Scottish Women’s League – Match 2 – Meadowbank - 19 June. Third place was the reward for some excellent performances by Central AC athletes in the Forth Valley team in the second match of the Scottish Women’s League at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh. The match result was Edinburgh Southern first with 533 points, Team West 452, Forth Valley third with 393, Aberdeen 335, Lothian 332, City of Glasgow AC 308, Tayside 302, Pitreavie AAC 236. Whilst the standard of competition was not quite as high as the first match in the series, there were a number of top level performances throughout the age groups with many exciting events involving Central athletes.

Morag MacLarty continues to return to full form and recorded a fine win in the senior 800 metres in 2m 09.27s, pushing Aberdeen’s Nicola Gauld and Edinburgh’s Freya Murray down to second and third places in a close race. Elayne Henderson put in a trio of high point scoring performances with a fighting third place in the senior 100m, an excellent second place in long jump of 5.69m and a third place in the sprint hurdles in 15.54s close to her personal best. The 3,000 metres produced the strongest Central contribution with both Central athletes making major advances in their best times. Hazel Dean was credited with third place in 10m 23.72s after being paced by but then just overtaking team-mate and last week’s Scottish Schools 1500m champion, Fiona Thompson. Fiona took maximum points in the B race with her time of 10m 28.45ss. Fiona Chalmers confirmed her ability in the 400metres with another strong performance to in fourth place in 59.01s. Sian Griffiths got excellent points with a fourth place in both the 400m hurdles and in the B event of the sprint hurdles. She also took on the challenge of hasty replacement into the 200metres. Marjory Swinton led the Central throwers taking on all four throwing events including a fourth place in the hammer behind Olympic hopeful Shirley Webb from Edinburgh. Karen Senior and Claire Waterhouse completed senior throwing events, picking up useful points. One of the highlights of the meet and the last event as usual came down to a nip and tuck three way contest between top class quartets from Team West, Edinburgh and Forth Valley in the 4 x 400 metres relay. Central’s Fiona Chalmers and Morag MacLarty together with Falkirk’s Lyndsey Munnoch and Dunfermline’s Gemma Nicol almost set up a win but were just pipped in the last 5 metres by Team West but recorded a very speedy 3m 52.6s.

In the under 17 age group, Nicola Laing was disappointed that her specialist event of pole vault in which she was competing in the senior age group was cancelled due to the windy and wet dangerous conditions. She ran well in the 200 metres with a time of 27.4s into the strong head wind. In the sprint hurdles, Nicola never quite got into the flow but still recorded 4th place in 12.89. Sarah Hay ran an excellent 100metres sprint to take third place in a new personal best of 12.88s into the wind. Her specialist event of 300metres was another sound performance in 41.91s to finish fourth. In the junior age groups, Central’s sole contributor was Hilary Warkentin who ran another first class race to win the B 800 metres in another major reduction in her personal best with 2m 30.43s.

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Scottish Mens League – Aberdeen – Sunday 20 June. Central Athletic Club’s athletes surpassed all expectations in the second Scottish Mens League Division One Match in Aberdeen on Sunday 20 June. There were excellent performances from all quarters as the team consolidated second place in the League.

In blustery conditions Robert Russell again proved to be the Club’s class athlete with wins in the 1500metres (3.59.5) and 5000metres (15.11.8); this following his 3.52.51 clocking in the British Milers Club Meeting the previous weekend.  Ross Houston had an improved run for first ‘B’ place in the 1500metres while Alistair Anthony showed his recent excellent hill running performances had taken little from his track speed as he came home second in the ‘B’ 5000metres in 16.12.1.

Calum Laing produced some majestic hurdling to take second in the ‘A’ 110metre hurdles in 15.1secs.  Calum also showed superb sprinting form in the ‘A’ 100metres to claim a new personal best of 11.3secs.

Ron Todd proved a useful addition to the team with a 3.50metre clearance for second in the ‘A’ Pole Vault; an excellent Discus throw for fifth in the ‘A’ event and a 28.98metre Hammer throw for fourth ‘A’ place.  Meanwhile Sean Tough mopped up many of the technical events, producing superb points with second place in the ‘B’ 110metre hurdles; first with 3.00metres for the ‘B’ Pole Vault; fourth in the ‘A’ Javelin (43.34metres) and sixth in the ‘A’ Shot Putt (10.36metres).  Gary Sweeney was another to show his versatility through a second ‘B’ placing in the Discus (31.98metres); third ‘B’ in the Shot Putt (9.76metres) and a charging run in the 400metres to gain vital points.  Colin Christie worked tirelessly throughout the afternoon picking up essential points in the 400metre hurdles (64.7secs); achieving a 11.14metre triple jump; completing the 3000metre steeplechase in 12.04.1 and sending the Hammer out to 18.64metres.  An injured Kenny Pearson provided a 41.40metre Javelin throw for an excellent second ‘B’ placing.

Ian McDonald’s sprinting has taking a step forward this season and further improvement was evident in the ‘B’ 100metre (11.3secs) for second place while he completed the ‘A’ 200metres in 23.6secs.  Frank Houston was another to perform across a range of events finishing with times of 25.1secs for 200metres; 67.4secs for 400metres hurdles and a high jump of 1.60metres; indeed when Frank attacks the hurdle event he shows grandiose movement and form.

Youngsters Stuart Chalmers and Stuart Mooney had their first taste of Senior competition and both proved worthy of their selection.  Stuart Chalmers cleared 1.60metres in the High Jump and finished with 5.03metres in the Long Jump for third ‘B’ placing. Stuart Mooney provided an insight to his obvious potential with an excellent Triple Jump of 12.85metres and a Long Jump of 5.30metres.

Alastair Hay looked a little short of his devastating best but still produced highly competent runs of 2.02.1 for 800metres and 57.3 for 400metres while Lewis Millar also did some sterling work over 800metres. Alex Milne gave another ‘true grit’ performance for 11.02.7 in the 3000metre steeplechase, showing great commitment to the Club.

The final relays produced some determined sprinting, a risky changeover, but good points from the 4x100metre team of Calum Laing, Gary Sweeney, Frank Houston and Ian McDonald, coming home in fifth place in 46.6secs.  The 4x400metre team of Alastair Hay, Ross Houston, Lewis Millar and Robert Russell came home in 3.48.2 for seventh place.

Grateful thanks are due to Ian and Meg Sweeney, John Dickson and Steve Laing for their priceless back-up with officiating duties.

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Young Athletes League, Grangemouth - June 27^th 2004. Some excellent performances by Central AC athletes led to second places for both boys and girls teams in the last match of the Young Athletes League at Grangemouth Stadium.

The Central under 13 boys were a class ahead of the six other club competing the match. Kyle Henderson won sprint hurdles in 13.3s, the high jump in 1.34m and was second in the 200m in 29.0s. Ryan Stewart’s performance in the shot put was a further step forward as he confirms his place as Scotland’s top thrower in this age group as he scored a massive 10.21m personal best. William Bowers supported Ryan with a first place in the B event with 6.92m. The 1500m was a Central-led procession with fine runs by Alan Bennie and Anthony Gillespie winning both A and B races with Alan recording a personal best of 5m11s. Martyn Paterson improved his long jump PB to 4.44m and second place and took the same position in the 100m in 14.3m. Chris Clarke made his debut at this level and with an excellent run in the B 100, with at time of 14.4s. David Hutchison and William Bowers took excellent points in the 800m with David coming second in 2m 35.7s and William taking second place in the B event. Disappointment came in the relay when first place was taken away in a heavily disputed disqualification.

In the girls under 13 age group, less experienced athletes took their first chances to impress. Lorna Cameron won the 1200m in excellent style with a time of 4m11s supported by Mairi Gillespie who won the B event. Georgia Quin started her 800m with considerable intent and took 4^th place in 2m 55.6s. In the sprints, Jennifer Keane, Kate Morris, Rebecca Chroston and Katie-Mairi King, who together with Amber Stephens and Emma Chalmers who did the long jump, all scored excellent points. In the sprint hurdles, Kathleen McCormick improved her best time by over a second to 14.1s as she took third place and Katie-Mairi King was second in the B event with 14.3s. The relay was a further success with second place from mainly new runners to the sport.

In the under 15 boys team, Darren Walker made major improvements in his personal bests in winning both 400m in 56.1s and 800m 2m12.6s. Fraser Hogg, Craig Paterson and Matthew Gillespie supported with runs in 100, 200 and 400m.

Lynn Harvey was second in her under 15 long jump (PB in 4m 33s) and 100m with 13.6s. In the 200m, Dee Henderson picked up 4^th place and Amy Pearson was second in B race with closely matched times of 28.8s and 28.9s. Rachel Hunter continued her improvement in time with another mature race, picking up second place in 800m in 2m 36.4s. Jennifer Hutchison also continued her improvements with second place in the sprint hurdles in 13.1s.

In the under 17 boys, Daniel Jackson ran another good race against top opposition from Ayr and Edinburgh in the 100m to take third place and Josh Clark took the same position in B race and ran an excellent 400m to take third place with Calum Johnson supporting in B race.  In the 200m, Jamie Cramond demonstrated that he can now mix it with the best with a close second place in 24.4s, with Stuart Chalmers taking second place in the B race with an improvement in PB to 25.0s.  Stuart also took second place in long jump and shot put to show his range of ability is further being extended. Michael Gillespie competed well in a classy 800metres and came away with 2^nd place in another fast time very close to his personal best. Graham Harvey’s track debut showed great promise with a steady performance to take 3^rd place in the 1500m in 4m58.9s. The relay was a close contest with the Central taking second place with their best performance of the year.

In the under 17 girls, Nicola Laing showed her characteristic zip to win the sprint hurdles by a huge margin in 12.4s and in a combined race for the 100m she and Sarah Hay were given equal times of 12.7s with Sarah given the nod to record 3^rd place in the A race with Nicola getting 1^st in the B race. Nicola also showed a return to form in the high jump to win in 1.50m. Sarah won her specialist event of 300m in 41.4s and second in a close 200m race.

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