​£6,000 new year sprint set to be contested by 18 Borderers postponed until February

The sprint, formerly staged in Edinburgh and East Lothian but given a new home at Grangemouth Stadium last year, now looks likely to go ahead on Sunday, February 16, though that’s yet to be confirmed.

“The sprint has been postponed, not cancelled. It will go ahead, just at a later date,” said promoter James Cunningham. “This is not the first time, and it won’t be the last.”

Next month’s 110m handicap is set to be contested by 18 Borderers, including ​Hawick’s Ryan McMichan, last year’s winner.

His mark has been cut by 3m to 5.5m, though, following his victory, in a time of 11.35 seconds, in the 155th running of the sprint, earning him the Eric Liddell Trophy and £4,000 in prize money.

McMichan was the third Borders runner on the spin to win the sprint – first staged in 1870 – following Scott Tindle, from Berwick but representing the region’s Tweed Leader Jed Track Athletics Club, at Musselburgh in 2023 and West Linton’s Stacey Downie in Edinburgh in 2022.

His mark is the second-lowest of the Borderers taking part, the only shorter one being the 4m handicap given to Kelso’s Douglas Young.

McMichan is one of six Hawick runners vying for a top prize half again as big at £6,000 this time round, the others being Ryan Elliot, Jack Wilson, Daniel and John Paxton and David Lauder.

TLJT will also be fielding six entries – Gordon Armstrong, Iskan Barskanmay, Danny Allison and Evie and Tess Renwick, along with former member Sarah Ross.

Armstrong was the only other Borderer besides McMichan to make 2024’s final, placing fourth in 11.59 seconds.

Selkirk will be represented by three runners – Craig and Colin Bruce and Geoff Keen – and Jedburgh by two, Scott Elliot and Zoe Blair.