PRIORSFORD pace-setters have made history by becoming the first school to ever claim gold and silver in the same race at the national road-racing relay championships.

The primary 7 girls claimed first and second in the hotly contested relay at Grangemouth on Saturday.

And many of their schoolmates were unfortunate not to join them on the podium - with the boys' primary 6 and 7 teams both finishing just outside the medals in fifth.

Peeblesshire has a good pedigree at the SSAA Primary Road Relay championships with Priorsford bagging two titles in 2014 and both Kingsland and West Linton have also enjoyed previous medal success.

But this year's achievement has raised the bar yet again.

Of the 24 teams taking part in the Girls Primary 7 race it was the Priorsford team who led from the start.

The A team of Esme Minto, Holly Hobbs and Emily Carrick-Anderson just managed to open up a gap to cross the finishing line in 16 minutes and 10 seconds.

Only 19 seconds later the B team of Carla Latto, Christina McGorum and Riana Keen, whose mum Sarah won the recent Tunnel Run in Peebles recently, crossed the line for silver.

For Priorsford PE teacher Richard Edge it was a moment to savour - and reward for months of extra curriculum track work.

He told us: "There is so much enthusiasm for sport in the school and the wider Peebles community just now.

"The six girls ran really well to finish first and second and it was just the cherry on top of the cake as all of the other children also ran well.

"We have around 30 primary 6 and 30 primary 7 pupils turning up for our running club every Monday morning, and we also have other running clubs throughout the week, including a sprint class.

"They are busy children but they all really enjoy it."

Kingsland's team of Niamh McNamara, Eva Harris and Kate Harvey were a minute behind in ninth with West Linton's Samantha Banner, Isabel Hubert and Trinity Dimmock finishing in 16th.

The Priorsford Boys A team of James Clare, Fraser Carlotti and Angus Carlyle finished just a few seconds outside of the podium place in the P7s race in fifth.

Of the 28 team who started Kingsland A (Alec Sellar, Jack Lockyer and Harrison Nicol) were 10th, Kingsland B (Aiden Halliday, Brodie MacKenzie and Rory Laidlaw) finished 12th, just a place in front of West Linton (Max Maclean, Adam Clunie and Euan McInally) with Priorsford B (Thomas Pickburn, Aiden MacDowell and Lewis Greenshields) a few yards further back in 16th.

The Primary 6 Boys race produced one of the tightest finishes with three Peeblesshire teams in the running going into the final mile.

Of the 26 teams who started Kingsland A (Innes Cormack, Fionn Hollingsbee and Chris Thompson) crossed the line in fourth, Priorsford A (Ben Allan, Danny Lancaster and Thomas Glasgow) were just two seconds further back in fifth, and West Linton (Aaron Mackay, Connor McCaffrey and Ross Macfenden) a further two second back in seventh.

The Priorsford B team (Thomas Hilton, Oliver Furness and Josh Duncan) were tenth with Kingsland B (Fergus Pearson, Cameron Gray and K Maciver) crossing the line in 19th.

There were also some good runs in the Primary 6 Girls relay with Priorsford (Jess Colledge, Kirsten Duncan and Natalie Beaton) finishing eighth of the 20 teams, and Kingsland (Stella Davidson, Hala Istephan and Felicity Diack) just six seconds further back in ninth.

Priorsford will now prepare to defend the three titles they won at the Scottish Schools Cross Country Championships next spring.

And many of their athletes will also compete at the Borders Schools Cross Country Championships at the start of 2017.