Open Graded Meeting 1 August 2007

Fairly windy but warm conditions met the athletes at the Grangemouth Open Graded Meeting on Wednesday 1 August as a number of Central Athletic Club’s athletes grasped the opportunity for competition.

Under 17 athlete Jennifer Hutchison, produced a speedy performance over 200metres to finish in 26.79secs while Under 15 newcomer Dean Russell also showed good form over the same distance to clock 29.10secs.  Dean also competed in his first 800metres and finished in a very useful 2min 38.38secs.  Ainsley Normand was another to take on the 800metres finishing in a very useful 2min 25.42secs while her sister Elizabeth sent the Hammer out to a best of 31.86metres.

Sophie Brown (right) has been setting the pace all season in the Under 13 Girls High Jump and here underlined her current position at the top of the Scottish rankings with a superb 1.45metre clearance.

World Mountain Running Trials - 11 August 2007

It was extreme weather that met the hardy athletes tackling the World Mountain Running Trials near Aberfoyle on Saturday 11 August with heavy rain and difficult underfoot conditions. The races were all held over a 3.9kilometre course with the Under 20 Women competing over one lap, the Under 20 Men and Senior Women over two laps and the Senior Men over 3 laps and Central Athletic Club athletes were to the fore throughout.

The Under 20 Womens race saw an excellent effort from 15 year old Catriona Buchanan taking a superb second spot in 19min 6secs. The Under 20 Mens race provided an insight into the breadth of Scott McDonald’s talent as he covered the 7.8kilometre course in 33min 49secs to win this category.  In the same age group Matthew Gillespie also put in a fine performance for third in 36min 24secs. The Senior Womens Race saw the ever improving Alison Docherty tackling the tough conditions in style to finish fifth in 41min 11secs.

The biggest field of the day, the three lap Senior Mens Race, saw Alasdair Anthony having to work hard throughout and being rewarded with a third place finish in 50min 30secs. 

Hopefully these performances will see a number of Central’s athletes making the trip to the World Trophy event in Switzerland to compete in Scottish vests.

Scottish Championships

Alistair Hay just lost out in a thrilling finish to the 1500m in the Scottish Championships at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium. Alistair had to be happy with the bronze medal and first Scot in the three-way battle for the line, finishing behind Collis Birmingham from Australia (3:39.49) and from fast-finishing Shaun Moralee from Eire (3:49.50), with a time of 3:49.65 for Alistair.

Elsewhere, Central seniors had mixed fortunes. The women’s 1500m final featured Emma Waterhouse who came sixth, in a 4:41.47 timing somewhat off her best with  Ainsley Normand eighth in 4:48.15. Jennifer Emsley was fourth in the 5000metres (18:34.33) after putting in the hard work to lead the race for the first half of the race and Michael Wright was fourth in 3000 steeplechase in 10:15.52, whilst Ian McDonald turned in a 11.34s timing in the heats of the 100m.

Junior Relay Championships

The junior sprint relay championships were run in parallel and Central AC’s squads gave a good account. The under 15 quartet of Martin Hall, Roddy Irvine, Jack Blackburn and Stewart Ardrey were pleased with a good run to gain 5^th in 51.30 in their final. Central had two squads in the under 15 girls races and in heat 1, the team of Louise Anderson, Rachel Adamson, Katie-Mairi King and Rachel Mills were just pipped for the final qualifying place by Inverness Harriers but turned in a useful 54.32s timing. The B team of Sarah Dick, Lorna Cameron, Rebecca Stewart and Julie Cook performed with great spirit to take a fourth place in their heat with a time of 57.71s.

The under 13 girls made good progress through the heats. In their first outing, Amy Douglas, Sophie Brown, Alex Harper and Aimee Bilsland placed second in their heat and qualified for the final with mature performance. In the final, the quartet were well up in contention for the medals, but at the tape had to be happy with sixth place with a time of 59.50s, up half a second on their heat time.

England Athletics Under 15 and Under 17 Championships– 11 and 12 August 2007

The England Athletics Championships have replaced the AAA’s of England Championships and for Scottish athletes this is a big step up in standard from competing in Scotland.  This year’s England Athletics Under 15 and Under 17 Championships were held at the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield and it was great to see four of Central’s young athletes stepping up to compete against the finest competitors in the country and to come came home with two silver and one bronze medal. On the first day of competition Kyle Henderson continued his excellent season by breaking the Scottish record and winning the silver medal in the Under 15 Boy’s Long Jump with a superb jump of 6.32metres.  Jennifer Hutchison was experiencing her first trip to these Championships and despite a brave performance was eliminated in the heats of the Under 17 300metre hurdles, still achieving a useful 47.75 clocking.

Alexander Hendry will have gained more top class experience from his run in the 1500metres Steeplechase where he recorded a new personal best time of 4 minutes 41 seconds in finishing 9^th.  Sean Reilly finished Central’s day by qualifying comfortably for the Under 17 Mens 1500 metres final.

Sunday morning saw Kyle add to his medal collection by finishing 3^rd in the Under 15 High Jump with a best clearance of 1.78metres. Despite recent injury problems Sean Reilly performed with his usual style to take the Silver medal in the Under 17 Mens 1500 metres finishing in 4min 0.6secs. Following Sean’s recent win at the British Schools International this run consolidates his position amongst the countries finest middle distance runners.

The afternoon was completed with Alexander Hendry competing in the 3000 metres for Under 17 men which he found especially tough following his steeplechase exploits of the previous day.

Scottish Age group athletics championships, Grangemouth 18 & 19 August 2007

Central Athletic Club athletes had a successful weekend at the Bank of Scotland Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17 Scottish Age Championships held at Grangemouth over the weekend bringing home a haul of 8 medals including 3 Golds.

Pick of the bunch were Alva Academy duo Sophie Brown and Kyle Henderson who became Scottish Champions with Kyle improving his Championship Best Performance.

Sophie was in a class of her own as she leapt to a new personal best of 1.47metres to take Gold in the under 13 girls High Jump. This was a superb performance in atrociously wet conditions and was a huge 12cm clear of the rest of the field.

Kyle Henderson, who the previous weekend had a double medal winning display at the England Athletics Championships in Birmingham, took double Gold in the under 15 boys Long Jump and 200metres.  The Long Jump was a new Championship record distance of 6.31metres, just 1cm short of his own Scottish national record distance and over 60cm ahead of second place. Kyle was similarly dominant in the 200metres, sprinting clear in 23.10secs for his second Gold of the day.

Sean Reilly opted out of his favoured 1500metres where he won Silver last weekend in the England Athletics Championships Under 17 Championships to test his speed over 800metres. For the second weekend in a row Sean was just pipped on the line in a very fast race and took the Silver medal in a speedy 1min 57.22secs.

Alex Hendry produced a typically gritty display to take Bronze in the under 17 Mens 1500metres Steeplechase (4mins 42.72secs) having fought back from sixth place at the midpoint of the race.

Conor Kerr also impressed in the Under 13 Boys 800metres catching some 10 metres on the opposition in the home straight to snatch a Bronze medal in a new personal best of 2mins 21secs.  Conor had already taken a creditable fifth place in the Javelin against much bigger opponents.

Martyn Paterson was another to take Bronze with a fine 10.84metres personal best in the Under 15 Boys Triple Jump.  Martyn had a successful weekend as he also placed sixth in the Long Jump and seventh in the 200m final.

Several other athletes just missed out on medals.  Rachel Adamson and Lorna Cameron contested the Under 15 Girls 800metres, however found the pace of the eventual medalists too fast.  However they finished strongly to take creditable fourth and sixth places respectively.

Laura MacAuley is another to watch for the future. Competing in her first ever Championships she just failed to medal in the Under 15 Girls Shot Putt. Her distance of 8.66metres was an agonizing 12cm short of the Bronze medal although she has much to be proud of with 4^th place.

Stewart Ardrey ran an excellent 100metres in 12.58secs to place fifth in the Under 15 Boys final.  Neil Cameron also showed good form in the under 13 Boys Long Jump taking sixth place in 3.95metres.  Ross Milne tested himself in both Shot and Javelin producing competent displays to take sixth and seventh places.

Full results of Central AC athletes:

Under17 men:

800m - Sean Reilly 2^nd 1:57.77mins

John Tolson 1500m heat 4:28.91mins.

1500 SC - Alex Hendry 3^rd 4:42.72mins

Under 15 boys

100m - Stewart Ardrey 5^th 12.58s.

200m - Kyle Henderson 1^st 23.10s

Martyn Paterson 7^th 26.58s. (26.29s in heat)

800m - Ross Milne heat 2:22.88 mins.

Roddy Irvine heat 2:18.85mins

Long Jump - Kyle Henderson 1^st 6.31m (championship record)

Martyn Patterson 6^th 5.31m

Triple Jump - Martyn Patterson 3^rd 10.84m

Shot Putt - Ross Milne 7^th 10.09m

Javelin - Ross Milne 8^th 30.83m

Under 15 girls

100m - Louise Anderson heat 14.20s

Sarah Dick heat 14.35s

200m - Katie Marie King heat 29.33s

Sarah Dick heat 29.65s

Niamh Callan heat 30.99s

800m - Rachel Adamson 4^th 2:26.30mins (2:24.69 in heat)

Lorna Cameron 6^th 2:30.38mins (2:26.30 in heat)

Long Jump - Katie Marie King 15^th 4.40m

Louise Anderson 17^th 4.21m

High Jump - Rachel Adamson 10^th 1.35m

Niamh Callan 1.35m 10^th

Shot Putt - Laura MacAuley 4^th 8.66m

Under13 boys:

200m - Neil Cameron heat 31.11s

800m - Conor Kerr 3^rd 2:21 mins

Long Jump Neil Cameron 6^th 3.95m

Javelin - Conor Kerr 5^th 21.05m

U 13 girls:

High Jump - Sophie Brown 1^st 1.47m (= club record)

800m - Emily Greenan heat 2:55.40 min

Mens League 26 August 2007

Central Athletic Club’s Mens Team finished the Season with a flourish as they came through the last Match of the Scottish Mens League in fourth place to end their Season in third place overall. It is easy to say that athletics is an individual sport but here all the individuals put in an excellent collective performance with only 12 athletes covering some 36 individual and relay events.

Gary Sweeney epitomised the general attitude covering some eight events from Hammer (29.39metres), Shot Put (11.30metres), Javelin (41.41metres), Discus, Long Jump (5.66metres), 100 metres (12.10secs), 200metres (24.81secs) and a sprint relay leg to contribute a significant points tally. Ron Todd showed similar commitment and a further high personal points tally with a Pole Vault of 2.60metres, Hammer (20.33metres), Shot Put (9.09metres), Discus, Long Jump (5.00metres) and Triple Jump (9.44metres).

Robert Russell has been a solid supporter of the Mens Team and here proved his worth with second place in the 800metres with 1min 59.31secs and was pipped on the line in the 1500metres for a further second place with a superb run of 3min 59.38secs.  Miguel Merayo also tackled the same tough 800metres/1500metres double and, without the aid of spikes, came home with more useful points in the ‘B’ races with fifth and third places respectively.  Alex Milne is another who continues to prove his worth at this level and here captured second ‘A’ placing in the 3000metres Steeplechase with an improved 11mins 7.13secs performance.  Under 20 distance man Scott McDonald ran yet another excellent race to record a new personal best in the 5000metres with 15min 19.25secs for second ‘A’ place and was well backed up by another solid performance from Lewis Millar with first ‘B’ place in 16min 29.11secs.

Michael Taylor, also Under 20, is another to be an ever present this year and here proved his worth with another fine run over the 400metre Hurdles (4^th ‘A’ in 60.13secs) and also showed good form with fifth place in the ‘B’ 400metres in 54.77secs.  Newcomer Thomas Ashby brought his class to bear in the 400metres with a fine third ‘A’ place in a more than useful clocking of 50.39secs. It was good to welcome back Kenny Morrison who strode to fourth ‘B’ placing in the 400metres Hurdles in 67.31secs.  Ian McDonald once again shouldered responsibility in the ‘A’ 100 and 200metre sprints and sped to sixth (11.69secs) and fifth (23.64secs) respectively. Kenny Pearson Pole Vaulted to 2.20metres tweaking a hamstring in the process, stopping him from covering Triple and High Jump events. However Kenny ensured the Javelin was fully covered coming up with a 36.46metre throw.

The sprint quartet of Michael Taylor, Thomas Ashby, Gary Sweeney and Ian McDonald moved up a gear from previous Matches and here brought the baton round for third place in 45.36secs the highest placing and timing for some years.  Just ten minutes later Michael and Thomas teamed up with Miguel Merayo and Robert Russell to again place third in an excellent 3min 39.63secs.

Any tribute to the Team requires to include the input of the Club’s Officials which was provided here by Meg and Iain Sweeney, Hamish Fleming, John Dickson and Tom McMenemy.

Overall results on the day were Arbroath and District 343points, Shettleston Harriers 334points, Ayr Seaforth 297points, Central AC 267points, Giffnock North 248points, Pitreavie AAC 224points, Edinburgh AC 197points, Kilbarchan AAC 83points. Overall League points for the Season were Arbroath and District 31, Shettleston Harriers 26, Central AC 19, Pitreavie AAC 18, Ayr Seaforth 16 (981Match points), Giffnock North 16 (906Match points), Edinburgh AC 13, Kilbarchan AAC 5.

UK School Games in Birmingham

Sean Reilly and Alex Hendry were competing for Scotland at the UK School Games at the weekend and this proved a breakthrough for both Boys in differing ways.  Alex showed improved confidence as he again tackled the tough 1500metre Steeplechase event and here he improved to a 4min 33secs personal best and an excellent fifth placing against the best in Britain. Sean brought the Scottish 4 x 400metres relay team through from fifth to second place on his leg with the Team going on to take Gold, much down to Sean’s speedy 50.3secs clocking. This somewhat made up for Sean’s disappointing 1500metre run where some barging put paid to a high placing and saw Sean finishing seventh in 4mins 7seconds, well short of his best.

Scottish Womens League

Central AC ladies rounded off the track season as part of the Forth Valley combination with Falkirk Victoria Harriers and Dunfermline and West Fife in the Scottish Women’s Athletic League at Linwood. There were some fine performances but a disappointing team position in the league. After the high of a second match place in the first match, a series of absences for this last match saw them crash to next to last on the day and overall fifth in the league. Edinburgh AC won with 490, then Team West 470, Tayside 412, Pitreavie 342, Lothian 335, Victoria Park/City of Glasgow 320, then Forth Valley 273 and Aberdeen 232.

Central performances were all of the highest level with Jennifer Hutchison starting off with an excellent win in the 300m hurdles for under 17 girls in a time of 47.0s, followed later in the day with hard fought 5^th in the sprint hurdles in 16.3s . The Central trio of senior middle distance runners gave a good account, with Jennifer Emsley improving her personal best in the 3000m to 10:16.5 to take third place and Claire Waterhouse, after an absence of three years from the track showing fine pace to take second place in the B event in 11minutes dead. Ainsley Normand produced a fine 1500m race with third in 4:52.2, with Jennifer taking first in the B race with 4:56.8s.

In the junior age groups, Sophie Brown again shone with a fine win in the B race of under 13 100m in 14.5s, following on from her fine 1.45 third place in the older age, under 15 high jump. Louise Anderson confirmed her improvement in her long jumping  with a major step up 4.42m when taking 3rd place in the B event under 15 long jump.

In the under 15 age group middle distance events, Rachel Adamson took part in a three way battle for the lead over the last 200metres of her 800metres and though she lost out to accept a fine third place, she too was rewarded with new personal best of 2:22.8. Lorna Cameron took on the pace in the B race, and almost succeeded in breaking away from the field, making it a second place with 2:28.0.  Rosie Hastings, took on the 1500m and again gave a robust performance with a fine 5:31.5. 

Laura Macaulay made her debut at this level and jumped to high up the Scottish rankings with a 9.21m shot put as she took a second place. Dee Henderson worked hard in the 100 and 200m taking 4th and 3rd places in the B races with her highlight being part of the quartet that won the under 17 relay. The final relay of the day was another satisfactory performance with Jennifer Hutchison stepping up to the seniors and joining with Ainsley Normand and the Hunter sisters from Falkirk to record a 4:08.6 for third place.