British Junior League

Four of Central Athletic Club’s athletes made the trip to Carlisle to compete in the second Match in the Forth Valley Team in the Tyne Division of the British Junior League, for Under 17 and Under 20 athletes.

Scott McDonald proved that his training was paying dividends with two excellent endurance runs, a runaway victory in the 3,000metres in a superb 9min 4.6secs. Scott followed this up with an emphatic display in the 2,000metre steeplechase with a 6min 34.2secs clocking, ably backed up by a very competitive and improved run from Alex Hendry who finished in 6min 43.2secs.

Jennifer Hutchison showed all her normal strong running qualities to break through the 1 minute barrier over 400metres for the first time to win her race in 59.6secs.  Sean Reilly expressed disappointment with his 800metre run, and while certainly below his normal high standard, still clocked a time of 2min 0.7secs for third place in a very competitive race.

Scott McDonald, Sean Reilly and Jennifer Hutchison completed their day with runs in their respective 4 x 400metre relays with the Mens team finishing third and the Womens team coming home in second place.  Overall the Team achieved another second place, cementing their second place in the League.

Forth Valley Secondary Schools Championships - 1st June

On Friday Kyle Henderson won the award for the top male athlete at these championships for his new record in the long jump with a best of 5.99metres. Kyle then went onto win the Under 16 Scottish Schools Pentathlon with a score of 2972 points for a new Scottish Schools Competition Best Performance. 

Tom Watson was another to have a busy weekend with a hat trick of wins, the Secondary Two 800metres race on Friday, followed by the Fintry Hill Race on Saturday and completing his weekend taking the Forth Valley Endurance Initiative Road Race victory in Callendar Park, Falkirk.

Scottish School Championships – 8 & 9 June.

There were some excellent performances from local athletes at the Scottish Schools Championships held at Grangemouth Stadium on Friday 8^th and Saturday 9^th June. Highlight of the day was the award of the prestigious Eric Liddle Memorial Award for the best male performance to Kyle Henderson who set new Championship Best Performances in the 200metres (22.99secs) and Long Jump (6.19metres), two records that had each stood for over 25 years. 

The Schools Age Groups are somewhat different to the Scottish Athletics Age Groups with Group A – Over 17; Group B – 15 to 17 years; Group C – 14 to 15 years and Group D – Under 14; so in many cases the athletes are moving up age groups to compete. The standard at the Scottish Schools is comparable with the Scottish Athletics Championships so all medals are a personal triumph.  Indeed the standard required to qualify to compete is high so congratulations to all who competed, many of whom came away with new personal bests.  Local medallists included:-

Group A

5000metres - Gold - Scott McDonald 15min 27.28secs; Silver – Michael Gillespie 15min 34.34secs.

2000 metres Steeplechase – Silver - Scott McDonald 6min 11.07secs.

Group B

1500metres – Gold – Sean Reilly 4mins 1.47secs.

800metres – Gold – Sean Reilly 1min 59.38secs.

1500 metres Steeplechase – Silver – Alexander Hendry – 4mins 43.26secs.

300metre Hurdles - Bronze – Jennifer Hutchison 46.50secs.

Group C

Long Jump – Gold - Kyle Henderson 6.17metres (Competition Best Performance).

High Jump - Gold – Kyle Henderson 1.80metres.

200metres – Gold – Kyle Henderson 22.99secs (Competition Best Performance).

Group D

Shot Put – Silver – Ross Milne 11.33metres.

800metres – Silver – Rachel Adamson 2mins 23.63secs.

1500metres – Bronze - Tom Watson 4min 32.40secs.

800metres – Bronze – Tom Watson 2mins 12.3secs.

British Milers

On another busy week of athletics it was great to see Alastair Hay improving his 1500 metres best with a superbly judged run at the in the British Milers Event in Manchester, finishing in the impressive time of 3minutes 49.53seconds.  Emma Waterhouse competed at the same Meeting, completing her 1500metre race in 4minutes 41.73seconds, a slightly disappointing performance given her generally good early season form.

Grangemouth Open Grades

On Wednesday 6 June a number of the Club’s athletes competed at the Open Graded Meeting in Grangemouth.  Fast sprints times were difficult to come by due to a headwind which blew throughout the Meeting, however results were as follows:-

Under 11’s – High Jump – Rhys Houston 1.05metres; Isla Burns 1.01metres. 200metres – Roisin Bonuchi 37.24secs. 800metres - Roisin Bonuchi 3mins 10.82secs; Isla Burns 3mins 15.27secs.

Under 13’s –800metres – Philip Wright 2min 56.34secs; Farren Parkins 2min 58.82secs.

Under 15’s - High Jump – Kyle Henderson 1.80metres; Louise Anderson 1.30metres.  Triple Jump – Martyn Paterson 10.62metres.  200metres - Louise Anderson 30.67seconds.

Under 17’s – 200metres – Jennifer Hutchison 27.09secs; Lynn Harvie 28.48secs; Dee Henderson 28.53 secs.

Seniors – Hammer – Elizabeth Normand 33.32metres; 3000metres – Michael Wright 9mins 25.68secs.

Congratulations are also due to Catriona Buchanan who hit the athletics news this week with her selection for the Scotland Team to compete in the Marco Germanetto Junior Hill Running International in Italy on the 24^th of June.

Women’s League – 24 June

Miserable weather disrupted the second meeting of the Scottish Women’s League  at Scotstoun, Glasgow but could not stop Central AC athletes contributing towards a fourth placing for the Forth Valley combined team. Match points were Team West 424, Edinburgh AC 395, Victoria Park/City of Glasgow 355, Forth Valley 304, Lothian 303,  Tayside and Fife 287  Pitreavie 262 and Aberdeen194 with Forth Valley now in third place after two matches.

Sophie Brown was third as she moved up the age groups into the under 15 high jump, achieving 1.45m. almost matching her top ranked. Back in the under 13’s, she won the 100m B race with 14.5s. In the Under 15 age group proper, Hannah Smith made it a third place in the shot put with 8.27m and made a good contribution to match points with fourth in the B event for the javelin with 14.61m. Katie-Mairi King improved her long jump personal best with 4.40m in 4th place and took a fighting third place in the B 200m with 29.1s. Louise Anderson 6^th in100m B race with a time of 14.77s Lorna Cameron confirmed her continued form with 4^th place in 2.26.07s. Jennifer Hutchison had a tough contest with a third place in  the under 17 300m hurdles with 48.25s, before the rain set in.

Forth Valley seniors made a major impression. Despite atrocious weather, the 3,000 metres was the team’s top event with Emma Waterhouse winning in a new personal best 9mins 54.64s, with Jennifer Emsley also getting top points for her own new personal best the B race with a 10.19.22. In the 800m, Ainsley Normand took third with 2.20.94 with Emma taking third place in the B race. Sarah Pickett  gained fifth place in the 1500m with 5m 04.6 with Jennifer Emsley this time taking second place in B race. A strong field event squad saw Elizabeth Normand take sixth place in the shot with 8.67m. The finale of the day was the 4x 400m relaywhich saw four Central athletes team up to record 6^th place. 

Mens League 24 June 2007

Central Athletic Club bounced back from a disappointing start to the Scottish Athletics Mens League with a superb second place in the second Match of the Season. The torrential morning rain gave way to cloudy, windy but mainly dry weather for the Match at Grangemouth Stadium on Sunday 24 June.

Highlights from Central’s athletes included superb first A and B places in the 1500metres by Robert Russell (4minutes exactly) and Under 17 Sean Reilly (4mins 2secs) with both athletes completely controlling the race.  Michael Wright also looked like a man on a mission as he dominated the 3,000metre Steeplechase to win in 10mins 18.5secs, with Alex Milne providing superb back up with second ‘B’ placing in this event. Alastair Hay looked undaunted by his late night trip back from the England Athletics Championships in Bedford where he had clocked a superb new best of 14min 38secs for 5,000metres as he determinedly tackled the 800metres. Running a well judged race Alastair was beaten by the narrowest of margins to record his second personal best of the weekend with 1min 54.96secs.  Gavin Hogarth picked up more useful points with a gutsy run in the ‘B’ 800metres to finish third in 2min 3.96secs.

Under 20 athlete Michael Gillespie was another to show some determined running in the 5,000metres to finish second in 15min 45.5secs while Murray MacLarty answered a late call to provide more points for the team in finishing fourth ‘B’ in the same race.

The field events supplied more useful points and it was good to see Under 17’s John Leiper and Gregor MacLean vaulting to the impressive heights of 3.40metres and 3.30metres respectively to gain second ‘A’ and first ‘B’ places.  John went on to clear 1.55metres in the High Jump to be edged out by Kenny Pearson with1.60metres.  Gregor also produced an 11.03metres Triple Jump and Shane Malone was another to prove his usefulness to the team with 11.53metres as both young men picking up third places. John Leiper (5.14metres) and Ross Dalgetty (4.84metres) shouldered Long Jump duties while it was Gary Sweeney and Ron Todd who split most of the throwing responsibility.  Gary’s notable series of Shot Put (11.35metres), Discus (31.10metres), Hammer (27.48metres) and Javelin (34.85metres) picked up a hatful of points. Ron, still on the way back from injury, weighed in with a series of Shot Put (8.45metres), Discus (26.83metres) and Hammer (28.10metres) to again prove his worth to the team. Kenny Pearson sent the Javelin out to 37.20metres for second ‘A’ placing in this event.

The track events started well for Central with Michael Taylor overcoming a very wet track to record third place in the ‘A’ 400hurdles in an impressive 60.1seconds and Alex Milne again providing fine points for the team with his second ‘B’ placing in the same event.  Ian McDonald is another feeling his way back from injury and here had to settle for sixth place in the 100metres with 11.89secs into a strong headwind. Gary Sweeney stepped into the 200metres with a competitive run just being edged out for eighth while it was Ross Dalgetty who showed great character with fifth and sixth ‘B’ places in the two sprints. Michael Taylor came through strongly at the end of the 400metres for seventh in 54.25secs and Miguel Merayo produced a useful 57.01secs run for fifth in the ‘B’ event.

The quartet of Ross Dalgetty, Shane Malone, Gary Sweeney and Ian McDonald stayed competitive throughout the 4 x 100metre Relay to finish sixth in 47.19secs while a makeshift team of Michael Taylor, Michael Wright, Robert Russell and Gavin Hogarth brought the baton home safely but eighth in the 4x400metre relay.

There was great Official’s back up from the Club through Shona Malcolm, Meg and Iain Sweeney, Tom McMenemy, John Dickson and Derek Easton.