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CSSAL – Wishaw 4 June
Central AC recorded a resounding victory in the second match of the Central and Southern Scotland League at Wishaw, leaving the team in equal first place in the League with a further match to go. With some fifty athletes performing well across the age groups, Central is starting to show its strength in depth across field and track events at all ages.
The senior and masters women were in dominant form, taking maximum points in all races except the 200 metres. Ainsley Normand ran a measured race to win the 3000 metres with a sprint in the finishing straight for a comfortable time of 11m03s. She then took the 1500m win at the other end of the programme in a new personal best of 4m48.9s. Her support act was Jane Waterhouse winning the B 3000metres less than two hours after an outing at the Stirling triathlon, and Fiona Thompson winning the 1500m B race with 4m 54.8s. Fiona Kelsall was top points scorer with three masters wins in 3000metres, 200m and then winning the sprint for the line in the 800m, with Jane Milne matching maximum points with a win in the B 200m masters race and Mary Kerr repeating the feat with a win in the B 800m. A welcome first track outing of the season for Lauren McNab, in the 200m for 6th place with Jennifer Hutchison moving up from under 17 age group to record an excellent second place with 28.0s. In the field, highlight was a 2nd place by Gemma Milne, from the under 17 ranks, with a javelin throw of 17.72m. The 4 x 400m squad of Jennifer, Lauren, Fiona and Ainsley brought the curtain down on the female team with a win from gun to tape.
At the other end of the ages, Under 11 Aimee Bilsland ran well to record 3rd place in 13.00s for the 80m with Agathe Williams-Kelly achieving second with 13.4s. Kathryn Gillespie remains unbeaten this season at 800m with another scorching time of 2m47.8s. Agatha did a good job for 4th with 3m15.4s. In the long jump, Sophie Roessler and Aimee both achieved 3.10metres with Aimee given 2nd place in the A and Sophie Winning the B event. The relay saw another fine piece of team running with the girls achieving second place with 65.7s.
The under 13 girls gave an excellent account with the relay win topping off a fine day’s work. Lara Roessler, won the 70m hurdles with a display of 13.2s before heading off the shot with a second place with 6.31m. A high jump double win with Rachel Adamson with 1.35m for Lara and 1.30m for Rachel was another team highlight from the field. Leila McLaren ran powerfully for her 200m, but ran a bit out of steam but recorded an excellent time of 31.6s. Rebecca Stewart took a further step into hurdling with a fourth place, and worked hard in a competitive 200m. Rachel Adamson notched up another race with a good win in the 800m with her second best time ever of 2m33s.
Hannah Smith got a hat trick of second places in the throws with distances of 7.13m, 12.40m and 17.27m in shot, javelin and discus with the latter a new personal best. Amber Stevens achieved 16.50m to give her the B javelin win, with Katie-Mairi King gaining 2nd B in the shot with 5.61m and 3rd in the B javelin with 9.12m. Amber made it second place in the high jump with 1.35m and Lorna Cameron matched this position in the B event with a new personal best of 1.30m. Katie Mairi pitched in with a sixth place in the hurdles and Georgia Quinn and Eilidh MacLeod put in some good sprinting to gain 6th and 4th places in the A nd B races with almost identical times of 30.0 and 30.1. Further strong running saw Kate Morris achieve 4th place in the 1500m in 5m27.5s and Mairi Gillespie win the B race with 5m34.4s. The relay team of Eilidh, Lorna, Hannah and Georgia had a good tilt at winning the relay, just losing out to third in a blanket finish.
A good combination of new and debutant under 17’s made a major contribution, adding points in the senior events. Gemma Milne won the discus with 19.63m and took second in the senior javelin with 17.72m. Melissa Mowat gave a good account on her debut with a shot put B 3rd place and 5.62m and was sixth B in the senior javelin. Lorna Frame also made her debut with a strong 200m in 28.7s for 3rd place and then came second in the shot put with 7.08m. Jennifer Hutchison had a storming 80m hurdles to win in 13.5s with Kirsten Phillips taking 3rd in the B race with 16.2s. The relay team of Kirsten, Gemma, Melissa and Lorna worked well together to achieve 4th place.
The male team performed well on the day though suffered with some gaps in the schedule, specifically in the hurdles events.
The under 11s welcomed a couple of newcomers to athletic competition. Andrew MacNally fared well in his first outing. Andrew had an impressive long jump of 3.37m in 2nd place and posted a useful 13.8s in the 80m. Calum McLaren ran an excellent 800m in 2.47 to finish 2nd. Matt Smith is improving all the time coming first in the ‘B’ long jump with 3.18m and 2nd in the 80m with a 13.2s run. The boys were joined by another first-timer, Hamish Innes, for the 4x100m relay finishing 2nd.
In the under 13 category, Ross Milne threw an excellent 24.75m in the javelin to finish 1st then ran very well in the 1500m with a time of 5.00.8 for 2nd position. Gordon Milne produced competent performances in the long jump and javelin for some useful points. Adam Innes, in his first race for the club, sped to 2nd place in the 200m B race with a time of 28.7s. Roddy Irvine equalled that mark in his A race also finishing 2nd. Roddy had earlier won the high jump with a fine leap of 1.40m and rounded off with a 4.03m long jump in 3rd place. Conor Kerr ran his first ever 1500m race in the B race finishing 1st in an excellent time of 5.10. The u13 boy’s relay team then blistered round the track for 1st place in a time of 56.8s.
Martyn Paterson produced a fine leap of 4.66m in the u15 long jump and ran well in the 200m with a time of 27.6s. David Scott also competed in the 200m though was hampered by a recent injury. David Hutchison was 4th in the A shot putt then finished 5th in the 1500m with a good time of 5.07.6.
In the under 17 A shot putt, Ewan Hamilton threw 8.73m for 3rd place then followed this up with 5th place in the 200m with a time of 27.2s. Isaac Sanchez-Cruz ran in the A 200m race posting a nippy 25.8s. Jonathon Tolson was 4th in the B shot putt then finished 2nd in the 1500m B race with a time of 4.47.5. The ever-improving Alexander Hendry was also 2nd in the 1500m A race in 4.34.8. The 4x400m relay team came in 4th in a time of 4.04.9.
Martin Crawford was one of the star performers in the Senior A events. Martin produced a 5.39m long jump for 3rd place then sprinted round 200m in 25.3 for fifth place before recording a useful javelin throw of 23.34m for another fifth place. Robert Hutchison restricted himself to throwing events with useful performance in the discus and javelin recording a 6th place and 4th place respectively. The up and coming Stuart Chalmers continues to impress in the high jump bagging maximum points with a leap of 1.75m.
Miguel Merayo ran a fine 200m in 25.9s. Lewis Millar and Murray MacLarty posted 3rd places in the A&B 1500m with times of 4.18 and 4.29.5 respectively. Frank Houston won the ‘most events in a day’ competition with a 110m hurdles, long jump, high jump and a leg of the 4x400m relay squad in addition to a 200m masters race. The B jumps provided useful points with a 5.37m long jump for 2nd place and 1.60m high jump for 1st place. The 200m time of 25.6s won 2nd place. Alex Milne would argue that he covered more ground with a punishing 3000m steeplechase in the senior A race and a masters B 1500m race. Alex set a new PB for the steeplechase and posted 4.34 for 1st in the 1500m. A useful 3rd place ensued in the senior B discus competition. Gordon Paterson sprinted to a 27.7s 2nd place in the masters B race before soaking up the sun. Last but certainly not least, Steve Laing showed gritted determination to achieve 3rd place in the masters 1500m A race in 4.28.9.
Points totals Central 275, 364, 639 (male, female and totals); Law 393, 224, 617; East Kilbride 326, 247, 573; Lasswade 284, 267, 551; Falkirk 239, 201, 440; Fife 161, 245, 406; Livingston 173, 145, 319; Irvine 155, 136, 291.
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National Junior Relays Champs and U20/u23 Champs
A trio of young Central AC runners came home from Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow as National 3 x 800m Relay Champions after a dramatic final. Ross Milne, Conor Kerr and Roddy Irvine improved their heat win time by some 25 seconds in the final with each boy producing personal best performances. Ross and Conor ran storming legs to pass the baton to Roddy with a 10 metre lead but with a powerful Kilbarchan runner chasing him down fast on the last leg. With great maturity Roddy let the challenger through, sat on his shoulder for a lap and put in his trademark sprint for the line on the run-in to give the boys the title with a time of 7m18s.
Under 15 girls Kate Morris, Mairi Gillespie and Lorna Cameron worked their way through the heats to reach the final, where they improved on their heat time to finish seventh in 7m49s. In the under 13 girls, the Central trio of Megan McNab, Lauren Steele and Rachel Adamson were the fastest non-qualifiers from the heats as the girls gained valuable experience.
The relays were run alongside the National Under 20 and under 23 Championships, where a small number of Central athletes came away with medals and good performances. Heptathlete Elayne Henderson gained a bronze medal in the 100m with 12.70s, a silver in the long jump with a leap of 5.70m. Jennifer Emsley took a silver in the 5000m with 18m28s. Michael Wright took silver in the 200m steeplechase with 6m35s.
JSB Plumbing League
Central athletes competed at Pitreavie on Wednesday in the 3rd match of the JSB Plumbing League with excellent weather conditions helped the young athletes achieve a good result of fourth place.
Matthew Smith and Phillip Wright both ran well in the U11 100m and recorded times of 15.3 secs and 14.8 secs respectively. The 800m in this age group was ran by Carrick McLelland and Gerard Hendry and both boys gained vital points for the club with their times of 2.89secs and 3.22secs. A combined effort by all of the boys ensured that they earned a well deserved 2nd place in the relay.
The U11 girls also performed to a high standard with Mary Gathergood running 100m in 16.0 secs and Aimee Bilsland running the same distance in 16.1secs. Farren Parkins and Agatha Williams Kelly ran a close 800m and both crossed the finishing line together in 3.11secs. Another excellent relay by the girls earned them a worthy 3rd place.
Further outstanding results were recorded by the U13 boys, with both Martin Hall and Callum Gathergood jumping a height of 1.25m to both receive first place in the A and B events. Neil Cameron ran a speedy 100m and came 5th in the A race in a time of 14.3 secs with Callum coming 4th in the B race in 14.6secs. Not to be outdone, there were excellent results in the 800m with Logan Bonnar earning 2nd in the B race and Robbie Gathergood achieving 2nd in the A race.
Unfortunately, the U13 girls were represented by only Robyn McAree and Lauren Steele, however both girls competed in both 100m and 800m and gained vital points for the Club. Another close finish in the final was recorded with Lauren running the 800m in 3.04 secs and Robyn covering the same distance in 3.06 secs.
Central fielded more experienced athletes in the under 15 age group. Outstanding sprinting in the U15 boys by Kyle Henderson (11.6secs) and Martyn Paterson (12.8 secs) rewarded them with 1st places in both the A and B race. Further good results were recorded by Anthony Gillespie and Chris Short who both ran the 400m in 68.3 secs and 62.4 secs respectively. First place in the discuss was awarded to Ryan Stewart who achieved a superb 38.49 metres. A team of Kyle, Martyn, Anthony and Chris raced to finish the relay in 2nd place.
Finally, a number of U15 girls competed on the evening to further boost our points total. Both Georgia Quinn and Jennifer Kean ran a fast 100m and were rewarded with times of 14.6 secs and 14.5 secs respectively. Rising to a new challenge, Lorna Cameron ran the 300m and recorded a good time of 46.6 secs and a well deserved 4th place in the A race. Amber Stevens competed in the discuss and threw a distance of 17.83m and was placed 2nd in the A event. A height of 1.40m was recorded by Jemma Stevens in the high jump and earned her a well deserved 1st place. Georgia, Jennifer, Lorna and Fiona Cameron ran very well in the relay and were placed in 4th position.
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Scottish Mens Athletic League – Sunday 25th June 2006 – Grangemouth
Central Athletic Club Mens Team shrugged off their seventh place at the first of this season’s events but still found it hard to make any significant progress, finishing sixth on the day to leave the Club sixth overall, significantly one point above the relegation zone. The opposition on the day was of a very high quality and with some of the Club’s top athletes unavailable it was good to see a mix of youth and experience combining for some excellent performances in the sunny but windy conditions.
On the track it was the familiar front running style of Robert Russell that caught the eye. In the 1500metres Robert was only overtaken in the last few strides as he raced to third in 4min 01.15secs. However it was in the 5000metres that Robert proved his worth as he ran away from the field in elegant style to win the race in 15min 28.05sesc. It was Steve Laing who provided the back up in the 1500metres for fifth ‘B’ in 4.31.34 and Murray MacLarty who picked up the challenge in the 5000metres for second ‘B’ in 16min 45secs. Ian McDonald shouldered the responsibilities for the ‘A’ sprints showing improved starting form as he came through for fourth in 11.70secs for the 100metres and fifth in 23.81 for 200 into a 4.1metre headwind. Youngster Craig Eaglesham showed good form in the ‘B’ 100 for fifth in 12.21, also into a strong headwind while Iain Whittaker stepped up to the mark to finish sixth in the ‘B’ 200 in 25.00. Earlier Stirling University’s Whittaker ran the fastest 400metres for Central for some time with 52.5secs. Martin Crawford showed good form in the ‘B’ 400 finishing in 55.0secs, an excellent effort following his third ‘B’ placing in the 800metres in 2.05.05. Gavin Hogarth walked away with a new personal best in the ‘A’ 800metres as he finished fourth in 1.57.54. Michael Wright, while not looking his best, put in a strong performance for 10min 50.13secs for sixth in the 3000metre Steeplechase, and was well supported by Alex Milne who finished a handy third in the ‘B’ event in 11.01.46.
The hurdles saw young Michael Taylor showing competitive form with two fifth ‘A’ places, the highlight being a personal best of 62.19secs for the 400hurdles. Michael stepped outside his speciality events with another personal best of 5.43 metres in the long jump. Kenny Morrison attacked the ‘B’ 400 hurdles with assurance, finishing third in 63.63secs.
In the field it was Ron Todd who tried to be a one man team with useful performances in the pole vault, fourth (3.30metres); hammer, sixth (31.85metres); discus, sixth (33.44metres) and shot put, fourth ‘B’ (9.53metres). Frank Houston was another who worked hard in the field with sixth in the triple jump (10.61metres); fourth ‘B’ in the high jump (1.60metres). Gary Sweeney put in a power of work in the throws with seventh in the shot put (11.05metres); first ‘B’ in the discus (32.18metres) and third ‘B’ in the javelin (34.00metres). Kenny Pearson was another to show good form with fourth in the javelin, a fine throw of 41.13metres and first ‘B’ in the pole vault with a very useful 3.10metre clearance.
It was good to welcome Colin Christie back after injury in the first Match and Colin had a busy day collecting good points in the triple jump, long jump, hammer, 110metre hurdles, and a 1.60metre clearance in the high jump. A quartet of Frank Houston, Michael Taylor, Gary Sweeney and Ian McDonald contested the 4x100metre relay but were always going to find it tough against stronger units finishing a close eighth. It looked a similar story for the 4 x 400metre quartet of Martin Crawford, Gavin Hogarth, Michael Wright and Iain Whittaker but the last leg race for the minor places proved the best of the day with Iain Whittaker just losing out, still running a fine 51.51secs for the final lap as the team finished in 3min.39.2secs.
As always mention should be made of the superb back up by Central’s officials, Shona Malcolm, Hamish Fleming, John Dickson, Tom McMenemy, Ian and Meg Sweeney.
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Scottish Women’s Athletic League at Meadowbank – 25 June
Central AC lady athletes made a decisive contribution to a Forth Valley third place in the second match of the Scottish Women’s Athletic League at Meadowbank. Points total were Team West 477.5, Edinburgh Southern Harriers 427, Forth Valley 411, Tayside 375, Lothian 367.5, city of Glasgow 317.5, Aberdeen 310 and Pitreavie 294.
The under 13 trio of Lara Roessler, Rachel Adamson and Stephanie O’Neil were at the fore. Lara was 4th in the hurdles in a new personal best, was third in the shot with 7.84m and 3rd in the 100m. Stephanie easing back from injury was second in the B 100m, came second in the 200m A in 29.72s, whilst Rachel won her B 800m just a fraction from her PB in 2m31.4s and came third in the long jump with 3.93m. Joined in the relay by Claire O’Neill from Falkirk the trio almost topped their day but were just edged into second but with a fantastic time of 55.64s.
Jemma and Amber Stevens put in characteristic high standard in their high jump with Jemma taking second place with 1.45m and Amber took third in the B. In the under 17’s Jennifer Hutcheson ran a fine 300 hurdles with in second place in 48.92s and then achieved 13.63s in the sprint hurdles. Kirsten Phillips made her debut at this level and performed well to take second place in the high jump with 1.40metres.
In the senior ranks, the distance events Emma Waterhouse took on a difficult 800m with fifth place in 2m20.s, whilst Fiona Thompson took the opportunity in winning the B race to take a new personal best of 2m 18.75s. Jennifer Emsley ran a strong race to take 4th place in the 3000m with Fiona Kelsall achieving a doughty 5th place in the B race. The 1500m saw Ainsley Normand take second behind GB international Joanna Ross with 4m51s with Sarah Pickett also taking second in the B race in 4m51s.
Elizabeth Normand continues to improve with a 4th place in the shot with 8.61m and a new personal best of 22.67m in the hammer. Christine Bertram made her debut with the discus throw of 18.62m. Elayne Henderson took on the sprint hurdles with 16.63s, achieved 5th place in the javelin and second in the B shot.
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Pitreavie Anniversary Match – Wed 28th June
Central AC athletes were happy with second place behind hosts Pitreavie AAC who organised this special 50th anniversary evening match for senior athletes. The event featured a mix of international athletes and club athletes in an action packed two hour session with plenty of vocal support from the crowd.
The final result was a win for Pitreavie with 294, Central 253, Fife 244, City of Edinburgh 224, Dunfermline and West Fife 140 and Falkirk Victoria Harriers 79.
The Central senior ladies team featured some 11 athletes, pulling together to fill the full programme of events. Not suprisingly, Central scored highest amongst the endurance and field events. Jennifer Emsley travelled up and back from the Isle of Arran to win the mile race with a time of 5mins 27.8, with Begona Julian, a young university based Spaniard, winning the ‘B’ race. Ainsley Normand faced a tough race in the 800m and gave a gutsy performance to record 4th place in 2min 23.8, leading the way for Fiona Kelsall to win maximum ‘B’ points with 2min 40.4s. The 3,000 metres saw veteran Jane Waterhouse finish fourth in 11mins 32s and Becky Wilson took the top ‘B’ points with 11min 56s. The 400 metres featured Ainsley and Jenny pushing their endurance and commitment to the limit shortly after completion of their specialist events, taking 4th and 5th places respectively in a race featuring top GB juniors Gemma Nicol and Eilidh Child from the Dunfermline and Pitreavie clubs. The 100 and 200m sprints were always going to be a challenge for Central. Elayne Henderson underlined her class with a third place in the 200m in 26.2s with Lauren McNab and Fiona Kelsall taking further points from the sprint places.
Top points though came from Central AC’s youngest competitor with Cornton schoolgirl Kirsten Phillips winning the senior high jump with 1.45m before taking 4th place in the long jump with a new personal best (4.02m). Christine Bertram showed her capabilities with a fine javelin throw of 28.84 metres for third, with Elizabeth Normand gaining second place in the ‘B’ with 17.76m. The shot put saw Elayne gaining 3rd place with 8.85m and Elizabeth achieving 8.55m for second in the B event. The relay squad of Elayne, Kirsten, Fiona and Lauren gave it their best shot to gain 4th place in a race featuring renowned sprinting clubs and certainly came off their final track event with a smile for a job well done.
The Mens Team also weighed in with some excellent performances with the now seldom run one mile race being the pick. Robert Russell tried to front run to victory but the pace was not sufficient to shake of American based Andrew Lemocello (Fife AC) and Robert had to settle for second with a useful 4min 25.5sec timing. Gavin Hogarth continued his recent good form for third overall and first ‘B’ points in 4.31.2.
Earlier in the evening Iain Whittaker also gave a battling performance for a close up fourth place in the 800metres, just losing out in the closing sprint but clocking an excellent 1min 58.5secs. Here it was veteran Steve Laing who showed good form and a classy finish for third ‘B’ placing in 2.11.1. Murray MacLarty and Alex Milne carried the Club’s hopes in the 5000metres both running in their normal committed style to finish second ‘A’ (16.43.9) and third ‘B’ (17.22.9) respectively.
In the sprints Ian McDonald underlined his value to the team with spirited runs against some of Scotland’s finest sprinters, finishing a close fourth in both the 100 and 200metres in 11.8 and 23.3secs respectively. Iain Whittaker stepped down in distance to record a very competent 24.4secs clocking for fourth in the ‘B’ 200metres. Martin Crawford was another to take on a tasty field in the 400metres and showed good form with a 54.5secs clocking.
In the Field Events it was the multi talented Ron Todd who shouldered much of the responsibility and puting together a quality set of results in the Long Jump (5.29metres), High Jump (1.40metres), Discus (32.07metres) and Shot Put (10.03metres) to provide his normal haul of worthwhile points. George McHardy provided the back up in the throws and should be pleased with his Discus (22.43metres) and Shot Put (7.60metres) efforts. Gavin Hogarth was another to show his versatility with an excellent 1.55metre effort in the High Jump and a 5.16metre Long Jump.
The last event of the evening saw a mix of middle distance athletes and sprinters contest the 4 x 100metre relay with the quartet of Robert Russell, Martin Crawford, Iain Whittaker and Ian McDonald showing some slick changeovers as they came round for fifth place in a respectable 47.1secs.
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