Scottish Under 17 & Under 13
14 February 2015
Central athletes took home 6 medals from day one of the Scottish National age group championships as the countries top under 17 and under 13 athletes vied for the chance to be crowned Scottish champion.
In the under 17s events Bevhan Trevis from Clackmannan was on superb form in the Shot improving her club record yet again with 11.94m for silver, only beaten by a top class visiting Irish competitor.
Also on form was Charlie Dineen from Saline in the 60m Hurdles running a personal best 8.90s in his semi final then taking silver in the final with 8.91s making Charlie only the second Central athlete in this age group to break the 9 second barrier over the hurdles. John MacLennan equalled his own club record in the 60m with 7.37s in the semi -final then ran 7.42s for bronze in the final.
In the women’s 60m Dunblane’s Jessica Cleland was making her first return to competition since claiming gold at the Scottish schools at Hampden last June. She showed she was back to her best with an excellent bronze in 8.04s beaten only by Scottish record holder Alisha Rees and a visiting Irish competitor. Kate Gallagher had a busy day having already claimed the club cross country title in the morning. She added a national bronze at 1500m in the afternoon with 4:49.0.
Sean Clark reached the 60m semi with 7.76s and Keiran Halliday was 6th in the triple jump jumping 11.29m.
In the under 13 age group Ciorstaidh Ainsworth, from Bridge of Allan, was a runaway winner in the under 13 girls 800m. Coirstaidh took the gold in 2:28.70, 5 seconds clear of her nearest rival, to claimed her first ever Scottish title.
It was pleasing to see the number of Central athletes gaining valuable experience in their first ever appearance at a national championships. Dugald MacDonald placed 8th in the long jump with 4.03m. Harris Almass set personal bests on his way to semi-finals in both 60m (9.09s) and 200m (31.96s) and also placed 10th in the long jump (3.87m). Also progressing to semi-finals in personal best performances were Daniel Bruce in the 60m with 9.15s and Amy Kirkpatrick in the 200m (30.53s). Further personal bests came from Morgan Sansom (60m, 9.55s), Fraser Thompson (800m, 2:46.7), Molly Cornes in the long jump (3.74m), Mavia Duncan 60m (10.16s) and 200m (34.49s) and Katie Burr 800m (2:44.7).
Scottish Under 20 & Under 15 Indoor Championships
Emirates Arena, 15th February 2015
Central athletes added another 8 medals on day two of the Scottish National age group championships as it was the turn of the under 20 and under 15 athletes to go for national titles at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
In the under 20 mens events Balfron decathlete, Tom Chandler, took a silver in the pole vault with a jump of 3.80m a week after winning bronze at the senior championships with a club recoird 4m.
Ben McGuire won the long jump with a pb 6.84m and Lewis took silver in the high jump with 1.90m.
Bevhan Trevis stepped up to under 20 a day after winning silver in the under 17 shot but was unable to add to her medal tally against the older field placing 6th with a throw of 9.79m on the senior weight. Sarah Pearson set another pb at the senior height of the 60m hurdles with 9.38s just 0.01s from the club record to place 7th. Liam Halliday narrowly failed to progress from his 60m heat with 7.50s.
Leading the medal charge for the under 15s was Katie Sharkey from Stirling, who has shown remarkable improvement this season. Taking on both the 60m hurdles and 300m she cruised through to the final of the hurdles then found herself up against a fast Irish competitor in the 300m heats and with only 1 guaranteed qualification place in each heat pushed hard all the way and came through to win the heat in a fantastic time of 42.78s. This time not only broke the club record but puts Katie 5th in the Scottish all time list for the event. She was then just edged out of the medals in the 60m hurdles by an Irish and English competitor placing 4th with another excellent personal best 9.35s. Katie then gave her all in the 300m final but the effects of 4 races in little over 2 hours took their toll and she ended up just losing out to the same Irish competitor she faced in the heats. She still came away with an excellent silver running 43.47s in the final. Abby Davison placed 5th with 44.91s.
Matt Chandler had a difficult week having fought off a cold to make it to the event but was unlucky not to win the pole vault. He narrowly lost out on countback with 2.50m for silver after failing at his personal best height of 2.60m. Matt’s Balfron schoolmate Matthew Meredith finished just behind winning bronze with a personal best 2.40m. Matt Chandler then took 4th in the hurdles but the effects of his illness forced him out of his favourite high jump event.
Anna Cameron was another Balfron athlete on great form. She produced an excellent personal best 8.24s in the 60m and it took a long look at the photo finish to confirm she had just been edged out of the bronze medal on the line. Anna was 2nd placed Scot though with an Irish and English competitor taking 2nd and 3rd. Anna was not to be denied a medal though producing an excellent run in her 6th race of the day in the 200m to take bronze in a time of 26.60s which equals her outdoor best from last summer.
Lucy Davison was also on the podium with a personal best 9.64m in the shot just ahead of Rachael Methven who threw 9.24m for 4th. Emma Mailer cruised through to the 200m semi finals before being edged out of a place in the final with 27.87s and Lucy Smith set a personal best in the 60m hurdles (10.22s) then jumped 1.40m in the high jump.
Overall it was an excellent weekend for the club with 14 medals in all over the 2 days.