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National Road Relay Championships 3 April 2010
Central AC came home with a full set of medals from the National Road Relay Championships at Livingston. The event was 4 stages for ladies and 6 stages for the men of pavements, cycle tracks and underpasses, with alternating short (3.15 miles) and long (5.85 miles) laps using the same basic course of the previous 11 years.
First to finish were the ladies, with Central AC quartet of Morag MacLarty, Fiona Thompson, Lindsay Morrison and Catriona Buchanan taking third place after a long battle for all the medal places. Morag MacLarty led off the team on the short leg, and came home in first place with a 17min 9sec timing, second fastest ever in the history of the event, posting notice that she has the basis for a strong track season ahead of her. Fiona Thompson set off on the long leg stage with a useful 11 second lead from full-time GB triathlete Kerry Laing, who caught, passed, but was then pegged back by Fiona who brought Central into the changeover with a 2 second lead and a stage time of 34.41. Next off was Lindsay Morrison in her debut year and new to the event, running a strong 20.19, but with Elspeth Curran fourth at the National Cross Country Championships and 4K cross country champion, it was inevitable that the lead would swap and the gap between gold and silver placings would open up. On the last long leg, Catriona Buchanan, also new to the event, put in a great time of 36.01 but Kilbarchan were away and Catriona could not close the gap. Behind though, Jennifer McLean from Edinburgh AC came storming through with the fastest long lap of the day to pip Central for silver, with the team having to be content with bronze.
In the masters age group, Central had a team with bags of experience. Fiona Kelsall led off with a steady timing of 22.09, a good run after months of injury to place the team in second place with a minute gap behind Kirkintilloch. Jane Waterhouse took on the long lap and came home in 40.58, but with no progress forward. Katie Whiteside then ran a strong third, short, leg, of 21.10 and took Central into a lead of over a minute, where vastly experienced Hazel Dean brought Central home with an official time of 39.14, to take the gold medals, which was also tenth place overall.
In the 6 Stage Men’s Championships Central Athletic Club’s ‘A’ Team were always in competition for the Gold medals as they pushed holders Shettleston Harriers throughout the race. Scott MacDonald showed maturity beyond his years as he pressed on over the latter stages of the first leg to finish in 15min 30secs and hand over a 10second lead ahead of Shettleston’s Paul Sorrie. Ross Houston continued his high quality build up to the London Marathon with a strong second leg run (28.56) to hold the lead for Central as Shettleston closed to 4seconds through Tewoldederhan Megnisteab. Under 20 runner Alex Hendry picked up the challenge for Central on the third leg and came round with a classy 15min 43secs timing but was overtaken by Shettleston’s Amanuel Hagos to leave Central some 7 seconds off the pace. International hill runners Alasdair Anthony (Central) and Jethro Lennox (Shettleston) proved to be well matched on the fourth leg with both finishing in 30min 17secs and Shettleston holding their 7seconds lead. Lewis Millar should be pleased with his fifth leg effort as he pursued the experienced Alan Adams with a strong 15min 40secs effort but had to give a little ground to his Shettleston rival finishing 11seconds in arrears. It was always possible that Scottish Cross Country Champion Alastair Hay could catch his Shettleston rival Tsegezab Woldemichael and Alastair set off in hot pursuit, however the effort to close the gap proved too much and he had to settle for second and the Silver medals with a final leg effort of 28min 50secs some 27seconds behind Shettleston and 1min 47secs ahead of third placed Inverclyde AC.
Central’s ‘B’ team finished a very respectable 18th overall after a strong start from their youngest athlete Andrew Butchart produced a first leg of 16min 17secs to come home sixth overall. Michael Wright had to tackle the first long leg and stuck to his task well to finish in 33min 56secs, taking the team to 15th overall. Ian McDonald picked up a place with a useful run on the third leg (17.50) and Will Hensman did well to hold the 14th placing on the fourth leg (34.31). David Eckersley called on his experience to keep the team in 14th with a sound 18.06 clocking while Hugh Buchanan had to hold his run together to finish the final long leg in 38.51. Central’s ‘C’ team was somewhat disappointingly only three strong however Cameron Campbell (21.47), Under 20 runner Sandy MacLarty (42.20) and Kenneth Hislop (22.27) applied themselves well and were in 55th placing when their effort came to a premature end.
Scottish Mens League 18 April 2010
A tremendous overall ‘can do’ attitude saw Central Athletic Club take first place in Division One of the Scottish Mens League at the opening match of the Season held in cold and windy conditions at the Aberdeen Sports Village.
With double victories in the 1500metres, 5,000metres and 3,000metres Steeplechase it was always going to be difficult to beat Central’s effort, which also saw victories in the High Jump, Pole Vault and 400metres Hurdles.
It was Robert Russell and Andrew Butchart who sealed the double victories in the 1500 and 5000 with Robert clocking 4.03.52 and 15.23.43, while Under 20 runner Andrew posted times of 4.08.96 and 15.23.63, both races within an hour of each other. Another Under 20 athlete, Alex Hendry showed his strength with an excellent 9min 55.57secs win in the Steeplechase with Jamie McDonald providing strong back-up with a 10min 30.86secs effort to take another set of maximum points. Yet another Under 20, Kyle Henderson leapt to victory by clearing 1.80metres in the High Jump while the experienced Ron Todd had set the winning pattern with a 3.20metre clearance in the Pole Vault. A further Under 20 athlete, James MacPhail was never headed in the 400metres Hurdles as he pushed to the tape for victory in 55.65seconds.
There was also superb back-up throughout the events with Kyle Henderson sprinting into second ‘A’ placing in the 100metres (10.99secs) a placing equalled by Alastair Beaton in the ‘B’ event (11.26secs). Shane Malone had a quality run in the 110metres Hurdles to finish second with 18.01secs while Colin Christie made useful interventions for second ‘B’ placing in the Pole Vault (2.40metres) and fifth equal place in the High Jump (1.40metres).
Alex Hendry produced a solid run in the ‘A’ 800metres to finish third in 2min 02.87secs, a position equalled by Ian McDonald in the ‘B’ race (2min 11.17secs) with a confident performance. It was two Under 20’s that contested the 400metres with Martyn Paterson showing some strong sprinting for third in the ‘A’ race (51.00secs) and Craig Ritchie also coming through well in fourth ‘B’ (54.58secs).
Ron Todd and Gary Sweeney covered the throws with Ron picking up points in the Hammer (30.78metres), Discus (30.07metres), Shot Put (8.45metres) and Javelin (30.72metres). Gary shook off a sore back for classy performances in the Discus (30.79metres), Shot Put (11.54metres) and Javelin (31.02metres), his Shot performance taking second place ‘A’ points. Alastair Beaton was in good early season form as he sped to third in the ‘A’ 200metres (23.00secs) while Shane Malone finished seventh in the ‘B’ event with 24.64secs. Under 17 athlete Donovan Webster made his debut for the team with fifth in the ‘A’ Long Jump (5.24metres) and fifth in the ‘B’ Triple Jump (10.97metres) a position equalled by Shane Malone in the ‘A’ event with a best of 11.15metres. Another Under 17, Ryan Calder, also stepped up for the first time at this level to record a Long Jump of 4.76metres for fourth ‘B’ place and fourth with 12.47secs in the Guest 100metres.
The Relays rounded off the day with Alastair Beaton, Kyle Henderson, Shane Malone and Ryan Calder coming through for fourth in 46.14secs for the 4 x 100metres relay and Ian McDonald, Craig Ritchie, Martyn Paterson and James MacPhail all running strongly for third with a fine effort of 3min 34.84secs. There was superb back-up to the Club’s effort from Officials Tom McMenemy, John Dickson, Martin Crawford and Meg Sweeney.
Overall results were Central 355.5points; Aberdeen AAC 342; Edinburgh AC 273.5; Arbroath & District 251; Lasswade AAC 243; Pitreavie AAC 157; Ayr Seaforth 142.5 and Shettleston Harriers 67.5.
Scottish Women’s Athletic League 18 April 2010
Central AC ladies made strong early season showing as part of the Forth Valley team in the first match of the Scottish Women’s Athletic League on home turf at Grangemouth.. In a tight battle for second place, someway off the lead of Edinburgh AC, Forth Valley had to settle for 4th place with final points totals of Edinburgh 556; Tayside 402; Team West 389.5; Forth Valley 381.5; Pitreavie 374.5; Aberdeen 294; Lothian 233.5 and VP Glasgow 215.
Central had two girls in the under 13 team with Sarah Pearson making an impressive debut winning the B 70m hurdles in 13.51s and taking third place in her B 100m sprint, with a time of 15.1 into a strong headwind. Bevhan Trevis went off strongly in the A 800m race but took great credit with a 5th place in 2.45.82. Both girls made a strong showing in the relay team which took fourth place.
Kirsty Forsyth has been promoted to the role of lead sprinter in the under 15 age group after a winter season of success. She showed her continued rapid progress with a 5th place in the A 100m with 13.8, and in the A 200m matched it with same position in 28.5s. Emily Batchelor was another young lady to make her track debut at this top level and ran well in her sprint hurdles to take 5th with 14.3s. with Agatha Williams-Kelly also showing well with 5th in the B race with 14.62. Emily made a great contribution to the team with a high jump in 4th with 1.25m.. Emily Greenan continued to show progress with a mature race in the A 800m with a 4th in 2.37.76s, but it was in the under 15 1500m races that the Forth Valley had its best track result through two Central girls. Kathryn Gillespie won with a strong 4.51.7 performance and Eilidh MacCorquodale won the B race with 5.15.6. Amongst some noteworthy field event performances Agatha Williams-Kelly (7.69m for 7th) and Emily Greenan (5.53 for 6th in B event) were unlucky not to score higher and Caitlin Watson took a high scoring 3rd with her long jump of 4.37m.
In the under 17 age group, Louise Anderson took top honours with her long jump with a 5.14m leap, and made a useful 4th in the senior triple jump with 10.06. Sarah Dick and Chloe McGregor teamed up in the 300m hurdles to both gain 3rd places with 50.2s and 54.2s timings in A nd B races respectively. Sarah produced a fine shot put of 8.34m for fifth place and Chloe took a 6th place in the sprint hurdles with 16.03s. Megan Jardine gave another committed performance with 4th in the B 300m and a time of 46.9s. Rachel Adamson made a committed performance to the senior 4 x 400m, with a group of Falkirk Victora youngsters and their time of 4.16s and 5th place showed capacity the future. Norma Bruce was only senior Central lady, taking on the throws with her early season form in javelin (23.11m for 5th place) being her top performance.
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