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Scottish Combined Events Championships, Pitreavie, 31st May & 1st June 2003. Elayne Henderson (below left)stormed to her first ever Scottish title at this weekend’s National Combined Events championships held at Pitreavie. Her Gold medal in the under 20 Women’s Heptathlon is a remarkable achievement in her first attempt at the event, as at only 15 years of age she is the youngest ever Scottish Champion in this age group.
She opened strongly with a best ever run in the 100 
metre hurdles (16.17s) and followed this up with a strong High Jump (1.59m) and Shot (8.54m) to open up a 200 point gap on her nearest rival. She finished the day with another best in the 200m (26.75s) then stretched her lead the following day with solid performances in the Long Jump (5.26m) and Javelin. The title was secured with a superb personal best in the 800m (2mins 38.0s) beating her previous best by 11 seconds. She finished 400 points ahead of the rest of the field with a score of 4047 points which is a new Central A.C. club record.
Elayne’s coach, Kenny Pearson, (above centre) competing in the Senior Men’s Decathlon event, picked up the eighth Scottish Senior Medal of his career. He recorded 1.78m in the High Jump, 3.80m in the Pole Vault and 46.66m in the Javelin on the way to scoring 5136 points which was enough to secure the bronze medal.
In the under 17 boys Octathlon, 15 year old Alasdair Page (above right), performed creditably in his first attempt at this event. He cleared 1.66m in the High Jump on the way to scoring a new Central A.C club record of 3232 points.
Also competing for Central A.C. was Ross Millan who put in a good performance in the under 11 boys Triathlon event. back
Scottish Schools Championships, Grangemouth, 13th & 14th June 2003 There was rich harvest of medals for Central A.C. athletes at the Scottish Schools Athletics Championships held at Grangemouth over the weekend.
The performance of the weekend came from Elayne Henderson who smashed the championship record in the under 17 girls Triple Jump. She secured the record with an opening round effort of 11.31m. She then broke the record two more times to finish with a leap of 11.46m. This jump places her 3rd in the Scottish Senior rankings. As both athletes ahead of her are English based Scots this effectively makes her the number 1 Triple Jumper in Scotland at only 15 years of age.
Elayne had already produced two personal bests in the weekend. She ran 12.72s in the 100m to finish just outside the medals in 4th and on Saturday she competed in a highly competitive Long Jump finishing 3rd in an excellent 5.47m.
These performances follow on from her Scottish Junior Heptathlon title 2 weeks ago and she can now go to the UK Championships in August with a genuine chance of success.
17 year old 800m runner Morag MacLarty is already showing world class potential. After a superb personal best of 2:06mins 2 weeks ago she had the over 17 girls championship record (2:08), held by Olympic medallist Yvonne Murray, in her sights. However with no other athletes in the same class as her she was on her own from start to finish and won comfortably in a modest 2:13mins. She followed this up with another gold in the 1500m (4:37mins) again with no other athlete near her. She now has her eyes on the UK Junior title which she will contest next weekend in Bedford. Victory there will secure her place at the European Junior Championships in Finland in July.
Sarah Hay has shown great improvement this year and was rewarded with her first ever gold medal at national level with a win in the under 17 girls 300m in a new personal best of 42.2s. Older brother Alastair Hay was just beaten in a close sprint finish in the over 17 boys 1500m. He took silver in a time of 4:00 mins. He then produced a creditable run in the 800m (1:57.6min) for 6th.
Under 17 girl Nicola Laing shows great promise for the future with two personal best performances to take Silver medals at both Pole Vault (3.10m) and 80m hurdles (12.00s). In both events she lost to Scottish record holders. She has improved tremendously this season and with another year in the same age group she will hopefully be producing gold medals next year.
Hurdles specialist Sian Griffiths switched to the flat 400m and smashed her personal best to finish 3rd in 61.1 seconds in the over 17 age group.
The younger age groups showed some potential stars for the future. Under 15 girl Natalie Doyle won golds in the 100m (13.10s) and 75m hurdles (11.46s) and under 15 boy Michael Gillespie won silver in the 1500m (4:25.5mins).
Other Central A.C. results:Over 17 girls: 800m Karen Bunyan 5th 2:22.75min; Under 17 girls: 800m Lauren McNab 2:22.64min 5th (p.b.), Fiona Chalmers 9th 2:25.29min; 100m Dionne Milne 13.4s (p.b.); Under 15 boys: 800m Michael Wright 2:05.29min; Under 14 boys: 1500m Mathew Gillespie 5:00.08min; Long Jump: Robbie McNab 4.34m. back
Scottish Young Athletes League - Grangemouth 30th June 2003
A top class winning performance by Central AC girls in their last meeting in the Scottish Young Athletes League gives them a fighting chance of reaching the Scottish final. Lying in seventh place in the round robin league series, all the girls could do was to achieve a win in their last match to try and move into the sixth and final qualifying spot. Results from meetings elsewhere in Scotland and final scrutiny of results are awaited eagerly.
The girls were totally dominant in the under 17 age group where Elayne Henderson (right) and Nicola Laing led the way with outstanding performances. Elayne set a new league record in winning the long jump in 5.50m, and won the 100m in 12.8s. Nicola won her specialist event of hurdles in 12.4s, won the high jump and posted an impressive personal best of 26.7s in winning the 200m.
Equally important points came from Fiona Chalmers with a second place in the 300 metres in 44.5s and first in the B long jump. Rowena Bell-Scott led for most of the 1500m but could not make the decisive break, but she was rewarded with a new personal best in of 5:15.9 despite losing out for first place. The relay win was almost a formality.
In the under 15 age group, Natalie Doyle faced fierce competition in a rare outing over 200m, but her second place in 26.8s will give her a high rankings place come end of season. She easily won her specialist hurdles in 11.6s. Linda Macadam produced good points with third in the 100m, second in the B 200m and first in the B shot. Similarly, Tammy Breingan was second in the long jump and fourth in the B 100m. Tammy still has to come to terms with her new discipline in the middle distance events with her fifth place in the 800m showing there is plenty more to come.
In the under 13 age group, athletes who took the eye were Dee Henderson who won the 150m sprint in 21.3s and Hilary Warkentin who won the 1200m distance race in 4m 33s. Rosie Rogers had a strong first lap in her 800m to hang on to third place in 2:46.6. Catriona Quin and Gemma Milne made their contribution in the hurdles, with Catriona taking a third place in the B 75m sprint. The relay team performed well to take second place.
By contrast with the girls, the boys team had no prospect of making the final, though the first two matches had seem them with improved positions over recent years. As a result of holidays, excessive school and inter-schools championships and other commitments, only a depleted team took to the field. Nevertheless, a number of boys took the opportunity to improve their personal bests with fine performances. Central’s under 13 middle distance group is formidably strong and resting Matthew Gillespie allowed others an opportunity to shine. Sean Reilly won his 800m in a new personal best time of 2:24.6. Thomas Wallace, was second in the B race also with an improved best time of 2:40.1. In the 1500m, Anthony Gillespie, with an intelligent and even paced race, made a massive improvement to his personal best with 5:21s. Alan Bennie, ran a gutsy race, coming off a spate of asthma, to take second in the B race in 5:39.1. The sprint relay team took second place with a spirited performance.
In the under 15 age group, Daniel Jackson ran an excellent 200m, with a time of 25.1 to finish second and his javelin throw of 35.54m was a new personal best. Robbie McNab failed to achieve his target of an improved high jump best, but has a trip to Barcelona to look forward to as a result of his footballing exploits. back