16th Jed Renilson Wheelchair and Handcycle 10k Race

The sun shone on athletes for the annual Jed Renilson Wheelchair & Handcycle Race, welcoming 11 individuals to the Scottish Borders to take on the 10km course.

The event, organised by Borders Disability Sport and supported by scottishathletics and Scottish Disability Sport, took place on Sunday 27th October.

Claiming another victory at the event, Ben Rowlings (Red Star AC) was the first wheelchair athlete to cross the finish line in 23 minutes 40 seconds – around 30 seconds slower than his 2018 time. As in previous years, the headwind back towards the finish line proved challenging with GB athlete Rowlings recognising this, stating ‘conditions were good on the whole, however the headwind back into the finish was tough’.

The first two Scottish Male athletes across the line were Luke Deighan (27.22) and Kyle Brotherton (28.00).

First across the line in the woman’s race was another GB athlete, Borders very own Sammi Kinghorn (Red Star AC) who clocked a time of 25.38 to finish around 2 seconds faster than 2nd placed female Mel Woods. Sammi stated after the event, ‘Always so nice to race locally at the Jedburgh 10k and better when friends and family can come and support’.

Both Ben and Sammi, along with coach Ian Mirfin, will be heading to Dubai next month to compete at the World Para Athletics Championships.

The event also hosts the annual 10k Handcycle Race, won this year by Edinburgh based athlete Ken Talbot who recorded a time of 17.56. This time was enough to claim top spot on the day, however was outside of the current course record. Talbot held of the challenges from Mike Thomas (21.26) and Dave Wise (21.30) who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

There were debuts at the event for a number of athletes including Fife’s Callum Sloan (3rd Scottish Male) and Mel Woods (2nd Scottish Female) in the wheelchair race while Stuart McMillan and Andrew Eastcroft tasted competitive action for the first time in the Handcycling race.

The event continues to run in the honour of late founder Jed Renilson and is now organised and driven by Graham Cook and Borders Disability Sport. The event is also heavily supported by the local community including Kelso Wheelers, Jedburgh Rugby Club and local officials.

Full results can be found below.