Saturday 6^th & Sunday 7^th August 2005

It was a busy weekend for Central  athletes with teams competing in final matches in three leagues, the JSB Plumbing League for young athletes, the Scottish Mens Athletic League and, as part of the Forth Valley team, in the Scottish Womens League.

There were some superb performances and lots of excellent endeavour by the young athletes in the JSB Plumbing League as Central finished in overall third place on the day and for the season.  At the time of writing not all results were to hand however the Under 11 Girls were well represented by Mary Gathergood (fourth in both the 100m in 15.7secs and 200m in 35.4), Ellie Marr (third in the ‘B’ 100m in 16.5 and first in the 200m in 35.7) and Amy Hendry (fourth in the 800m in 3.08.2). This trio were joined by Hannah Marshall to take fourth in the 4 x 100m relay in a fine 70.2secs. The Club is also well endowed with talent in the Under 11 Boys age group and Conor Kerr ran a fine 800metres to win by a huge margin in a personal best of 2min 33.6secs. Conor went on to win the 200metres in 30.5secs.  Neil Cameron continues to impress and came away with second in the ‘A’ 100metres in 14.9secs, and Matthew Mills underlined his class with 14.8secs to win the ‘B’ 100m.  Gordon Milne is another to make progress winning the ‘B’ 200m in 35.1 and taking second in the ‘B’ shot with 5.68metres. Alexander Coubrough picked up good experience and good points with first ‘B’ in the 800metres in 2min 50secs and a shot putt of 4.94. The relay team of Conor, Neil, Gordon and Matthew cruised to a superb victory in an excellent 62.8secs.

The Under 13 Girls produced a crop of fine performances and it was sprinters Katie Marie King (15.2secs 100metres), Georgia Quin (100m in 14.9 and 200m in 31.2) and Katie Campbell (200m in 31.3) who caught the eye. Fiona Cameron (5.47.1) and Fionn Hargreaves (6.15.8) ran well in the 1500metres to pick up excellent points while Rachel Mills weighed in with some fine high jumping.  The relay team of Katie, Georgia, Katie Marie and Rachel brought the baton home in third.  There was also excellent running from the Under 13 Boys and David Scott sped to useful times of 14.2 and 29.3secs while Calum Gathergood with a 100metres in 15.6secs and Roddy Irvine 28.9secs picked up more useful points.  Ross Milne (5.24.6) and Robbie Gathergood (5.33.6) looked good in the 1500metres while Ross won the Javelin competition with 22.71metres. The relay team of David, Roddy, Calum and Robbie came through in a useful third place in 61.1secs.

The Club fielded a more than useful Under 15 Girls team. Jemma Stevens showed good form for 16.4secs in the 75metre hurdles and a 1.55metre high jump, while Amber Stevens finished in first equal in the ‘B’ high jump.  Lynn Harvey sprinting produced good times of 13.2secs and 28.1secs for the 100 and 200metres respectively.  Gemma Milne provided useful points in the shot putt and 200metres (30.6secs).  Eilidh Hargreaves showed a wide spread of ability with 14.9secs in the 100metres and an excellent second ‘A’ place in 5.57.3 for the mile.  Kate Morris also rose to the challenge of the mile with a sensibly paced run that saw her come home in 6.37.3 for third ‘B’.  The relay team of Gemma, Eilidh, Kate and Lynne showed good form as they brought the baton safely home. The Under 15 Boys Team was missing Ryan Stewart who was performing in the javelin for Scotland in the Celtic Games in Wales, finishing in third with a throw of 42.82metres. There were however gritty performances from Sean Reilly, unusually operating as a sprinter with a 13.0seconds 100metres and a second place 200metres in 25.3secs.  Alan Bennie filled in with a 15.1secs 100metre clocking and worked hard for first ‘B’ in the mile in 5.42.2.  Alexander Hendry ran well in the mile, although a little too ambitious with the early pace, finishing with fourth ‘A’ in 5.38.2.

Central’s Mens Team faced a tough task in the First Division, missing some of the top athletes and never looking like defending their winning position from 2004.  On the day there was always tremendous endeavour from the athletes but little chance of making an impact with a complete lack of ‘A’ victories; the Club finishing in a disappointing seventh place on the day but safely in fifth place for the season.

The day started promisingly with useful performances from Ron Todd and Kenny Pearson with 3.40metre and 2.80metre Pole Vault clearances. Ron also produced an improved 34.43metre Discus throw for fifth in the 'A’ event and sixth ‘A’ in the Hammer along with fifth ‘A’ in the 110metre hurdles.  Kenny Pearson also collected more useful points in the javelin and high jump. Gary Sweeney has been a superb addition to the team and showed good form in the Shot Putt, Discus and Javelin, weighing in with a 54.7 400metre clocking.

Sean Tough again showed talent across a range of events with an excellent Long Jump of 6.12metres followed up with good performances in the Triple Jump and 400metres.  Calum Laing was the anchor of the 2004 winning team but on this occasion ran to second ‘B’ in the 100metres but had to withdraw from further competition due to a rib injury.  Under 20 athlete Stuart Mooney finished fourth ‘A’ in his speciality event the triple jump (11.94metres), Stuart also long jumped to 5.75metres, high jumped 1.70metres and ran to fifth ‘B’ in the 200metres, a very useful contribution.

Ian McDonald has shown a big leap forward in sprinting performance this year and this was another step with a 11.3secs 100metres and 23.0secs for 200metres, both into a head wind bringing fourth and third’A’ places respectively.

Michael Wright and Alex Milne were once again the Club’s 3000metre steeplechasers, Michael finishing second ‘A’ and Alex first ‘B’. Earlier Michael and Alex had performed well in the 400metre hurdles producing useful points.  Indeed both Michael and Alex went beyond the call of duty with Michael running into fourth ‘B’ in the 1500metres while Alex virtually ran himself to a standstill with a gritty 5000metre performance.  Alastair Hay made an impact in the 800metres (2.00.9) then moved on to take third ‘A’ in the 1500metres in 4.03.5.  Martin Crawford showed superb form in taking an emphatic 800metre ‘B’ victory with a well judged race in 1.59.1.  Murray MacLarty stepped up as required in the 5000metres with a run close to his personal best in 16.48.5 for a fine fifth ‘A’ placing.

The final relays again produced some useful sprinting from the 4x100metre quartet of Stuart Mooney, Sean Tough, Gary Sweeney and Ian McDonald with fourth place in 46.0secs. The 4x400metre team of Martin Crawford, Michael Wright, Ian McDonald and Derek Easton saw Martin making some in-roads on the first leg but the earlier efforts of the day caught up on Michael and Ian as the team finished in sixth place, in 3.57.6.

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

The Forth Valley composite team with their Central AC contingent had a tough scrap in the final match of the Scottish Women’s Athletic League on home ground at Grangemouth Stadium. With just 15 points covering match places from three to seven, the unofficial result was a fifth place on the day, leaving the team in mid table position at the end of the series. Points totals were Edinburgh Southern Harriers 474.5, Team West 444, Lothian 359, City of Glasgow 353.5, Forth Valley 351.5, Aberdeen 351, Tayside 343.5 and Pitreavie 227.

In the younger age groups, three Central girls contributed to the team with Rachel Mills taking fourth place in a highly competitive sprint hurdles with a time of 13.12s and ran a good 200m to take second place in the B race in 30.61s. Rachel Adamson, in her first race at this level, was a creditable fifth in 2m 44.58s.   In the under 15 age group, Becky Hay was promoted to the A race after a late withdrawal, for her debut for the team, and succeeded in continuing her recent good form with a time of 2m37.2 for sixth place.

Senior athletes from Central made up the bulk of the team, with Elayne Henderson mixing it with top class opposition in a range of events. She took a useful fourth place in the high jump with 1.60m, a little behind her best of recent weeks. She put in a solid triple jump performance with 11.95 metres for fourth place. The 100 metre series was a class affair with four GB senior and under 23 representatives in the A race, with Gemma Nicol for Forth Vallay taking second place in 12.26s whilst in the B race Elayne faced a further hard race to take third in 12.47s.  Given the talent on show the relay squad made up of Gemma, Elayne, pole vault winner Kim Skinner from Falkirk Victoria and Centrals’ Lauren McNab were pleased with a third place in 49.69s. Lauren made a further useful contribution to the team, pitched into an A 400 metres in which she took a sixth place.

In the middle distance, Emma Waterhouse travelled up from down south to take on the 800 metres and gained a new personal best when taking fourth place in 2m19.57. Ainsley Normand thought she had timed her finish to perfection in overtaking the lead runner on the finishing straight but was herself pipped on the line by a fast finishing City of Glasgow athlete.  Ainsley had to be satisfied with achieving another fast time of 2m22.91. Margery Swinton, refreshed with a clutch of Master’s medals from North America, and Elizabeth Normand competed in all four throws to make another important contribution to match points.

Elsewhere Alastair Anthony finished in third spot in the Senior Mens World Mountain Running Trials at Glentress near Peebles with Club member Tracey Brindley winning the Senior Womens race, ensuring both runners will be at the forefront of the selectors minds when teams are picked for the World event in New Zealand. Jennifer Emsley also ran well to take victory in the Junior Womens Race. Lewis Millar won the Edinburgh 5K Road Race in 16mins 50secs with Alan Hume coming home in second in 17.33.

In the meantime, Ian Beattie was having a restful weekend taking part in the 43 mile Devil O the Highlands Footrace (Tyndrum to Fort William, along the West Highland Way) on Saturday.  In running conditions which he described as “pretty good” - quite overcast from the race start at 6am until about 11am, although it  became a bit warmer towards the end, Ian finished 12th in 7 hours 28 mins which was 10 minutes faster than his previous best time for the race.

...o0o...

14^th August 05

Morag MacLarty proved too strong for her International rivals as she stormed to an 800 metre win at the Under 20 Inter Territorial Match in Derby at the weekend. Morag’s winning margin was an impressive 3 seconds in the excellent time of 2minutes 6.3 seconds given the blustery conditions.  She led from start to finish in fine style devastating the field who were not prepared to follow her fast pace.  Elayne Henderson also performed with distinction jumping to second place in the Under 23 Long Jump with 5.84 metres into a head wind, a tantalising 4 centimetres from victory.

Saturday 13 August at the Under 15 AAA’s Championships in Birmingham saw Sean Riley win his heat in an impressive 2minutes 4seconds, an excellent performance for his first trip at this level.  Sean then followed up his morning performance with another superb run to finish third in his semi-final in a time of 2minutes 2seconds. Sean ran yet another brave race in the 800metres final on Sunday to finish a superb fifth in 2minutes 3 seconds, although extremely disappointed not to win a medal but performing magnificently over the whole week-end.

Matthew Gillespie found himself badly boxed in for most of his 1500 metre heat but qualified for the final as a fastest loser.  Matthew went on to finish 13th in his final in a superb new personal best time of 4minutes 22seconds. Michael Gillespie was slightly off form in his 3000metres final and finished uncharacteristically down the field.

Central AC fought hard to stave off relegation from the first division of the Central and South of Scotland Athletic League at Wishaw.  However with a final fifth place, made up of a creditable third place by the female team and a respectable fifth by the Men/Boys it was never going to be enough to offset weaker overall results in earlier matches in the league series. Nevertheless there were many first class performances from the Central team, though a slow  results service left many unposted results, with only unofficial results available to report.

In a team ranging from under 11 through the Senior and Master’s age groups, it was a scintillating run by young Conor Kerr (right) in the under 11 800 m which stole the limelight and literally re-wrote the record books with a new league record, a new club record, and a further massive improvement in personal best to 2m 31.7s. Alexander Coubrough also ran a fine race for third B in 2m 44.6s

Indeed the 800 metres series had strong performances throughout.  In the Senior ladies’ race Ainsley Normand improved her season’s best, with her best time since a junior, taking a strong second place, closely followed by Fiona Thompson winning the B race with both ladies under 2m20s. The senior men’s race was a fierce tussle, with Gavin Hogarth taking third place in 1m 59.1s supported by Lewis Millar. Earlier Lewis has taken first place in the B 3,000m in 9m18.7s, following on an excellent 2^nd place by Alistair Hay in the A race in 8m47.9s and first place in the Masters race by Alex Milne in 9m50.8s.  The Masters 800m was a fierce tussle between four athletes with Alex Milne just holding off Robert Hutchison so that Alex took second place in the A race and Robert first in the B race. The Masters’ Ladies saw Jane Waterhouse finish in second place in a new personal best time close to 2m40s, good enough to pull Mary Kerr through to a time certain to improve her best when officially confirmed.

In the Under 17 Mens age group, newcomer Scott MacDonald confirmed his ability with third place and a time under 2m 10s and Graham Harvey made a substantial improvement as he took a good placing in the B race. Catriona Buchanan and Gemma Milne competed strongly in the under 15 800m with both girls running close to personal best pace. In the Under 13 race it was another tight contest with Rachel Adamson taking third place in the A race and Fiona Cameron taking maximum points in the B race.  David Hutchison and Chris Clarke teamed up together to in the under 13 Boys race.

The sprint series led to a number of fine performances, with Ian McDonald winning the 100 metres in 11.4s and taking second in the 200metres (23.0s), supported by Craig Campbell  (3^rd in 12.2s) and Stuart Mooney (4^th in 25.8s) in the respective B races.  Jennifer Hutchison had a fierce tussle in her 200 metres, taking third in 28.3, whilst Rachel Hunter moved down from her middle-distance specialism to show good speed with a second in the B race in 28.9s.  In the under 13 race, Stephanie O’Neill ran an excellent 29.2s to take second place, with Katie Campbell improving her personal best to 31s in taking 5th in the B race.  In the boys under 13 age group Martin Patterson was second in 28.2s and David Scott third in 29.2s).  Darren Walker made a welcome return to run for the Club, with a 200metres run in 5^th place.  The under 11 80metres races gave a chance for the youngest team members, with Neil Cameron once again running with fierce determination to take third, with improving form of Gordon Milne, Agatha Kelly-Williams and Megan Thomson promising much for the future as these athletes develop. In the Masters 100 metres series, men’s team manager Frank Houston took third place, Gordon Patterson took second in the B race, whilst Mary Kerr flew to a 3^rd place in 15.2s and Jane Milne also snatched third place in 16.2s in fiercely competitive races.  Lauren McNab and Lauren Nicoll filled in slots in the senior ladies sprints with enthusiasm, and Sarah Hay made a welcome return after injury to take second in the 400 metres in 60.1s, with Lauren McNab winning the B race in 63.8s.

Field events that caught the eye included a winning double in the senior high jump, with Stuart Mooney winning in 1.75metres and Stuart Chalmers taking maximum points from the B event. Tammy Breingan won the under 17 long jump (4.33m) whilst Lynn Harvey took second place in the under 15 girls event and Becky Hay won the B event, all three with new personal bests. Ross Milne continues to show excellent all round skills with his throws while Elizabeth Normand took second place in the senior ladies hammer and good points in the discus.  Euan Hamilton was the sole representative in the under 15 age group for Boys and gave a good account in the javelin (16.03m), long jump and 100 metres.

Congratulations are due to Alasdair Anthony whom, after taking third place in the World Mountain Trophy Trials, has been selected to represent Scotland in the World Championships in September in New Zealand. 

Ian Beattie continues his tour of exotic Scottish Races finishing a creditable 23^rd in the Mull Half Marathon in 1 hour 28 mins with and Robert Stott finishing in 28^th place in 1 hour 30 mins out of the 1123 finishers.

...o0o...