, despite a very heavy training week at London. Jonny dug deep into his reserves to push the pace on and shadow the opposition as the field strung out. Approaching the final lap, the pace was beginning to tell on all athletes as only the strong survived with Jonny hitting the home straight, driving to the line to secure bronze.

Equalling Jonny's bronze was under-20 Shaun Toner, who exploded from his blocks in the 100m and powered through the 60-90m mark - securing a top place finish and the reputation of one of the fastest athletes in Scotland.

Laura Thomson returned to the competition with a very encouraging run in the under-18 womens' 100m final and capped her day with a new personal best in the shot putt.

Inverclyde had a number of athletes experiencing this very intimidating arena for the first time.

In the under-14 sprints, Finlay Burnside and Conor Malley ensured the black and white stripes were to the fore, proving the sprinting legacy being set in Inverclyde is in good hands Innes Lowrie and Amy McDonald were the field representatives and have set a solid standard to build on when they gain more experience. Young Cameron Watson showed why athletics is his first sport, knocking six seconds off his best in the 800m. He will knock that time considerably next summer.

Inverclyde's full athletic programme is now in full flow with all coaching training in running, jumping and throwing being held in Inverclyde Academy on Tuesdays at 5pm or the Battery on Thursday at 5pm.