4 July 2005

Morag MacLarty won Gold at the Under 20 AAA’s 1500metres at Bedford in a superb 4.23.37 and now has to wait to find out if she has been selected for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the European Junior Championships in Lithuania in late July. Controlling the race throughout, she never looked threatened, pulling away from the pack on the final lap for a very convincing win. Elsewhere at the AAA’s Elayne Henderson looks to be back to her best with a 12.03metre triple jump and 5.55metre long jump for sixth and eighth in the Under 20 events. Michael Wright qualified for the Championships for the first time and tackled the tough 3000metre steeplechase.  Despite finding the early pace a bit too fast Michael battled well, finishing in eighth place in 10.21.48. Alastair Hay has suffered from a sequence of injuries all winter and has yet to find his racing sharpness this year so his time of 4.10.35 for 1500metres should be seen as a step back to full racing fitness.

Elsewhere there was an excellent International hill running performance from Michael Gillespie with a superb 11^th place in the Junior Hill Running International in Italy.  Alastair Anthony did his hill running credentials no harm with second place in the 9 mile Dollar Hill Race, finishing second in 83mins 7seconds.  Steve Laing (fifth in 4.51) and Ainsley Normand (second female in 5.37) had competitive runs in the Self Transcendence 1mile Road Race in Edinburgh on 29 June, while, on the same night, Conor Kerr took the honours in the Under 11 one mile race around Falkirk Stadium with a fine timing for a youngster of 6mins 6secs. The 2mile race at Falkirk saw Hugh Kerr finish in a highly respectable 12.23 with John Millar also going well with 12.48.

Ian Beattie, with legs and feet hardly recovered from the West Highland Way Race, tackled the scenic Isle of Arran Half Marathon, finishing in 26^th in 1hour 26mins 45secs.

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Central and Southern Scotland Athletic League – Grangemouth 10 July 2005

Excellent individual performances by Central AC athletes could not prevent the club suffering a rare final place position in the Central and Southern Scotland Athletic League match at Grangemouth. Overall the ladies performed well with third position but problems with availability and failure of athletes to match the efforts of other clubs to fill non-specialist events have pushed the club to the brink of relegation from Division One with one match in the series to go.

Central senior ladies dominated their part of the match with close to maximum points. Wins in the 3000 metres by Ainsley Normand and Claire Waterhouse in the A and B events respectively were matched by Jane Waterhouse and Elizabeth Normand in the Masters age group, Jane winning the 3000 and 800 races and Elizabeth Normand winning the B Masters 800 metres. Ainsley and Claire then had a harder tussle for the points in the senior 1500 metres with Ainsley taking an excellent second behind a fresh Kilbarchan’s Denise Smith and Claire taking the maximum in the B event. Elayne Henderson pushed GB heptathlete international Laura Redmond all the way but had to be happy with second in her events, with fine performances in the 200m (26.4s), sprint hurdles (15.6s), shot (9.64m) and discus (18.16m). Elizabeth Normand was first B thrower in the shot and discus and second in javelin in addition to completing the Masters age group 200m with Jane Waterhouse. The finale event of 4 x 400m saw junior international Morag MacLarty contribute a final leg to bring the team home in 3^rd place.

In the younger age-groups, the enthusiasm of the under 11 girls paid dividends with Ellie Marr gaining good points with a 12.6s in the A 80 metres event and Amy Hendry take fourth in the B race with 13.6s. The 800 metres saw further improvement by Abby Housego to finish third place and debutant Amy Hendry take fourth in the B race. Kirsty  Buchanan completed the relay quartet who competed well in an exciting and close fought race to achieve a fifth place.

The under 13 girls provided another series of good points with Jennifer Kean improving her personal best to 29.6 in the 200m (3^rd) and Georgia Quinn running another good race to take fourth place points in 30.3s. In the 800 metres the Cameron twins took good points with Lorna having to be satisfied with third place in 2m33s and sister Fiona taking second in the B race. Jennifer Kean improved her personal best in the High Jump to 1.25m supported by Lorna Cameron and Mairi Gillespie made her contribution to team points through a hurdles race of 6^th in 15.7 and a shot put of 6.08m. A creditable third place in the relay completed their afternoon.

The under 15 age group saw Dee Henderson and Jennifer Hutchison take 2^nd (28.2s) and 1^st place respectively in the 200metres and Jennifer took first place in the hurdles in 12.6, supported by Jemma Stevens with 6^th in 15.6s. Jemma took an excellent second place in the javelin in 16.49m supported by Jennifer. Twin Amber Stevens took good points from the shot, discus and high jump with support from Dee and sister Jemma. Catriona Buchanan made her debut at 1500m and after a steady start finished well with a promising 5m 37s.  The efforts of the day took their toll, with the relay squad being pulled due to injury.

The Senior men dominated the distance events, with Robert Russell and Ross Houston taking maximum points in A and B 1500 respectively in 3m59.1 and 4m07.6. In the Masters event it was B runner Robert Hutchison who pushed Steve Laing hardest as they took maximum with Robert a second behind Steve’s 4m28.9s. The senior 200m saw another good run by Iain McDonald in 2^nd place in 23.0s, with Martin Crawford filling the B race in 4^th place in 26.2s. Frank Houston and Derek Easton filled the slots in the Masters age group 200metres with two third places as a reward. Frank also tackled the high hurdles, high jump and long jump, where notably Martin Crawford came second in 5.50m with Frank first in the B event.

The 4 x 400m squad took a useful second place.

In the junior men’s age groups performances were encouraging but thin on the ground, Daniel Jackson faced a tough race in the 200m for under 17’s to finish 6^th in 24.4s but his javelin of 33.95m gave him second place. Michael Gillespie pushed the pace in the 1500m but was reined in the third place in 4m17.5s and Josh Clarke was second in the 200m in 24.9s. In the under 15’s Sean Reilly took the Central honours over Matthew Gillespie with Sean gaining second place in 4m23.6 and Matthew taking the B event first place behind him in 4m28.5s.  Isaac Sanchez showed further promise with sixth place in the 200m in 27.6s with Alexander Hendry running well to fifth place in the B race in 29.8s. The relay team took a competitive fourth place. 

In the under 13’s, sole representative David Hutchison battled hard for his fifth place in the 1500m in a time of 5m 12.3s, to add to his long jump. Young Neil Cameron completed his quota of three events in the under 11 age group with a fine second place in the 80m sprint, won the long jump in 3.94m and took a personal best from the 800m in 2m50.6s.

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17 July 2005

Central Athletic Club’s members will have more than a passing interest in the European Junior Championships taking place in Kaunas, Lithuania on 21-24 July where 19 year old Morag MacLarty will be carrying UK hopes over 1500 metres. Morag was an impressive victor in the recent Under 20 AAA’s 1500metres and is rated seventh in the European Under 20 lists for this distance.

There was more representative action for Central’s athletes at the recent Under 20 Schools International in Cardiff.  Michael Wright smashed his personal best in running into second place in the 2000 metre steeplechase (6.24.18) and Rowena Bell-Scott was another to show improvement in the extremely hot conditions with fourth in the 1500 metres in 5.01.29.

On the same day  Derek Easton organised a set of paced 800 metre Time Trials which saw a number of club athletes improving their personal bests (pb).

Alastair Hay (1.56.6) and Martin Crawford (1.57.5) were the top runners of the day but it was Under 15 Sean Reilly who caught the eye with a superb run to take his pb down to 2.01.7, the fastest in his age group this year.  Michael Wright proved his versatility with a fine 2.03.7 clocking and Michael Gillespie had returned from a 3000 metre run in the Schools International in Dublin the previous day to finish in 2.09.3.  Alex Milne and Robert Hutchison continue to roll back the years finishing in 2.07 and 2.08 respectively while Murray MacLarty’s 2.10 was spot on his predicted time for the event. Matthew Gillespie picked up well in a fast race to finish in 2.14.

Anthony Gillespie was a little ambitious with his first lap pace but still came home in a useful 2.16.1.  Lorna Cameron showed her normal confident and smooth running style to finish in 2.31.8, while Conor Kerr (2.34) and Ross Milne (2.37.9) were rewriting their personal bests. David Hutchison is making good progress but had to settle for 2.39.1 on this occasion and it was a similar story for Mairi Gillespie (2.45.3).  Becky Hay looked in fine form as she finished in 2.36 while Fiona Cameron (2.42), Gemma Milne (2.43.4pb), Claire Tunally (2.46pb)and Neil Cameron (2.46.8pb) served up a competitive race.

Sandy MacLarty showed some determined running to finish with a 3.00pb while Natalie Miller (3.01.2) and John Dickson (3.02.8) were close to their predicted times with battling runs. Kirsty MacLarty had a useful run for 3.07.4 while Gordon Milne’s fast finish produced a 3.20.5 clocking.  Julie Hay checked in with 3.30.8 while newcomer Alfonso Cruz will soon improve on his 3.38.8.

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24 July 2005

Central AC’s Morag MacLarty sprinted to a magnificent victory in the European Junior Championships 1500 metres in Kaunas, Lithuania.  With Commonwealth Youth gold won back in December, this latest title wraps up a fine past year for the Dundee student.

Morag had set GB hearts beating faster with a perfectly executed victory in the Women’s 1500m final, in which the first four all ran faster than ever before.  Morag clocked 4:15.12, an exceptional 5.85sec quicker than her previous PB.  She was never more than a stride behind the pace as Larisa Arcip (Romania) led through 400m in 1:05.76, 800m in 2:17.09 and 1200m in 3:26.61 with Yekaterina Martynova (Russia) at her side.  It looked as if they had erected their own little wall when they stopped Morag overtaking them just after the bell. So she bided her time until they were turning into the finishing straight and then destroyed them with a burst as incisive as the surgeon’s knife she may well wield later in her life.

She began her surge with 100m to go. With 80m left, her lead was such a decisive two metres that she was never going to be caught; not that her pace faltered until she was well over the line.  While Arcip tired into fourth, Martynova hung on for Silver in 4:15.46, a third of a second ahead of the fast finishing Azra Eminovic (Serbia and Montenegro). Arcip completed the quartet of PBs with 4:17.47.

Morag said: “It’s brilliant! I’m pleased with the time, as well. I was ranked seventh so this is unexpected. I just stuck in there.”  And where did the fine finish come from? “My 800s.”

The Six Stage Round Arran Relay proved a happy hunting ground for Central Athletic Club’s athletes as the team of Alastair Hay, Robert Russell, Ross Houston, Michael Wright, Alex Milne and Lewis Miller sped to victory by over six minutes from a highly fancied Kilbarchan outfit, in a time of 5hours 23mins 9secs. Robert Russell proved the fastest athlete on the tough 10.5mile stage (60.10) and Michael Wright took the honours over the 7.5mile stage in 42.52. Central’s second team of Phillip Williams, David Hay, Cameron Campbell, John Miller, Ian Beattie and Robert Stott also competed well with Phil third fastest on his leg.

A number of Central’s athletes also tackled the Crieff 10K with Alan Hume coming home in an excellent tenth place in 38.48.  Fraser Purves ran well for 26^th in 40.29 and there were good runs by Ian Beattie (42.32), Hugh Kerr (43.03), John Miller (45.15), David Hay (46.37) and Cameron Campbell (47.45).

Ladies Scottish Cup - Grangemouth

Central AC ladies made a brave effort to measure up to last year’s performance as they defended their Scottish Cup title at Grangemouth.  They had to settle for fourth place against good quality opposition, especially missing some of the Club’s up and coming young athletes sidelined on the way back from injury or competing elsewhere.

Elayne Henderson provided a highly competitive edge to the team. She equalled her outdoor personal best in the high jump to take second place in 1.65m.  In the 100 metres it was a tight race with Elayne taking fourth place in 12.96m and the sprint hurdles saw her achieve another fourth in 15.80s.  Elizabeth Normand continues to improve dramatically with a third place in the hammer moving her best to 20.92meres.  Her shot similarly moved to 9.06m and again third place, matching the same place with her javelin throw of 21.10m. Hazel Dean has not hit the high spots of last season, with her efforts more into orienteering this summer, but took third place in the 3000 metres in 11m15s, before filling in slots to cover the 400m hurdles and triple jump. Fiona Thompson, showed good form in her return from injury with a strong first lap in the 800m and had to be happy with 2m25.4 for 5^th place.  Ainsley Normand battled hard in her 1500m, with a 4^th place in 4m 56s.  Tammy Breingan was the baby in the team, moving up an age group to cover gaps in the seniors and performed well with a 4.06m long jump and a 29.6s 200m.

In the under 13 age group Jennifer Kean debuted in her new event the sprint hurdles and achieved 15.24s for an aggregate 8^th from the two heats, but struggled to match her earlier season form in the 100 and 200m with a niggling injury setting in. Lorna Cameron battled away in her 800m but had to settle for fourth place in 2m36.8s, her highlight was an unexpected series in the high jump, taking second place with a substantial improvement to 1.35m. A sprint team of Jennifer, Lorna, Fiona Cameron and Morven Dean put together a good run.

Becky Hay made a substantial improvement in her 800m personal best to take it to 2m36.5s for a gutsy 7^th place in the under 15 competition.  Lynn Harvey produced a steady run in the 100m in 14.66s with a long jump of 4.30m Jemma Stevens improved her best performance in the high jump to 1.35m and Amber Stevens was 7th in the discus with 15.12m. Ellen Houston picked up places in her last twenty metres of her 200m to show her potential in 28.9s and gave a creditable first race in the hurdles with 14.9s for 8^th aggregate place.  The relay team looked good with a run of 57.63s.

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