Central and Southern Scotland Athletic League 3^rd Match. Wishaw. Sunday 11^th July. Ryan Stewart’s performance of the day with a record-breaking javelin throw was one of the bright notes as Central AC did enough to avoid relegation from the First Division of the Central and Southern Scotland Athletic League at Wishaw on Sunday. Ryan set a new Scottish record for the under 13 javelin with an enormous throw of 41.79m, an improvement of well over a metre and also a massive improvement in the old league record. Ryan also obliterated his rivals in winning the shot put with a throw of 10.20m.

In this third and final match of the League, the team comfortably succeeded in their target of finishing above Ayr and Falkirk , who were relegated. Match points and positions on the day were Giffnock North first (710 points), Kilbarchan (614), Whitemoss (584), City of Edinburgh (551), City of Glasgow/Shettleston (509), Central sixth with 489, Ayr Seaforth (381) and Falkirk Victoria Harriers (346).

In the second year in the top division of this league, the Central team, apparently more thinned by holiday commitments than many rivals, achieved a final overall sixth place, just above the drop zone. Some excellent individual performances did much to tally up the points. In the senior age group, another league record-breaking performance by Elayne Henderson led to a victory in the triple jump with a leap of 12.02m. This was supported by her two excellent second places in the high jump and 100metres where she almost tore up the form book in pressurising Nicola Gossman, already a full sprint international.

Alistair Hay ran from the front in the 800metres to comfortably win in a time of 1m 59.4s matching the earlier feat by training partner Robert Russell in the 3000m with his win in 8m 33s. Alisdair Page took the honours amongst a strong under 17 contingent from Central with a high jump of 1.78m.

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Scottish Mens League – Sunday 25 July – Wishaw. It was a much revised Central Athletic Club Men’s team that contested the third Scottish Mens League Division One Match in Wishaw on Sunday 25 July. However the team produced some great performances, many from unlikely sources as they further consolidated second place in the League, drawing for second place with Pitreavie AAC on the day.

The match started of with fine wins by Ron Todd and Kenny Pearson in the 'A' and 'B' Pole Vault, both achieving 3.40metre clearances. Ron went on to produce an excellent 33.60metre Discus throw for fifth in the 'A’ event, an improved 29.65metres for fourth ‘A’ placing in the Hammer, a 9.97metre shot putt for third 'B' and a neat solo run in the 110metre hurdles for second 'B'. Meanwhile Kenny Pearson also collected useful points with an excellent 44.88metre throw for second 'A' in the javelin and a debut Hammer throw for fifth 'B' points.  Gary Sweeney worked tirelessly all afternoon and was rewarded with a personal best of 10.18metres for fifth 'A' in the shot putt.  Gary's throws of 28.54 in the Discus and 36.19 in the Javelin, along with a 53.1secs outing for fifth in the 400metres all indicate that his obvious breadth of talent is only now showing through.

It was Under 20 athlete Stuart Mooney who produced Central's only other victory of the day with an excellent Triple Jump of 12.72metres.  Stuart also provided a 'can do' attitude with an improved Long Jump of 5.37metres and a personal best of 12.6secs for fourth 'B' placing in the 'B' 100metres.  It was good to see Neil Pirie back competing for the Club and Neil sailed out to 5.93metres for fourth 'A' placing in the Long Jump and will see improvement with a little work on a 11.14metre Triple Jump.  Under 17 athlete Stuart Chalmers put some recent below par performances behind him with a superb personal best of 1.80metres for fifth 'A' placing in the High Jump.

Calum Laing maintains a professional attitude to his athletics and with second ‘A’ placings in the 110metre and 400metre hurdles in 15.5 and 56.6secs respectively, continues to be a superb asset to the team.  Calum again showed some excellent sprinting form in the ‘B’ 200metres for fourth place in 23.7secs.  Jamie McDonald rounded off the hurdles runs with a committed run in the ‘B’ 400metre hurdles for a competitive fourth place in 64.2secs.  Ian McDonald continued to ‘mix with the best’ and produced solid sprint performances with fifth ‘A’ placings in the 100metre (11.5secs) and 200metres (23.9secs).

The 3000metre steeplechase produced typical gritty performances from Jamie McDonald and Alex Milne.  Indeed Jamie’s final surge off the last barrier saw one of the best finishes of the day as he passed two athletes for third ‘A’ in 10.15, while Alex’s 11.03.8 brought excellent points from a second ‘B’ placing.  Ian Stewart filled in at short notice in the 5000metres and ran a typically steady race for sixth ‘A’ in 16.31.9, while Jamie McDonald found this a ‘bridge too far’ following his earlier efforts and a win in the Lochearnhead Hill Race the previous day, but finished fifth ‘B’, gaining more invaluable points.  Martin Crawford is slowly returning to form but found the ‘A’ 400metre race a bit too tasty, finally finishing in 53.8secs.  Robert Russell will probably regret his decision to compete in the 800metres while feeling below par and could not produce his normally faultless performance as he finished in 2.08.5.  Lewis Millar was another who showed the effects of two hard races in as many days but still completed the 800metres in 2.11. The 1500metres saw Alastair Hay move into contention with 500metres left however a fast last lap saw Alastair fade to come home in 4.03.8.  Derek Easton courageously filled in as the ‘B’ runner in the 1500metres, his one point proving invaluable in the final outcome of the match.

The final relays again produced some determined sprinting and improved changeovers, from the 4x100metre quartet of Calum Laing, Gary Sweeney, Stuart Mooney and Ian McDonald, with an excellent third place in 45.8secs. The 4x400metre team of Martin Crawford, Alastair Hay, Lewis Millar and Alex Milne came home in an improved 3.46.3.

Grateful thanks are again due to Iain and Meg Sweeney, John Dickson and Tom McMenemy for their priceless back-up with officiating duties.

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Scottish Cup Final – Coatbridge 25^th July. A sensational performance by Central AC ladies saw them crowned as Scottish Cup champions in the annual meeting at Coatbridge on Sunday. Whilst only Morag MacLarty managed a win, the foundation of the victory was the accumulation of points at the front end of all the event fields by a batch of young athletes now maturing to join the higher echelons of Scottish athletics. Points totals for leading clubs in the were Central 82.5, Aberdeen 73.5, City of Edinburgh 69, Pitreavie 66.5, City of Glasgow 62 and Kilbarchan 61, showing the dominance of the young team over more fancied clubs.

Most events had two pools of competitors, with final positions decided after combination.  Elayne Henderson has another excellent run in the 100 metres battling to a close finish and a final third equal place from the combination of the two heats. The 200 metres featured under 17 runner Sarah Hay promoted to the senior squad taking third place in her heat with 26.3s. Fiona Chalmers went off hard in 400 metres and held on for a combined fourth place with a time of 59.6s. The 800m looked like an easy win for Morag MacLarty in 2m 14.2s, but she was having to fight through the after effects of a tough selection/training session in Birmingham on Saturday with other top young UK middle distance runners. Fiona Thompson was also just a little off top form from earlier in the season, but finished with a 4^th overall with 4m52.6s. At the other end of the age range, evergreen Hazel Dean gave another excellent performance with third place in a time of 10m 39s in her 3,000metres run. Elayne Henderson took a third place in the sprint hurdles with a time of 15.7s and Sian Griffiths made it a season’s best with her 400 hurdles in 72.1 and fourth place. Elayne was second in the triple jump with 11.80m, disappointed that she failed to live up to her new billing as a 12 metre jumper and Fiona Chalmers was fifth in long jump with a new personal best of 4m 53m. Karen Senior performed in three throwing events, with her shot put being the highlight with her best throw of 9.28m good enough for third place. The relays saw an other set of strong performances with the 4 x 100m quartet taking fourth place and in the finale event the 4 x 400m quartet of Sarah, the two Fionas and Morag were just edged into second by a strong Aberdeen quartet with their time just outside the 4 minute barrier.

In the under 15 age group, Central young ladies performed well, with Jennifer Hutchison putting in yet another competitive sprint hurdles and pressing top class opposition to take fourth place in her pool. Lynn Harvey struggled somewhat to find her best form in the sprint but saw another consistent performance in the long jump with 4.28, close to her personal best. Gemma Milne gave solid performances in throws with a new personal best in javelin of 15.33m and fifth place overall and Dee Henderson improved her discus throw to 17.06m giving her 4^th place. Rachel Hunter worked hard in 800 metres with another consistent performance in 2m 41s. The relay quartet showed good form with 6^th place overall in 55.6s

The competition in the under 13 age group featured maturing performances by relative newcomers. Jennifer Kean made a major improvement in her 100m best with a time if 14.5 and fourth place. In the 200m, Becky Hay ran another strong race, equalling her best time and personal best with 31.1s and finishing 5^th in her heat and performed well in the long jump with 3.68m. Gemma Stevens was another improver with a sound high jump of 1.25m but surprised everyone with third place in the javelin. Lorna Cameron ran a gutsy race in the 800m, but a recent foot injury has taken the edge of her rapid improvement and she had to settle for a mid-placed position in a time of 2m 45s.

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