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National Road Relay Championships – 5th April
Central AC teams dominated the end of winter season finale becoming the first club to win both men and women’s title at the National Road Relay Championships at Livingston. This was another first ever feat to match the double win at the cross country relays at the start of the winter. The Masters ladies title gave the club three out of the four championship titles on offer to add yet more credits to this season’s long list of titles for both men and women.
The event featured alternating short 5 kilometre and long 10 kilometre legs for four female runners or 6 male runners around the tarmac underpasses of the Livingston townscape.
For the ladies, Morag MacLarty led off for Central, giving the team a great start in second place with a 18:43 leg behind defending champions Kilbarchan. Alison Docherty followed with a long leg in which turned out to be the second fastest long leg of the day as she moved the team into a 50 second lead with her 35:25 leg. Fiona Thompson continued apace as she increased the lead with 18:15 timing this time with the second fastest short leg. Veteran Hazel Dean set off with a 90 second plus lead and although Kilbarchan pulled back part way through the long leg, brought the Central quartet home with a personal leg of 37:24, an overall time of 1:50:02 and a first ever win of this title for the Central ladies.
Meanwhile, the six Central men A team were also pulling out all the stops to match the ladies win. Ross Houston showed the benefit of training regime with increased mileage on the first leg to bring the team to first changeover in first place after his 15:37 timing (second fastest short leg of the day). Scott McDonald turned in a fast long leg time holding a two second lead over Shettleston Harriers, passing on the Alasdair Anthony who with a speedy 16:15 just gave way for the team to drop back to a close second. Robert Russell took on the third leg and with seemingly effortless fashion powered to a 3 minute lead after a leg of 28 minutes dead, easily the fastest long lap of the day. Lewis Millar more than defended the lead with his 16:30 putting even further distance beyond any possible chasers and passed onto Alaistair Hay on the final leg with his 30.14 timing bring the team with 2:16:56 substantially ahead of Shettleston and then Cambuslang.
The second ladies team was focussed on a first ever Master’s title for the first time and a team of Polly Harrison (20:39 to changeover in 13th place), Fiona Kelsall (39.40, 12th), Jane Waterhouse (21:08, 12th ) and Ainsley Normand (37:33) coming home in 11th place overall and comfortable Masters winners in 1:59:00
For the men, the B team was Michael Wright (17:11, 14th), Will Hensman (36:36, 28th) Miguel Merayo (17:41, 24th) Murray MacLarty ( 33:37,18th) Jamie McDonald (18:19,16th), Alex Milne (34:47) brought their team to 16th in 2:38:11. An incomplete C team had runs of Ian McDonald (19:12, 31st) David Hay (41:41, 50th) Philip Hendry (20:53, 45th) and Cameron Campbell (41:15, 45th).
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Pre-season Time Trials
Central Athletic Club recently held its Track and Field Time Trials at Grangemouth Stadium in unseasonably cold and windy weather. Many of the established athletes used the meeting as an opportunity to gauge the effect of their Winter Training while a number of others were competing for the first time.
Under 17 athlete Kyle Henderson started his season well with a fine 1.85 metre clearance in the High Jump, an excellent 6.54 metre Long Jump and a hard fought 11.4secs run in the 100 metres. Also in this age group Martyn Paterson had a strong run of 54.9secs in the 400 metres followed by 25 secs for 200 metres while Scott Green made a too seldom venture onto the track with 4min 30.3secs for 1500metres and Andrew Butchart stuck well to his task to cover 3000m in 9min 23.6secs. Amongst the Under 15 Boys it was good to see Sanju Siriwardena completing a 12.8/26.2secs 100/200 metres double in fine style while Neil Cameron started his season with 14.1/29.3secs over the same distances, completing his day with a 4.09metre Long Jump. Ross Milne was the pick of the Under 15 Boys over 800metres with a 2min 13.8secs clocking followed by a 32.74 metre Javelin Throw and a 10.62metre Shot Put. Roddy Irvine tackled a tough 400/800metre double clocking 60.4secs and 2min 25.4secs while Gordon Milne made his first steps in this age group with 63.5secs and 2min 30.7secs for 400/800 and an impressive 8.21metre Shot Put. Sam Fraser also made an impact with 100metres run in 14.4, 200m in 31.8 and 800m in 2min 46.4secs.
Dee Henderson moved into the Under 20 age group with a good 100/200 double in 13.8/28.2secs while Kayleigh McGurk tackled the1500metre with a 5min 55.6secs timing. In the Under 17 Age Group Lorna Cameron (46secs) and Rosie Hastings (47secs) had competitive runs over 300metres with both then running 2min 31secs and 2min 35.9secs respectively for 800metres and Rosie long jumping to 4.04metres. Katie-Marie King ran 14.1secs for 100metres then leapt out to 4.45metres in the Long Jump while Georgia Quinn clocked 14.3secs for 100metres followed by 29.2secs over 200metres. There was a good turnout of Under 15 Girls with Louise Anderson proving the fastest over 100metres (13.5secs) then clocking 29.6secs foe 200metres and a new personal best in the Long Jump with 4.61metres. Sarah Dick (14.0), Sophie Brown (14.2), Niamh Callan (14.7), Amy Douglas (15.0) and Laura Nicholson (16.4) all competed over 100metres, while the 200metres saw Sarah Dick (28.4), Rachel Adamson (29.2), Niamh Callan (31.0), Amy Douglas (31.5), Maeve Weldon (33.3), Ruth McCabe (33.6), Cairey McNeil (34.0) and Laura Nicholson (35.4secs) all compete with style. Rachel Adamson was fastest Under 15 Girls over 800metres (2min 32.7secs) while Maeve Weldon (2.54.3), Cairey McNeil (2.55.5), Molly Tweedle (2.56.1), Stacey Hardman (3.00.4) and Ruth McCabe (3.13.9) all coped well with the cold and windy conditions. Other useful performances in this age group included High Jump performances from Sophie Brown (1.53metres) and Niamh Callan (1.35metres), Shot Putting of 5.80 metres from Sarah Dick, 5.42metres from Laura Nicholson and 5.29metres from Amy Douglas, Long Jumping 4.01 from Sophie Brown and 3.56metres by Stacey Hardman and Javelin throws of 9.82metres by Stacey Hardman and 7.47metres by Ruth McCabe.
ights from the Under 13 Girls age group included Caitlin Watson’s 14.1secs/29.9secs performances over 100/200metres, backed up by a 1.25metre High Jump and 3.98metre Long Jump. Lily Cairns-Haylor performed well in the 70metre hurdles (15.7secs) while Tara Wells and Lisa Hardman ran well in the 800metres to clock 3min 3.8secs and 3min 7.2secs respectively and Roisin Bonucchi clocked 5min 38.9secs to complete a gritty run in the 1500metres. There were further strong performances from Agatha Williams-Kelly, Chelsea Whyte, Zoe Schyns, Eilidh Ironside, Kirsty Forsyth, Tara Walls, Lily Cairns-Haylor, Lisa Hardman and Nicole Hardy over a variety of events. It was good to see Under 11’s Jennifer Downie, Jennifer Anderson, Beth Gallagher making a useful impact with Jennifer’s 15.7/35.0secs runs over 100/200metres being the best on show. Under 13, Daniel Stansfield showed good speed in the 100metres (14.8) and ran a strong 800metres (2min 52.2secs) while Micahel McCabe threw the Javelin some 9.15metres. Scott Fleming was Central’s only Under 11 on show and here laid down some good foundations for the rest of the Season.
Full results....
London Mini Marathon
Further afield Central AC young athletes were selected to represent East of Scotland teams at the London ‘Mini’ Marathons against the English regions. Kathryn Gillespie led home a quartet of Scots runners as they won the 11-12 year old title with Kathryn taking second place. In the 15-17 year olds Sean Reilly and Alex Hendry came 7th and 15th respectively as their team made it second behind Greater Manchester, and in the 13-14 year old boys Tom Watson led his team home with 15th place as his team came home in 9th place.
12 Leg Relays and Northern Relays
On the senior stage Robert Russell, capped his fastest leg relay run in the Scottish road relays with a similar breath-taking run against top quality opposition in the South of England 12 leg road relays for his Thames Valley Harriers team, running along with his team-mate Alaistair Hay. Robert’s run of 25min 44secs over 8.4 kilometres proved to be the fastest of the day, some 25seconds ahead of the next fastest run, leaving a string of UK Internationalists in his wake. Emma Waterhouse helped her English club Chester-le-Street make it three wins in succession as they took the ladies title at the Northern relays at Catterick.
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Scottish Women’s Athletic League – 20 April.
Central AC ladies turned in top performances in the first major track meeting of the season in the Scottish Women’s Athletic League at Edinburgh’s Meadowbank Stadium. In the team stakes, the Forth Valley combination manage sixth place ahead of Glasgow and Aberdeen but had to give way Edinburgh the winners and other regional teams.
The two headline makers for the Forth Valley team were both Central 800m competitors at opposite ends of the seniority and experience spectrums. Morag MacLarty made her first outing to the track since serious setbacks after the Commonwealth Games and took the senior 800m in comfortable win, whilst Kathryn Gillespie won the under 13 race in her first track race at this level.
Central’s Under 13 girls made a major contribution. Caitlin Watson led the way with fine run in the 100metres in a strong headwind to gain 4th in 15.18s and matched this with 4th in the hurdles in 14.71s. Aimee Bilsland pulled off top performances in the B sprint races with 5th place (16.09) and 3rd (32.81s) in the 200metres. Caitlin and Aimee teamed up in the long jump with 3rd (4.09m) in the A event and 2nd (3.68m) for Aimee in the B. Agatha Williams-Kelly came of age with a fine 3rd place in the sprint hurdles with 13.61s, a 4th place in the shot (6.40 m) and in the A 200m gave another mature performance with 32.53s for 5th. The three girls joined up with Catherine Mitchell of Falkirk to take fourth place in the relays. Kathryn Gillespie’s win the 800metres, taking a full 7 seconds off her personal best as an under 11, clearly set the standard for this age group for the season.
In the under 15’s, Laura Macaulay took a second place in the shot (8.27m) and then took her javelin to a new level with a fine 3rd place with 23.36m. Rachel Adamson took out the lead in the B 800metres in storming fashion but had to be satisfied with 2nd in 2:32.59. Louise Anderson put in a fine performance in the shot, 6th place with 6.61, and had a great leg in the relay to pull the team from the back markers on the third leg to enable the team to come third. Sophie Brown had yet another consistent performance with third in the high jump with 1.50m.
Katie-Mairi King teamed up with Rosie Hastings to score good points in the long jump, with Katie-Mairi achieving 4th place with 4.25m and Rosie just one centimetre back making it third in the B string. Lorna Cameron and Rosie then took on the 300metres with both running close to personal best timings despite the difficult conditions with Lorna achieving 46.21s and Rosie 47.1s.The relay featured all three Central girls, achieving 6th place.
In the seniors age group, Jennifer Hutchison started off with a fine 3rd place in the 400m hurdles with 67.8s. Lynn Harvey had a busy day, promoted to the A 100m, she came 6th with a time of 13.87s, excellent into the headwind, took a 4th place in the long jump with 4.54m , though had problems in the triple jump to achieve 7th place . Fiona Thompson smashed her personal best for the 3000metres with 10:09.75 as she lifted third place. Morag MacLarty provided her win in the 800metres with her season opener of 2:15.49s, followed by the B race, where Fiona Kelsall lifted her personal best with a 3rd place in 2:33.47. Elizabeth Normand was pleased with her hammer which gave her 6th place with 28.02m and matched this with a 5th place in the shot for 8.16m. The Senior relays were an example of both teamwork and excellence, with the three middle distance runners form Central teaming up with Lynn Harvey to gain two points with their 7th place, and with Morag providing the fastest leg of a 4 x 400metre relay that was just edged into third in 4:06.48.
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Scottish Mens League – 20 April 2008
Central Athletic Club began their 2008 Scottish Mens Track and Field League Season with a superbly solid start as they left Grangemouth Stadium in second place in Division One. This was by far Central’s best ever start to the campaign and with a number of athletes sitting out this early Season meeting there should be opportunity to build on these foundations as the year progresses.
If there had been an Athlete of the Match Award then Robert Russell would have been a serious contender. Robert left his rivals in his wake in the 1500metres to win with 4min 3.24secs then turned out 40 minutes later to once again show his class in winning the 5,000metres, from the biggest field of the day which included a guest Eritrean athlete, in 14min 44.51secs. Robert was well backed up by Scott McDonald who fought off injury to finish second ‘B’ in the 1500metres in 4min 5.61secs while Ross Houston went one better as he swept to first ‘B’ with a classy performance in a fine personal best of 15min 16secs.
Indeed with the cold swirling wind there was little chance of personal bests so the day was all about gaining points. There was however a sight of things to come as the talent of Under 17 athlete Kyle Henderson shone through in the Long Jump (second with a fine leap of 6.33metres) and High Jump (fifth place with a 1.75metre clearance) and undoubtedly much more to come. Under 20 athlete Michael Taylor provided the back up in the Long Jump with a 5.37metre effort and Michael also provided mature performances in the 400metre hurdles (third with 60.18secs) and 400metres (sixth in 54.77secs). It was Ian McDonald who ventured into the ‘B’ 400metres and looked every inch the part until lactic struck in the home straight leaving him struggling to the line but still taking fourth place. Sprinting duties fell to Alastair Beaton who had made the long journey from Inverness to support the Team and although finding he was confronted with a line-up of Scotland’s top sprinters still came home with two sixth places recording 11.72secs for 100metres and 23.43secs for 200metres into the stiff headwind. Shane Malone was the ‘B’ 100/200metre sprinter recording 12.08 and 23.85secs as he picked up valuable points with fourth and second places. Shane went on to capture second place in the ‘A’ Triple Jump with a very worthwhile 12.45metres effort.
Sean Reilly also gave us a glimpse of his talent as he commanded the ‘A’ string 800metres to record a run away win in 2min 0.13secs. Indeed it looked as though Miguel Merayo may have made this a double victory over the metric ‘half-mile’ but had to give best in the home straight as he finished third with an excellent 2min 5.87secs clocking. Alex Hendry made his debut at this level with a tentative run over 400metre hurdles and a superb second ‘B’ placing in 65.42secs. It was also good to welcome back a rejuvenated Jamie McDonald who battled well in the 3000metre Steeplechase to take third in 10mins 59.42secs.
Ron Todd again proved to be a prodigious points scorer starting the day with fifth in the Pole Vault (2.60metres) and first ‘B’ in the Hammer (29.63metres). Further throws of 9.31metres in the Shot Put; 33.24metres in the Javelin and 32.02metres in the Discus coupled to a 10.13metre Triple Jump were testament to Ron’s importance to the Club. Gary Sweeney rounded off a busy weekend which had included the Scottish University Championships the previous day by covering all four throws with efforts of 11.34metres Shot Put; 28.05metres Discus; 29.78metres Hammer and 33.36metres Javelin.
As always the day rounded off with Relays and the quartet of Alastair Beaton, Kyle Henderson, Shane Malone and Gary Sweeney brought the baton home in an excellent third place with a 45.45secs clocking in the 4x100metres. There were only four volunteers left at the end of the day for the 4x400metres so it was a tremendous effort from Michael Taylor, Ross Houston, Robert Russell and Ian McDonald to rally round and lift more useful points in sixth place with 3min 48.33secs.
Scores at the end of the Match were Arbroath and District 360points; Central 296; Victoria Park/City of Glasgow 274; Pitreavie 227; Whitemoss 220; Shettleston 194; Ayr Seaforth 182 and Giffnock North 130. Thanks are also due to Hamish Fleming, John Dickson, Tom McMenemy, Ian and Meg Sweeney for carrying out Officiating duties throughout the day.
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Central and Southern Scotland League Division 1. 27th April
Some tremendous individual performances brightened up a weakened team as Central AC performed at Wishaw at the weekend.
The Men’s team was severely weakened by commitments at other events, especially in the older age groups. Several youngsters produced performances of great determination and potential, including Scott Fleming and Jack Bauchop in the under 11 sprint and long-jump, and Dominic Angiolini in the under 13 800m and long jump.
The under 15 team had an excellent day with strong, enthusiastic and versatile performances from Gordon Milne, Ross Milne and Roddy Irvine in multiple field and track events. They finished near the head of the field in all their events with the 400m B win of Roddy with 59.3s and the brace of second places in the javelin for the Milne brothers standing out. Neil Cameron and Sanju Siriwardena ran well in the sprints, and led an exciting 4 by 100m relay effort to finish third in a large and highly competitive field. Sam Fraser produced a strong finish in the field of a fast 800m to cut his best time by about 10secs.
Scott Green showed his ability and endurance with an outstanding second in 9:32.06s to British no 1 Calum Hawkins in the under 17 3000m, leaving several strong competitors far behind.
Masters competitors Alex Milne and Robert Hutchinson compensated for the lack of senior athletes with excellent early-season runs in the 3000m steeplechase and 800m where they achieved second places in A and B event respectively.
For the under 11 girls, Matilda Williams-Kelly and Charlotte Tilley made their debut and supported Isla Burns and Jennifer Downie to cover sprint, long jump and 800m with Isla catching the eye with a spirited third place in 800m, after success the previous day at the Primary Schools cross country. In the under 13 age group Caitlin Watson was just pipped for first place in the 100 metres despite being given the same time of 14.3s. Agatha Williams-Kelly raced to 4th with 14.9s in the B race. Emily Greenan smashed her personal best to take it to 2:38.5 whilst gaining second place in the 800m, with Roisin Bonnuchi getting third in the B race with 2:56.0. In the high jump, Caitlin made it another second with her 1.30m and Agatha also second in the B with 1.15m. Charlotte Burns teamed up with Caitlin as they took third and fifth in the A nd B long jumps. The relay squad had a spirited run from the girls led them home in a closely fought race to fifth.
Sophie Brown and Louise Anderson led the way for the under 15 girls with fine jumping results. Sophie broke her personal best in the high jump to win with 1.55m, whilst Louise gained maximum points with her 1.35m to win the B event. In the long jump, positions were reversed with Louise lifting her PB to 4.78m, though this time making it second in the A event, with Sophie taking a win in the B event with her 3.98m. On the track, Louise achieved 5th place in the 100m with a speedy 13.5s with Sarah Dick gaining 3rd place in the B event. Julie Cook and Amy Hendry took on the 800m with Julie taking her personal best down to 2:41.6. A quality relay performance brought the team to fourth in 55.6s.
In the under 17’s again it was the jumps that achieved top spots, with Katie-Mairi King gaining second with a new personal best in 4.57m in the long jump and Rosie Hastings winning the B event. The high jump was a bonus event with Hannah Smith and Katie-Mairi performing beyond their expectations both with successful jumps over 1.35m with Hannah getting the nod for second place in the A and Katie-Mairi winning the B. In a debut 300m, Georgia Quinn put in a fine run to record 46.7s and the 800m saw Lorna Cameron gain third place with 2:28.6s and Rosie Hastings win the B race with 2:35.0.
A senior 400m debut for Dee Henderson gained a time of 66.6s and a speedy 5th place followed in 100m. In the senior throws, Elizabeth Normand gained third and fifth in the A shot and javelin, with Dee picking up top points in the B event with throw of 8.01m in the shot and took second in the javelin.
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Weekend Roundup - 26 and 27 April 2008
Central AC had three athletes representing Scotland in the Knockdhu Hill Running International held near Larne, Northern Ireland on Saturday 26 April. Matthew Gillespie and Scott McDonald led the Scottish Under 20 Mens to victory with first and second places respectively and Alison Docherty came home fifth in the Senior Womens race helping Scotland to a deserved Team First place.
Ross Houston continued his excellent run of results by winning the prestigious Balmoral 10K with a new personal best of 32mins 44secs while defending ladies champion Fiona Thompson coming home in a second place with 38min 41secs.
Emma Waterhouse teamed up with fellow Scot Freya Murray to take silver
medals at the Six Stage Road Relay Championships with the north east of England’s top ladies team Chester-le-Street in Birmingham, holding the lead over eventual winners Aldershot to the last 100metres in the 6 x 5,000 metre races.
The Forth Valley Junior Team, consisting of athletes from Central, Falkirk Victoria, Lothian Runners and Livingston, started their Season off well taking first place in the Northern Tyne Division in Carlisle.
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