National Junior relays. Scotstoun, Glasgow. 15^th August. Central’s young sprinters lived up to their growing reputation by winning the National Junior relays at Scotstoun, Glasgow. After winning their heat in 55.19s in the fastest heat time, the young quartet of Chris Clarke, Kyle Henderson, David Scott and Martyn Patterson, went on to win the final in a time of 54.89s. The team always appeared to have the edge over close rivals Shettleston and City of Edinburgh, holding a margin of one to two metres over all the legs with final runner Martyn holding off the pressure from top ranked chasing athletes. Their dominance of the event was more remarkable as all the boys have another year in the age group.

Under 13 girls, Georgia Quin, Becky Hay, Kate Morris and Hilary Warkentin, achieved much by taking third place in their heat and qualifying for the final. Similarly, the under quartet of Tammy Breingan, Amy Pearson, Dee Henderson and Lynn Harvey took third place in their under 15 heat and qualified for the final where they improved upon their heat time to a very respectable 54.56s in finishing fifth.

Scottish Under 13 100m Sprint relay Champions, Chris Clarke, David Scott, Martyn Paterson and Kyle Henderson.

Practice makes perfect!

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Scottish Mens League – Sunday 22 August – Meadowbank. Congratulations are due to all the athletes and Officials of Central Athletic Club who contributed to taking the trophy for winning the Scottish Mens Athletic League Division One for the first time. Great overall endeavour from all the athletes in the last Match saw Central AC finish 3 places ahead of Pitreavie AAC, the season ending with Central on 27.5 league points ahead of Pitreavie on 26.5.

Once again the athletes supported the Team well in this final Match at Meadowbank on Sunday 22 August with all digging deep for solid performances.  The day started well with excellent performances from Ron Todd and Kenny Pearson with 3.50metre Pole Vault clearances. Ron also produced a 33.16metre Discus throw for fourth in the 'A’ event and sixth ‘A’ in the Hammer.  Kenny Pearson also collected more useful points with a 41.60metre throw in the javelin. Gary Sweeney continued to win points in a variety of events and showed good sprinting speed allied to useful Shot Putting and Discus throws, hopefully setting himself up for medal performances in next weekend’s Bank of Scotland Under 20 Championships.

Sean Tough was another to show his talent across a range of events with an excellent 110metre hurdle run followed up with good performances in the Shot Putt, Javelin and Long Jump. It was also good to welcome back Colin Christie as he completed many of the technical events picking up useful points in the 400metre hurdles, 110metre hurdles, Triple Jump and Hammer.

Under 17 athlete Stuart Chalmers warmed up for next weekend’s Championships with another fine clearance of 1.70metres for fifth 'A' placing in the High Jump. Frank Houston has also supported the Club well this season and again produced good performances in the High Jump (1.65metres) and 200metres.

Calum Laing again proved a cornerstone of the Team with victory in the ‘A’ 400metre hurdles in a superb new Club record of 55.1 seconds, Calum also showing good flat speed with 51.1seconds in the 400metres.  Ian McDonald was a bit below par but still provided excellent points against top class opposition with runs in the 100 and 200metres along with the Long and Triple Jumps.

Jamie McDonald and Alex Milne were once again the Club’s 3000metre steeplechasers, taking maximum points with improved performances. Jamie committed himself by leading from the start, finishing in 10.04.7 while Alex produced an excellent personal best of 10.48.5. Alastair Hay was another to show improved form as he strode to a fine third ‘A’ place in the 800metres (1.56.4); and Lewis Miller also showed outstanding progress with third in the ‘B’ 800metres and a fine personal best of 2.06.8.  Robert Russell, fresh from his Silver medal performance in the Scottish Senior 5000metre Championships, showed some committed running in the 1500metres with a third ‘A’ placing in 4.00.7, while Michael Wright showed confident form for third ‘B’ finisher in an improved 4.15.7.  Alisdair Anthony and Ross Houston also showed true commitment with useful runs for sixth ‘A’ and second ‘B’ respectively in the longest race of the day, over 5000metres.

The final relays again produced some useful sprinting from the 4x100metre quartet of Calum Laing, Sean Tough, Gary Sweeney and Ian McDonald with fifth place. The 4x400metre team of Alastair Hay, Robert Russell, Lewis Millar and Alex Milne just failed to take sixth place, finishing in an improved 3.49.7.

Once again thanks are due to Iain and Meg Sweeney, John Dickson and Tom McMenemy for their superb assistance with officiating duties.

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U13/U15 Scottish Athletics Championships. Grangemouth. 28 August. Saturday’s competition proved to be a happy hunting ground for Ryan Stewart.  The 12 year old, in his first national Championships, made a clean sweep of the Under 13 Boys gold medals in the throwing events.  A superb Shot Putt of 11.42 metres was followed by a 38.09metre Championship best in the Javelin (although a little short of his Scottish record) and an excellent Discus throw of 28.70metres, for Ryan to go home with 3 gold medals and a wide smile.

Darren Walker showed a mature attitude with a well judged run in the final of the Under 15 Boys 400metres, taking silver in the excellent time of 56.34secs, following a 56.28 clocking in winning his heat.

Kyle Henderson hurdled to a bronze medal in 13.53secs in the Under 13 Boys 75metre Hurdles and also showed good form in progressing to the final of the 100metres with a best time on the day of 13.57secs.  Kyle showed his versatility with a High Jump clearance of 1.65metres for sixth in this event. Matthew Gillespie rounded off Central’s medal haul with a fine performance in the final of the 1500metres.  Matthew eased through the heat then produced a 4.32.49 clocking in the final, another excellent bronze medal performance.

Hillary Warkentin continues to make improvement and looked confident as she won her heat of the Under 13 Girls 800metres (2.32.95).  Hilary just missed out on a medal in a highly competitive final with fifth place in 2.36.08. Lorna Cameron also continues to make progress with 2.46.87 in the 800metre heats, while Rachel Mills was another to pick up good experience at this level with 15.31secs in the Under 13 100metres.

Martyn Paterson had a busy day reaching the semi-final of the Under 13 100metres and the final of the 200 metres with best times of 13.85 and 28.56 respectively. David Scott was another to gain valuable experience, just missing out on a place in the final of the 200metres, but clocking 29.30secs. Anthony Gillespie clipped some 5seconds off his personal best in the Under 13 Boys 800metres, just being outsprinted for a place in the final but finishing in 2.30.38, while David Hutchison did not look out of place in this company as he came home in 2.37.23 in the same heat.

Jennifer Hutchison advanced to the final of the Under 15 Girls 75metre Hurdles through a 13.24secs clocking, improving to 13.04secs for seventh in the final. Jennifer also contested the 200metres with a time of 29.68secs in her heat.  Amy Pearson looked in good form as she came home in 29.42 in her heat of the Under 15 Girls 200metres.  Elsewhere in the Under 15 events Lynn Harvey progressed to the semi-final of the 100metres finishing sixth in 13.54secs and then produced a 4.26metre Long Jump. Dee Henderson had a 14.02secs performance in the 100metres and contested the Discus event.  Gemma Milne showed her usual total commitment as she contested the Under 15 Girls Shot Putt, Discus and Javelin without any reward on this occasion.

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The U17/U20 Scottish Athletics Championships on Sunday 29 August saw club athletes taking home a haul of 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 3 Bronze medals from a blustery and often wet Grangemouth Stadium. Morag MacLarty again underlined her class in taking an Under 20 800metre/1500metre Golden double with assured runs in 2.14.72 and 4.35.98.

Elayne Henderson fell just short of this feat with two Silvers in the Under 20 Long Jump and Triple Jump with fine jumps of 5.73 and 11.89 metres.  Sarah Hay had to fight hard in the final of the Under 17 Womens 300metres but held her form well in the windy conditions for a 41.15secs Silver medal clocking. Meanwhile older brother Alastair showed some assured running in the Under 20 Mens 1500metre race to also be awarded with Silver in 4.04.19. Nicola Laing rounded off the Club’s Silver performances with an excellent 2.80metre clearance in the Under 17 Pole Vault.

Stuart Chalmers equalled his personal best of 1.80metres on the way to an Under 17 Mens Bronze medal in the High Jump, narrowly failing in his attempts at 1.85metres. Michael Wright was perhaps the hardest working athlete of the day.  Michael hurdled well in the Under 20 Mens 2000metre Steeplechase to complete the race in sixth in 6.40.50, then with only a couple of hours recovery lined up in the 5000metres.  A gritty run, along with a superb sprint finish, saw Michael take a well deserved Bronze in 16.21.27. Fiona Thompson showed her fighting qualities as she dug deep into her reserves to bring home a bronze medal in the Under 20 1500metres with a 4.54.80 clocking.

Michael Gillespie was another to work hard on the day as he contested heat and final of the Under 17 Mens 1500metres, finishing a close fourth in the final in 4.23.29.  Sian Griffiths accepted a difficult challenge against some fine opposition in the Under 20 Womens 400metres hurdles, also coming home in fourth place. Stuart Mooney also came up against some class opponents in the Under 20 Mens Triple Jump, his best effort of 12.74metres was sufficient for only fifth place on this occasion.

Fiona Chalmers has had a hard season and looked a little off her best as she strode through the heats and final of the Under 20 Womens 400 metres, finishing sixth in the final in 60.38secs.  Rowena Bell-Scott had to contend with class opponents as she completed the Under 17 Womens in seventh with 5.13.53.  Lauren McNab expressed herself disappointed with her 800metre run of 2.32.29 in her Under 17 Womens 800metre heat.  Jamie Cramond was another to perform a little below his best but still ran 12.23seconds in the Under 17 Mens 100metres.

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