6 stages and 4 stage Road Relays – Livingston – Saturday 1 April 2006

The Scottish Road Relay Championships were held in Livingston on Saturday 1^st April with the races incorporating alternate relay legs of 3.15 miles and 5.8 miles, the Men’s race over six legs and the Women’s over four legs.  While Central Athletic Club’s athletes seldom challenged for medals there was little doubt of the tremendous all round effort and a storming run from Robert Russell which saw him speed to the fastest long leg time of the day.

The Women’s team of Hazel Dean, Ainsley Normand, Hazel Dean (again) and Jennifer Emsley finished in a highly respectable sixth overall in a total time of 1 hour 5 minutes 47 seconds. It was good to see Hazel back in competitive action bringing Central’s team round to a competitive seventh place in 20min 1sec after the first short leg. Ainsley picked up the challenge on the second leg which she completed in a superb 37.10 to pull Central up to fourth.  Carrying the first leg effort in her legs Hazel’s second stint was a worthy run of 20.38, which saw the team through to fifth. It was therefore a tough challenge that faced Under 20 runner Jennifer Emsley, which she accepted with relish, producing an excellent 37.58 timing to bring the team through to sixth overall.

In 2005 Central’s Mens team had won silver medals in this event so there was much to live up to here. It was Lewis Millar who was charged with the responsibility of ensuring a good start for the team and he underlined his recent good form with seventh place in 16.48 for the opening short leg. It was good to see Ewan Gault back in the yellow and blue vest of Central and Ewan held things together well with a 32.46 clocking to bring the team round in thirteenth place in 32.46, after the first long leg. Youngster Michael Wright has had some good recent runs in Under 20 competition and here showed some fine running against more senior opposition to pick the team up to ninth with 17.12.  Robert Russell looked his normal majestic self as he pulled up a further four places, his 28.54 long leg run proving the fastest on the day.  As always Alex Milne showed total commitment as he pushed on throughout his leg to finish in 17.45 keeping the team in fifth. Kyle Cowie was another Under 20 who was undaunted by his more experienced opponents and showed good form and concentration throughout to finish in 33.16 and bring the team home sixth overall.

Central’s ‘B’ team saw Steve Laing start with 17.53 for 19^th overall and the team of Phil Williams 36.40; Murray MacLarty 18.02; Will Hensman 35.31; Martin Crawford 18.32; and Alan Hume, underlining his recent good form with a 33.41 final leg, for the ‘B’ team to finish in a highly respectable 21^st.

There were also more than useful performances throughout Central’s ‘C’ team with Miguel Merayo 18.41; Fraser Purves 36.50; Alan Gall 21.57; Cameron Campbell 39.39; John Millar 21.18 and David Lindsay 36.14 to come home in a very useful 38^th placing overall.

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Central AC at the Central and Southern Scotland League Match 1 - 23^rd April 2006.

Central AC had a successful outing in the first match of the Central and Southern Scotland Athletic League in Ayr, finishing in second place, despite depleted resources. Some excellent results in the field events characterised the day’s successes with both experienced and debut competitors producing excellent results. Point total for men, ladies and total points respectively were as follows; Law, 344, 255, 599; Central 218, 263, 481; Lasswade, 203,206, 409; East Kilbride, 230, 173, 403; Irvine, 183, 112, 295; Livingston 132, 124, 256; Fife 72, 158, 230; Falkirk, 60, 154, 214.

First off with an excellent pair of victories in the Senior 5,000 metres were Ross Houston and Gordon Adam winning their A and B races respectively with times of 16.23.9 and 18.17.7. Other senior men making an outing in a much depleted section of the team were Martin Crawford, 2nd in both 400m and 800m with 2.03.4 and Ian McDonald with his 2^nd place in 11.9s. Team manager Frank Houston made a big contribution with 5^th place in the 400m hurdles, 4th in triple jump and 2^nd in the Master age group 100m, here supported by Gordon Paterson also with second place. Steve Laing and Robert Hutchison made their mark with fine performances in the Master 800m with 2^nd for Steve in 2.15.4 and first B race placing for Robert with 2.19.0.

The senior and master ladies dominated their opposition throughout with Ainsley Normand gaining 2^nd place with 65.2s in the 400m, winning the 800m with a 2.23.0 and  gaining 4^th in the100m. Jennifer completed a three event maximum points in winning all three B events with 66.7 and 2.27.5 for her more favoured events. Fiona Kelsall was a revelation taking third in the senior high jump with 1.35m, before winning the masters 100m and 800m in 15.3 and 2.34s. Taking maximum points in the two matching B races were Elizabeth Normand with 16.2 for 100m and Jane Waterhouse in 2.44.0s. Jane went on to belittle her years by taking fourth place in the senior long jump from eight competitors. Elizabeth took first place in the javelin and shot put, with 18.62m and 8.90 metres Claire Waterhouse taking top points in the  B shot and third in the javelin with 7.32 and 12.00 m when joining the competition after completing a morning’s duathlon.

Dee Henderson faced tough opposition to take fourth in the Under 17 A 100m in 14.8s, followed by Nicolle Guiliani who had a superb debut run to take second place in 14.5s in the B 100m race and had a solid performance in her long jump. Rachel Hunter performed with increased confidence with an excellent debut 300m to take 4th place with 48.0 s and then took second place in her 800m with a time of 2.39.5.

Alex Hendry a good first run over the 3,000m distance with a third place 10.04.0 and David Devlin took top points from the B event with a time 10.41.4 in his first major track race. Issac Sanchez-Cruz continues to show improvement with a good 5^th place in the 100m in 13.2s. Alex and David made further contribution to team points by taking on the long jump and high jump respectively.

In the under 15 girls, field events gave top results with Jemma and Amber Stevens taking second place in a new PB of 1.50 and 3^rd place with 1.25m. Hannah Smith had an outstanding day with a 3^rd place in her debut discus with 16.99m, supported by Amber with 16.34m who won the B event. Jemma Stevens took 2nd place in the javelin with Hannah showing further excellent form with 13.02m to win the B event. In the 100m, debutant Eilidh MacLeod had an unfortunate finish to a highly competitive 100m falling inches from the line, but was well pleased with her earlier long jump. Becky Hay made a major contribution with a long jump, a strong 100m performance before clocking 2m46.1 in her ‘B’ 800m, with Kate Morris leading the way home for the club in the A race with 2.41.1. The relay team of Becky, Kate, Lorna Cameron and Hannah Smith put in an excellent performance to take a spirited 4^th place.

Top under 15 thrower Ryan Stewart won all three of his events with first class performances of 12.99m in the shot, 46.03m in the javelin and 37.23m in the discus.  David Hutchison achieved an excellent javelin performance of 18.61m to take second place in the B event. David also battled hard for a hard won 5^th place in the 800m in 2.32.3. David Scott had a gutsy run in the 400m to take fifth in 66.8s. Martyn Paterson battled his way to a 4^th place in the under 15 100m in 13.9s whilst Kyle Henderson took the B 100m apart with an outstanding 12.6s and made the shot a maximum pointer with 9.89m for first in the B.

In the under 13 age group excellent performances by Rachel Adamson caught the eye, with a significant personal best of 2.36.9 in the 800m as she won in dominant fashion, having earlier won the long jump, with strong support from Louise Anderson in the B event. Lara Roessler, is a highly competent young athlete from Denmark joining the club with her parent’s working at the University this summer. She took second place in javelin with 14.87m and then won the high jump with 1.25m. Stephanie Holman had an excellent day, taking second place in the B event of the high jump with 1.10m and also winning the B javelin with 8.75m. Louise Anderson had a good race in the 100m to take fourth in 15.3s, with Megan Jardine making improvement in the B 100m. An excellent relay outing of third place by Rachel, Louise, Megan and Stephanie saw them just lose out in the battle for second place.

The under 13 boys highlight was a neck to neck race to the line won by Roddy Irvine as he won the 800m in a new PB of 2.34.3. Neil Cameron took honours with second place in the long jump taking his PB to 4.08m with Roddy picking up the B event win with his jump of 3.91m. David Russell made a fine debut for the club with third place in shot with 6.38m and Jack Dawson achieved 5.65m for third in the B event. Jack had to work hard in a competitive B 100m race with a time of 15.7s, whilst Neil had picked up 5^th in the A race in 15.2s

The under 11 girls had an excellent afternoon with their relay result of second place finishing off the afternoon for a quartet all debuting in their events. Karen Ross achieved a time of 13.9s in a hotly contested 100m. Isla Cubbitt had an excellent first run of 14.5s to take 4^th in the B 80m sprint. Sophie Roessler had a good long jump to take third place with 3.09m and Karen Ross matched her position with 2.46m on her debut. Farren Parkins having an excellent and mature 800m taking a a good fifth place with 3.08.4.

Under 11 boys, showed fine spirit with Matt Smith having an excellent first outing with a good finish in the 80m and young Callum Jardine took four points with his fifth place in the B 80m sprint. Both boys had their first long jump competition with Matt achieving 2.42m for 6^th place in the A andd Callum third place in 2.20m. Carrick McClelland made a determined run in his 800m to take 4^th place with a good sprint finish in 3.05.1. The relay team finished their day off with a fine fourth place.

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London Marathon 23rd April 2006.

Congratulations to the club’s hardy trio of Adrian Louden , Ross Milne and Tom Watson who took part in and completed their events in the London Marathon on Sunday.

Ross and Tom both proved their big occasion credentials by producing highly creditable performances when representing Scotland in the 11 - 12 year boys mini marathon age group. Ross completed the 2.65 mile course in 40th place in a time of 16m 14s and Tom came home in 67th place in a time of 17m 14s.

Meanwhile, in the main event, after picking up a knee injury around the 15 mile mark, Adrian was buoyed by the crowd and managed to finish in a creditable time of 4:23:50 raising over £7000 (for the charity (The Anthony Nolan Trust" ) he was running for.

Adrian would like to thank the club and some of the members for the encouragement he has had since joining, saying ” ...it really did make a difference in what was my first marathon.”

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Scottish Women’s Athletic League, Grangemouth

The Forth Valley combination of Central, Dunfermline and West Fife and Falkirk Victoria Harriers had a successful first foray in this season’s Scottish Women’s Athletic League with a third placing in the match at Grangemouth.

In the senior age group, a strong contingent of Central athletes made their presence felt. Elayne Henderson performed well to achieve 4^th place in the sprint hurdles, took a similar position in the high jump with 1.65m, matching her outdoor best, performed a new best of 29.08 m in the javelin for 4^th place and gained 5^th 8.95m in the shot.. Elizabeth Normand took on all four throws, continuing to improve in the disciplines, with a hammer of 19.70m being the highlight. Ainsley Normand looked sharper than ever this season and edged down her best times of recent years with 2m20.14 for an excellent third place in the 800m and matched this position with a fighting 1500m in 5.00.62.  Jennifer Emsley ran purposely in her 3,000metres, being edged out of second for third on the finishing straight, with Rowena Bell-Scott earning good points with second place in the B event, despite not being quite race fit yet. Karen Bunyan made a welcome return to competition and should be happy with her run to 6^th place in the B 400m. Specialist jumper, Karen McClymont made a useful contribution competing in the long jump and triple jump, the latter with 4^th A in 10.38m.

Dee Henderson was the sole Central athlete combining with a strong Falkirk contingent in the under 17 age group, and performing well in her 200m to take third place in 28.29s. In the under 15 age group, Jemma Stevens again matched her recent PB with a 1.50m leap giving her first place in the B high jump event.  Hannah Smith took another move forward in standards with a fine fourth place in the shot put with a throw of 7.62m followed with 12.80m for javelin good enough for 4^th in the B ranks. Ellen Houston rose to the task with a competitive 28.36s to finish third place in the B 200m race. Lorna Cameron gave her usual determined performance and showed the improvement in times she has been looking forward, falling just short of breaking the 2m30s barrier for the first time to gain excellent points with a third place in the B 800m race. Under the 13 age group, Lara Roessler made a big contribution with 3^rd in the B 200m in 30.50s and then produced a high quality shot of 7.75m to give her 3^rd place. Louise Anderson made her debut at this level with a good result of fifth in the 100m B race with 5^th in 15.46s.

The relays had plenty of drama. Louise and Lara teamed up with Alana Mitusch from Dunfermline and Claire O’Neill from Falkirk to take an unexpected third place in the under 13 race with all four runners new to this level of competition. Dee Henderson joined a team of quality runners to take second place in the under 17 event. For the senior squad, Elayne Henderson took over from Gemma Nicol to put Forth Valley clearly into the lead, but there was a baton fumble on the second changeover and disaster to leave the quartet thinking what might have been. But the result turned out to be academic as the team and match points had been resolved, with a substantial points gap having been achieved over five rival teams. Edinburgh Southern, comfortably the strongest club in Scotland and well placed in UK terms were just out of grasp on this occasion. The Team West combination of over half a dozen clubs from Ayrshire, Renfrew and Glasgow and winners of the league for the last two years, again took a dominant position in the league this season, again putting out a strong team over all age groups.

Points;

Team West 529; Edinburgh Southern Harriers 457; Forth Valley 420; Lothian 350.5; Tayside 339; Pitreavie 299; Aberdeen 289.5 and City of Glasgow 275.

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Scottish Mens Athletic League – Sunday 30^th April 2006 – Meadowbank

Central Athletic Club’s latest venture in the First Division of the Scottish Men’s Athletic League saw the athletes fighting qualities prevail in spite of late call offs and injury. Unfortunately there were too many gaps on the day so there was no surprise that the Club finished a disappointing seventh of the eight teams.  However on a day spattered with fine performances there was plenty to suggest that the Club can move up the League as the Season progresses.

As always the Pole Vault and Hammer competitions started the Meeting and Ron Todd vaulted with confidence to take second place with a fine 3.40metre clearance.  Colin Christie was Central’s unluckiest man, tearing ligaments in his foot in his pole vault warm-up, before achieving a first place in the ‘B’ event with 2.45metres.  Colin then produced more useful points from the Hammer and Discus before limping off. Meanwhile Ron went on to take fifth in the Hammer with a fine 30.99metre throw and another fifth place in the Discus with 31.52metres.  Ron finished off his busy day with a Shot Put of 9.57metres and a Javelin throw of 33.90metres for two further sixth ‘A’ places.

The Track events started with the 400metre hurdles and it was Kenny Morrison who rose to the challenge with a useful 64.16seconds clocking for fifth ‘A’ place. Alex Milne stepped into the ‘B’ event at short notice and showed improved form to finish fifth in the ‘B’ race in a new personal best of 69.89seconds. It was Under 20 athlete Craig Ruddy who accepted the 800metre challenge and he was another to achieve personal best figures as he sped to third ‘A’ place in the excellent time of 1min 56.77secs. Martin Crawford also looked the part for most of the ‘B’ 800metres but just misjudged his final effort and had to settle for second place in 2.04.02.

Ian McDonald proved once again that he can mix it with the best Scottish sprinters and this time finished fourth in the ‘A’ 100metres in 11.76secs into a strong headwind.  Indeed Ian went on to take fourth in the ‘A’ 200metres with 23.87secs again running powerfully into the same strong headwind.

Dollar’s Roy Lennon can be proud of his two Under 20 athletes, Josh Clarke and Angus Bell-Scott who never looked out of place against more experienced 400metre runners.  Both had tough races with Josh taking a fine sixth ‘A’ place in 54.08secs and Angus an excellent fifth ‘B’ placing in 53.86secs, with both young athletes rewarded with superb personal bests.

Stuart Chalmers is another Under 20 athlete who continues to make progress, on this occasion winning the ‘A’ High Jump with a superb personal best equalling 1.85metres.  Stuart also weighed in with an excellent 5.43metre Long Jump for more useful points. Much of the responsibility for the technical events fell on Frank Houston’s shoulders and he once again came through with flying colours; perhaps the best effort was a 5.41metre Long Jump for second ‘B’ followed up by a 10.35metre triple jump for a very useful third ‘A’ placing. Frank also produced an excellent third equal ‘B’ High Jump placing and filled in ably in the ‘B’ 200metres.

Robert Russell was competitive all the way in the 1500metres only giving way in the final 200metres as he came home second in 3min 59.37secs.  It was Murray MacLarty who provided the back up in this event and Murray battled well for more much needed points, finishing in 4.26.76.  Both Ross Houston (15.53.72) and Lewis Millar (16.22.87) looked the part as they claimed second ‘A’ and ‘B’ places respectively in the 5000metres after very gritty performances.  Alex Milne showed he has lost none of his attacking attitude as he powered to a fine time of 10min 49.74secs with an unwilting run in the 3000metre Steeplechase.  Alex completed the day by filling in where required in the Shot Put, as did Martin Crawford in the Javelin both underlining the ‘can do’ attitude that prevails throughout this team.

As always it was the relays that finished off the day and it was good to see Martin Crawford, Frank Houston, Stuart Chalmers bring the baton home in 47.82secs in the 4 x 100metres for sixth place overall. The tired legs from earlier efforts was just too much for the quartet of Josh Clarke, Angus Bell-Scott, Robert Russell and Martin Crawford to make their mark in the 4 x 400metres but the time of 3min 41.33secs was a big step forward from last year’s efforts.

A special mention should be made for the back up provided by John Dickson as Track Judge, a vital contribution to the Club’s effort.

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