Weekend 13th/14th August 2011

Central Athletic Club Mens Team had to fight every inch of the way to hold off a determined Aberdeen AC effort but retained the Scottish Division One Track and Field title.  Central went into the last match of the Season with a two point advantage but Aberdeen powered into an early lead in this final match and at one stage Central had slipped to third overall leaving the title in some doubt. 

Strong performances from Calum Brown, Ron Todd, Kenny Pearson and Gary Sweeney across a variety of technical events ensured Central were stoutly defending their title A 17.14secs run in the 110metres hurdles by Calum; a 33.38metre Hammer throw by Ron; a 35.96metre Javelin effort by Kenny and a 11.78metre shot put by Gary the pick of the performances.  Kyle Henderson, tired from mid week competition in Copenhagen, contributed with a 12.46metre effort in the Triple Jump.

Highlights on the day were from Under 20 athletes with Peter Muirhead winning the Long Jump (6.64metres) and Scott Green taking the 3000metre Steeplechase (9min 46.12secs), having earlier shown some promise in the 400metre hurdles.  Andrew Butchart picked up good points from a tough 800metre/1500metre double while Martyn Paterson and Alex Hendry provided strong back up in these events.  Tom Watson sped to a 50.46secs clocking for second in the 400metres while Craig Ritchie put in a good days work tackling both the 400metres hurdles and the 400metres.  Alastair Beaton provided his normal high quality sprinting 11.40secs and 23.43secs in the 100 and 200metres respectively.  Ian McDonald also showed good form in the 100metres and Peter Muirhead in the 200metres while Alex Milne put in another fine effort in the Steeplechase.

For the first time in many years, the League Programme offered a 10,000metres with Lewis Millar and seventeen year old Ross Milne accepting the challenge.  25 laps of the track is always a daunting prospect but the two Central athletes came through admirably with Lewis in second ‘A’ spot (32min 34.98secs) and Ross in third ‘B’ (35-17.07) his effort holding off an experienced Aberdeen athlete in the race to the finish. 

A quartet of Ian McDonald, Kyle Henderson, Peter Muirhead and Alastair Beaton brought the baton home in third in the 4 x 100metre relay while Craig Ritchie, Tom Watson, Martyn Paterson and Andrew Butchart managed one last effort from their tired bodies in the 4 x 400metres to come home fourth overall with 3min 31.27secs.

Points on the day were Aberdeen 357; Central 319; Pitreavie 300; Lasswade 268; Victoria Park Glasgow 258; Giffnock North 209; Arbroath and District 182 and Edinburgh 127.  Final League points were Central 29; Aberdeen 28; Edinburgh 20; Victoria Park Glasgow 17; Arbroath and District 14; Giffnock North 13; Lasswade 12 and Pitreavie 11 so intrigue at both ends of the League as Lasswade and Pitreavie were relegated while Shettleston Harriers and Falkirk Victoria were promoted from Division 2.

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Central’s Kathryn Gillespie strode to an emphatic victory in the Under 16 Girls 1500metres at the Celtic Games in Antrim in an excellent time of 4min 38.98secs, assisting the Scottish Team to victory over Wales, Athletics Ireland and Ulster.

It was also a busy weekend for Central AC athletes with medal winners in the UK under 15 Championships and at Scottish championships for combined events, 3x800 relays and under 14 superteams.

Kathryn Gillespie from Dollar won her first ever UK medal at the AAAs under 15 championships at Bedford  taking bronze in the 800m in a superb new club record 2:10.66 minutes, taking her to 3rd on the Scottish all time list just 1 second off the national record.  It took a new championship record of 2:08 to end Kathryn’s unbeaten run of the season.

At Grangemouth, Calum Brown, competing in his first ever decathlon, took an excellent silver in the senior mens age group scoring 5316 points.  Calum was tied for second place at the end of the first day but set personal bests in the 110m hurdles (16.75s), discus (30.10m) and javelin (44.21m) to pull away and claim the silver.

Sarah Pearson was also on form in the U16 girls pentathlon setting a personal best in every event on her way to 4th place.  Sarah had moved up an age group to test herself against older athletes and opened with a 4.61m Long Jump before stunning the opposition by running away with the 80m hurdles in 12.59s, 3m clear of her nearest rival.  Further bests in the Shot (6.69m), High Jump (1.42m) and 800m (2:42.74) took her to a final score of 2570 points, just 33 points short of a medal position.

Central had  three teams into the junior 3 x 800m relays, with all three  featuring in the finals. The under 14 boys team won a bronze medal, with Cameron Harris, Jamie Paterson and Iain Davies posting a 7:18.55 timing to secure the bronze medal placing. They had earlier taken a safe berth though to the final with second place in their heat, and were able to improve their heat time by 15 seconds.

The under 14 girls worked their way into the final on a fastest loser qualification from their tough heat. The team of Catriona Laing, Shamsa Scott-Angell and Beth Gallagher were then able to improve their expected placing based upon heat times with a fine sixth place in the final with a 8:11.06 timing, an eight second improvement from their heat.

The under 16 girls team of Eilidh MacCorquodale, Laura Clarke and Emily Greenan produced a highly competitive performance but had to settle for fourth place in their final, with a time of 7:41.64.

The Superteams format of four team members competing in all events, before completing a sprint relay was again run as a national under 14 championship, with Central entering a brace of teams for both boys and girls. The lead Central boys team took the headlines with a fine bronze medal series of performances from the four boys. Euan Lambert also just edged out the competition by being the top point scorer of the competition. He achieved a good series of personal bests with 26.92 for 200m, 4.49m for long jump and 9.45m for the shot put. Kieran Halliday pitched in with 30.14s, 3.51m and 5.66m, Liam McGregor 31.54s, 3.34m and 6.05m and Sandro Rosta 29.30s, 3.94m and 7.42m. They comfortably won their relay heat, and had the third fastest time with 56.41s behind championship winners Inverness and runners up Pitreavie.

A second team of boys gained much from the experience, learning new events, as they took eighth  place . Their results were Campbell McNicol 32.42s (200m), 3.26m (long jump), 5.16m (shot), Jack Maxwell 33.30s, 3.06m and 4.57m, Marcos Pires  32.46s 3.27m and 5.39m and Lewis Stewart 33.56s, 4.12m,  6.12m. The boy’s relay time was 62.15s.

For the girls, the teams came 8th and 16th but again team performance and learning new skills in a competitive environment were the main outcomes.  Team 1 was Beth Gallagher with 30.75s (200m), 3.64m (long jump),  4.81m (shot), Bevhan Trevis with 30.38s, 3.60m, 7.44m, Heather McKenzie with 32.13m, 3.37m, 6.71m and Jodie Currie with 32.21s, 3.51m and  4.76m. The girls had an unfortunate mistake in the relay after losing and regaining the baton but still came home with a very creditable 64.7s run I n circumstances.

Team 2 was Bethan Evans with 31.85s, 3.21m, 4.35m, Caitlyn Gardner with 32.18s,   3.30m and 4.59m Eilidh Russell with 33.51s, 2.83s and  4.44m and  Emma Berrie  35.16s, 3.14m and 4.95m. Their relay time was 63.26s. 

Ross Houston ran in a Scottish team in the National Lottery Frank Duffy Dublin 10 mile road race, with Scotland taking the honours in the team race and Ross taking sixth place in a new personal best time of 50mins 25s.