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1st to 5th June 2005
Whilst Dame Kelly Holmes was writing the headlines with her fine victory in the 1500metres at the Norwich Union International in Glasgow on Sunday 5th June it was 19 year old Morag MacLarty who was rewriting the Record Books. Running in the faster of the 1000metre Invitation ‘On Camp with Kelly’ races, as a precursor to the International, Morag set a furious pace from the start and, although just outkicked in the final few metres, set a magnificent Under 20 Scottish Record, just some 0.8seconds short of the Senior Scottish Native Record.
Prior to the International Match UK Athletics Chief Executive David Moorcroft presented the Club with awards for Track and Field Club of the Year, Off Track Club of the Year and Junior Club of the Year while Mandy Gillespie deservedly won the trophy for the Scottish Development Coach of the Year. A great effort from the Club, ably backed up by the Sports Development Team at Stirling Council.
Other highlights from a weekend of heady action saw an all Central AC team representing the Forth Valley in the Scottish Primary Schools 4x100metre Championships. Two runs by combinations of Roddy Irvine, David Scott, Neil Cameron, Chris Clarke and Jack Dawson saw the youngsters through to the final with a fastest time of 54.99seconds. The result in the final never looked in doubt with Roddy, David, Neil and Chris bringing the baton home some 15metres ahead of their nearest rivals to take the Gold medals for the second year in succession with 55.18secs. Georgia Quinn, Sarah Hamilton and Rebecca Sandilands ran in the Girls team who were just unable to reach the final but still showed some slick baton passing on the way to a best time of 62.19secs. Meanwhile Ellen Houston (fourth), Amber Stevens (sixth), Rebecca Chroston (seventh) and Lorna Cameron (eighth) all competed with distinction in the Under 14 Secondary Schools Triathlon (High Jump, Shot Putt and 600metres) with Lorna running the fastest 600metres of the day (1.51.95).
There was further Track and Field action from the Club’s athletes at the Grangemouth Open Graded Meeting on Wednesday 1 June. Rachel Mills (13.25secs) in the Under 13 Girls 70metre hurdles and Jennifer Hutchison (12.84secs) in the Under 15 Girls 75metre hurdles set the scene with fine runs. The 200metre series of races saw Rachel speed to 30.04secs while Under 15, Dee Henderson, clocked 28.14secs and Under 13 Martyn Paterson 28.07secs. The 800metre races saw an improved 2.03.09 run from Martin Crawford and a personal best 2.10.10 run from Robert Hutchison. Ainsley Normand has also been improving this season and she came home with 2.25.41 on this occasion. Under 13 youngsters Becky Hay (2.43.17) and Kate Morris (2.43.96) plus Under 11 Alexander Coubrough (2.50.47) all looked in good form in the races. Elayne Henderson tripled jumped to 11.49metres and had a useful javelin throw of 26.31metres while Under 17 Karen McClymont triple jumped to 10.20metres. Under 15 Boy Ryan Stewart again showed his continuing good form in sending the Hammer out to an impressive 46.89metres.
Friday 3rd June saw Robert Hutchison tackle the tough Pitencrieff Park mile taking the Veterans prize in second place in 5mins 9secs while David Hutchison won the Junior race with 6.07 closely followed by Martyn Paterson in 6.09.
The Club’s biggest turnout of the weekend was at the adventurous Black Rock ‘5’ race at Kinghorn, Fife, which mixes steep uphill/downhill road sections with beach running and a venture of some 150metres in the sea. Full results are awaited but there was an excellent tussle between Alasdair Anthony and Alastair Hay in second and third (both 22.33) while Ross Houston, Lewis Millar, Michael Wright, Steve Laing, Jamie McDonald and Alex Milne all provided excellent back-up, indeed Michael Wright won the Under 20 race in 25.36. The Club packed into second place overall and it good to see Will Hensman, Fraser Purves, Hugh and Mary Kerr, John Millar, George McHardy, Cameron Campbell, Brian Hodge and Louise Harris tackling this tough course, many for the first time.
Meanwhile Martin Crawford and Miguel Merayo headed off to Lanarkshire to take part in the Carluke 5k. Further strong performances saw Martin finish second out of a field of 130 in a time of just over 17 mins, with Miguel producing a PB of 17m 22s to come in just behind him in third place.
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10 to 12 June 2005
There were many good performances from Central’s young athletes at the Scottish Schools Championships, held in bright sunshine at Grangemouth on 10th and 11th June. Ryan Stewart had an outstanding Championships with new Scottish Schools records in the Under 14 age group of 46.26 metres in the hammer and 13.69metres in the shot put and a fine win in the javelin (42.28metres). Ryan returned home with three gold medals and trophies for best hammer throw and best thrower of the Championships.
Other finalists and medallists (with apologies to anyone missed) include a superb triple jump gold with 11.12metres by Karen McClymont and an excellent silver medal for Jennifer Hutchison in the 75metre hurdles in 12.51secs, in one of the closest races in these Championships. Rowena Bell-Scott looked good in the ‘A’ 1500metres to take the bronze medal in 5.08.07. Lorna Cameron qualified for the 1500metre final in the youngest age group, with a mature performance, and finished sixth in the final in 5.18.97.
Michael Gillespie finished fourth in a close finish in the ‘B’ age group 1500metres (4.13.14) on Friday and returned on Saturday to run an excellent personal best in the 3000metres to win the silver medal in 9.01.56. Michael Wright added to his steeplechasing reputation with silver in the ‘A’ age group 2000metre steeplechase (6.43.66) on Friday then ran the 5000metres on Saturday in 16.42.62 for fourth. Murray MacLarty finished sixth in the 5000metres in a useful 17.15.90. Sean Reilly looked good as he came home in 2.08.02 in the ‘C’ 800metres for a superb silver medal.
One of the last races of the Championships was also the best as Sean Reilly and Matthew Gillespie slogged out the last 300metres of the ‘C’ age group 1500metres. There was less than a couple of feet between these two young athletes as they hammered down the final straight, with Sean just prevailing in 4.25.72 to Matthew’s 4.25.75 finishing with silver and bronze medals respectively.
Morag MacLarty travelled to the British Milers Club Meeting in Watford, returning with a personal best of 2mins 5.95secs for 800metres and mission accomplished in terms of a European Junior qualifying time.
The second of three Scottish Mens League Division One meetings was held at Grangemouth on Sunday 12 June. Having finished fourth in the first Match of the Season it was going to be tough to get the Club back into winning contention, especially as some of the recognised first team members were missing. It was great tribute to the athletes who stepped in to the team that once again the Club finished fourth in a highly competitive Match, leaving the team in third equal position overall.
Robert Russell returned to winning ways with a runaway victory in the 5000metres in 14mins 50.19secs, backed up by a much improved 800metre run for second in 1.57.22. Fresh from the previous day’s Scottish Schools 5000metres, Murray MacLarty substantially improved his time over this distance with a ‘true grit’ run in fifth ‘B’ with 16.45.17. Martin Crawford provided the back up in the 800metres, finishing in a fine 1.59.93 and sped to 54.06 in the 400metres. Newcomer, Miguel Merayo looked good as he completed the ‘B’ 400metres in a highly competent 56.09secs. Alex Milne found his debut in the 400metres hurdles to his taste, finishing in 70.59secs, and then picked up well for fifth in the 3000metres Steeplechase. Steve Laing has been running well recently but looked a little off his best, however he dug in well to take second ‘B’ spot in the Steeplechase in 11mins 16secs. The 1500metres completed the middle distance races and Alastair Hay worked hard for his fifth place in 4.03.88 while Robert Hutchison came home with a great personal best in 4.29.63.
Frank Houston’s hurdling brought useful points in both the 110metre and 400metre hurdles while his versatility ensured good points in the triple jump (10.66metres). Ron Todd was another to cover a number of technical events including third in the pole vault (3.50metres), throws of 30.60metres in the hammer, 33.60metres for the discus, and 10.37metres in the shot put and rounded his day off with a useful run in the 110metre hurdles to provide a massive contribution of points. Youngster Gary Sweeney was carrying an achilles injury which stopped any potential for running but still weighed in with useful points and a big personal best in the shot put (11.22metres), followed by a discus throw of 31.42metres and 37.78 in the javelin. Kenny Pearson contributed a fine performance in the pole vault (3.30metres) and a very useful 37.60metre javelin. Ian Stewart made his debut in the hammer with a fourth ‘B’ throw of 21.46metres and will now be honing his technique ahead of further competition.
Ian McDonald led the speed challenge against some of Scotland’s top sprinters and came away with his reputation intact with runs of 11.52secs in the 100metres and 23.53secs in the 200metres. Stuart Mooney was fourth in his speciality triple jump (12.53metres), then leapt to third in the long jump with an improved 5.87metre personal best, completing his high jump series with a 1.75metre clearance and adding a useful 100metre run of 12.41secs. It was good to see Stuart Chalmers returning to Mens League action with a 1.75metre clearance in the high jump, an excellent 5.41 long jump, followed by a competitive 200metres in 24.58secs.
The 4x100metre team of Frank Houston, Stuart Mooney, Stuart Chalmers and Ian McDonald came home safely in sixth in 48.42seconds but need some practice on their changeovers to improve. The 4x400metre team was almost ‘all change’ from the first match but the team of Alastair Hay, Martin Crawford, Miguel Merayo and Ian McDonald bettered the time with 3.45.63.
Thanks are due for superb back up from Officials Tom McMenemy, Hamish Fleming, John Dickson, Iain and Meg Sweeney and Meeting Conveners.
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18 & 19 June 2005
The Bank of Scotland Scottish Under 20 and Under 23 Championships held in Dumfries in warm weather on Sunday 19 June proved a happy hunting ground for some of Central’s young athletes. Morag MacLarty again underlined her talent with two front running Gold medal performances in the Under 20 age group, the first to win the 800metres in an excellent 2mins 6.32secs, followed by a very useful win in the 1500metres in 4.27.37, a tough double by any standards. Morag’s run in the 800metres knocked almost 5 seconds from the Championship Best Performance in this event. Elayne Henderson also showed her class in winning Gold in the Under 20 Womens 100metres in an excellent personal best of 12.50secs, followed by a Silver in the Triple Jump with 11.68metres. Alastair Hay brought home the Under 23 Mens Bronze medal from the 1500metres although he was unhappy with his time of 4.06.17.
Stuart Chalmers just missed out on a medal with a fourth place high jump of 1.75metres in the Under 20 Mens event. Michael Wright also had to settle for fourth in the Under 20 Mens 2000metre steeplechase but was pleased with his new personal best of 6.30.24. Michael also contested the Under 20 Mens 5000metres where he finished in 16.49.53 just a few strides ahead of the improving Murray MacLarty (16.50.46).
Dumfries was also the venue for the Scottish 3 x 800metre Junior Relays and the 4 x 400metre Under 17 Mens Relay Championships. It was good to see six Central Athletic Club teams performing and from the large crop of personal bests collected in these events it would seem the athletes are more committed when carrying a relay baton as superb performances were recorded by every one of the young athletes.
The Under 13 Girls led the chase for medals and it was Mairi Gillespie, Fiona Cameron and Lorna Cameron who caught the eye as they qualified for the final in third place from their heat. Central’s other Under 13 Girls team of Rachel Adamson, Katie Campbell and Georgia Quinn also ran well to reach the final as a ‘fastest loser’. It was superb to see two Central teams in a Scottish Championship final and the crowd were soon on their feet as Mairi Gillespie and Rachel Adamson handed over together at the end of their first 800metre leg which both completed in around 2mins 41ses. The improving Fiona Cameron can feel justifiably proud of her second leg (2.44) as she put twin sister Lorna into contention for the last leg. Lorna Cameron sped round her 800metre leg in an excellent 2min 29secs to give the team an overall 7min 53.99secs clocking and take home the Bronze medals. Meanwhile Katie Campbell was carrying the Central ‘B’ teams hopes and, while still getting to grips with this event, unleashed a superb finishing burst to set Georgia Quinn away on the last leg. Georgia then worked hard to anchor the team to seventh overall a massive effort following her 2.47.5 timing earlier in the day.
The Under 13 Boys 3x800metre team also performed with distinction with fine runs in the heat from David Hutcheson (2.34), Logan Bonar (2.43) and a charging run of 2.38 from Ross Milne, ensuring qualification for the final. The same trio contested the final with David lowering his time to 2.33 while Logan and Ross brought home the baton in fifth place overall.
Qualification for the Under 15 Girls 3x800metre final was always going to be tough given the large entry for this event. Becky Hay started the challenge and Gemma Milne kept the girls in contention with her trademark battling run. Final leg runner Rachel Hunter pulled back a place as the team put themselves into contention for a place in the final. However, on this occasion, it was just not to be as other teams filled the ‘fastest loser’ slots.
The four young men who made up the Under 17 Mens 4x400metre team had to work hard for their Silver medals. Josh Clarke showed good sprinting form on the first leg to bring the baton round in around 55secs. Michael Gillespie also showed a good turn of speed as he swept round the second leg in 55.5secs to hand over in second place. Graham Harvey is relatively new to the Club and still building strength, speed and stamina, however Graham weighed in with a useful leg of 59secs which kept the team in contention. Matthew Pope bided his time before unleashing a ferocious finishing kick, which left his rival wallowing in his wake, as he powered round in 53.5secs for an overall 3mins 43secs and well earned Silver medals.
The best was left to last as the Championships concluded with the Under 15 Boys 3x800metres. The talk before the race had singled City of Edinburgh Athletic Club out as firm favourites with useful outfits forward from Giffnock North, Shettleston and Kilbarchan, amongst others. It was always going to be tough for Central’s trio of Anthony Gillespie, Matthew Gillespie and Sean Reilly to take medals in such highly competitive circumstances, especially as Anthony is in his first year of this age group. A hint of what was to come was seen in the heat as Anthony found belief from somewhere and knocked a magnificent seven seconds off his personal best leaving Matthew and Sean relatively easy runs to ensure qualification for the final. In the final Anthony could not quite match his heat timing but gave his team mates a chance as he finished in around 2.24.5. Matthew is Scottish Under 15 Cross Champion and accepted the challenge with relish as he pulled back the places, powering round the two laps in around 2.12. Sean Reilly has been growing in stature over the last few months and never looked troubled as he swept through to second place with every stride making inroads to City of Edinburgh’s lead. In the end Sean had to settle for a 2.06.5 clocking (the fastest time of the day) and the team for Silver medals, but not without upsetting a few apple carts.
Ian McDonald ventured into the world of the Highland Games where he contested the 90metre sprint handicap at Newburgh in Fife on Saturday 18 June. On the undulating and uphill grass track Ian came through from the virtual scratch mark of 7.5metres to breast the tape in a useful 9.89 seconds.
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JSB Plumbing Forth Valley League – Thursday 23rd June 2005
Central AC young athletes collected a third place in the JSB Forth Valley League at Pitreavie on Thursday evening with a number of athletes making their debut for the Club. The team cemented their mid league position after three of the four matches of the series.
Isaac Sanchez made his debut and achieved a worthy second place in the under 15 Boys B race in 14.1s into the strong headwind, with Ewan Hamilton matched his time in the 100m A race. Sean Reilly had a solid run in the 400metres to finish second just outside his personal best.
The under 13 Girls all performed superbly, with Joanne Cubitt sprinting to a fine 3rd position in the 100m and with Stephanie O’Neill demonstrating her promise in winning the B race. Lorna Cameron stepped into the 800 metres at late notice and with her usual determination achieved an excellent 2nd place in 2m 38s. Twin Fiona Cameron took good points in the B event with a time of 2m46s. Joined by Rachel Adamson, Fiona, Stephanie and Joanne were worthy winners of the relay.
Further relay success was achieved by the under 11 Boys, with Neil Cameron, Gordon Milne, Conor Kerr and Matthew Mills. Neil won the A 100m race in a time of 15.1s whilst Gordon made another great contribution in the B race in a time of 16.2s. Conor once again won the 800metres for the third successive meeting with Neil Cameron supporting in the B event to take maximum points.
In the under 11 Girls, Mary Gathergood and Megan Thomson sprinted well with 17.5 an d 18.8s respectively and Abby Housego improved her 800m time further to close to 3 minutes when taking fourth place. Agatha Williams Kelly improved her best time with 3m19s in the B event.
Christopher Clarke showed excellent running to come second in the under 13 A 100m, whilst Callum Gathergood looked strong to take 4th place in the B event. Robbie Gathergood’s well judged 800m was rewarded with a 2nd place in a personal best time of 2m 35s and Logan Bonar also improved his best to finish in 2m 44s. The third relay win of the night was a further reward.
The under 15 Girls performed well, with Ashley Smith and debutant Lisa Garrow taking on the 100m in 15 and 15.4s seconds respectively. In the 800m, Hilary Warkentin saw some return to form, especially in her tenacious finish in fourth place and Claire Tunaley with her first track race performed with an excellent 2m47s. Jemma Stevens added further points through her high jumping.
26 June 2005
Central Athletic Club Girls team produced a very creditable performance in the Young Athletes League competition at Grangemouth, by finishing 4th on a hot and sunny day. The result was made even more worthy of praise as it was achieved despite under representation in the Under 17 section where due to injury and other commitments only one female athlete represented the Club.
Great credit therefore is due to sole Under 17 representative Tammy Breingan for sterling performances in the 100 metres with 13.7 seconds, long jump 4.05m for 3rd, and shot put 5.74m also for 3rd. Great credit is also due to the Under 13 and Under 15 teams who really pulled out all the stops in very warm conditions.
Hard work and commitment at both training and gaining competition experience is really paying off for these Girls and Sunday saw some great individual performances. In the under 13’s, Jennifer Kean placed 5th in a blanket finish to the 75m A race, but bounced back in fine style to comfortably win the 150m A in 21.7 seconds. In the 75m B, Rebecca Chroston powered home to win with a personal best of 10.6 seconds while Rachel Mills followed that up with a win in the 150m B race in 22.1 seconds. In the 800 metres Fiona Cameron made light of the heat with a personal best of 2.41 for 4th, while further personal bests followed for Lorna Cameron, 2nd in the 1200m A in 4.02, and Mairi Gillespie 3rd in the 1200m B in 4.17.
The success continued in the 70m hurdles with Rachel Mills winning the A race in 12.8 seconds, and Katie Marie King winning the B race in 13.9 seconds. In the field Rebecca Chroston and Katie Marie King showed their versatility with creditable long jump performances, before the Under 13 girls rounded off a fine day in style with Lorna, Katie Marie, Rachel, and Jennifer coming in 2nd behind the City of Edinburgh team in the 4 x 100m relay.
Although the Under 15s did not enjoy quite the same success as the Under 13s, their day still included some excellent performances. Jennifer Hutchison achieved 2nd in the 75 m hurdles A race in 12.6 seconds with Jemma Stevens gaining confidence in the B race. Rachel Hunter ran well to gain 2nd place with 5m 34 seconds in the 1500m, Amber Stevens achieved a personal best of 1.35m in the High Jump A with Ellen Houston gaining 3rd place in the B event. Ashley Smith was 2nd in the Shot Putt A with 6.48m, and 6th in the 100m B race. Ellen Houston battled well in the 200m B race coming home in 3rd place with 28.9 seconds. Jemma and Amber Stevens brought home more useful points with Jemma coming 3rd in the javelin and Amber 4th in the long jump. Elsewhere Dee Henderson contributed vital points in the 100m, 200m, and Shot Putt and Catriona Buchanan tasted track action for the first time in the 800m with a time of 2m 38s, before the Under 15 girls finished their day with Rachel, Jennifer, Dee, and Ellen coming home in 5th place in the 4 x 100m relay.
In the Boys events, the under 13 Boys performed to the usual high standard, with Martyn Paterson and Roddy Irvine combining in the 100m to take second places. Martyn also took second in the 200m whilst David Scott performed well in his 200m and took third place in the sprint hurdles. In the 800 metres Chris Clark faced tough opposition to take a fine second place with Roddy picking up good points in the B event. The boys winning ways in the relays failed for once as some uncharacteristic poor baton passing left them just failing to make up ground with a second place.
The under 15 boys saw newcomers Isaac Sanchez raised a few eyebrows with an excellent second place in the B 100m in 13.2ses and 4th in the A 200m, and Ewan Hamilton improved once again with a solid 100metres and an improvement in his shot put. Ryan Stewart broke the league record in the javelin with 42.7 metres and won the shot put with another fine put, unbelievably being ignored by the event conveners for athlete of the match. Sean Reilly, took second place in the 800m supported by another strong run by Anthony Gillespie and then Sean teamed up with Matthew Gillespie to dominate the 1500m to gain maximum points. It was good to get a useful relay team together, finishing in third place.
Daniel Jackson was the sole Central under 17 male athlete competing with a third place in the 100m and a fine javelin throw.
Senior Athletes Round-up
A number of Central Athletic Club’s senior runners have been competing with success in a wide variety of events. Alasdair Anthony finished in an excellent fifth place in the Scottish 10K Road Race Championships at Vale of Leven with Ross Houston completing the course in a highly respectable fourteenth, unfortunately there were no times taken for the first 80 athletes. Alasdair then completed the Self Transendence 2 mile Road Race in Edinburgh on Wednesday 22 June in second (9.56); Steve Laing should be pleased with his 10.28 for sixth in the same race. The Milnathort Dash, over 5 miles, on 23 June saw Ross Houston finish in a close up third place in 29.13 while Claire Waterhouse (36.36), Cameron Campbell (36.54) and John Millar (£7.13) all had more than useful runs.
The information provided for the West Highland Way Race states, ‘Essentially the object is simple, you start at Milngavie Railway Station at 1am on 18th June & run/jog/walk to Fort William Leisure Centre by noon on the 19th June, 35 hours to cover 153km (95 miles) including 3543m (11624ft) of ascent’ a daunting prospect by any standards. This was the task facing two of Central’s athletes, Ian Beattie and Jim Drummond. Indeed Ian was featuring in a documentary of the race ‘Closing Distance’ which also followed his recent training. Although suffering a bad spell around 30 miles Ian finished strongly in 22 hours 42 minutes and 22 seconds, claiming 13th place in the race. Unfortunately the weather conditions became extreme after this with thunder, lightning, flooding and landslides and Jim (a veteran of this race) was amongst a number of runners not allowed to finish on safety grounds.
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