Report from 12 & 13 March 2005

Central Athletic Club was well represented at the Scottish Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships on a blustery, but sunny day in Irvine on Saturday 12 March.

Lorna Cameron, struggling with an injured foot, still managed a superb fourth place in the Under 14 Girls race.  Her school, Alva Academy, had a number of useful performances through Fiona Cameron (61^st), Ashley Smith (100^th), Jennifer Kean (114^th), Amber Stevens (120^th), Jemma Stevens (129^th), Rachel Stitt (148^th) and Yasmin Stitt (150^th).  Stirling High School was represented by Becky Hay (28^th) and Kate Morris (66^th).

Anthony Gillespie was the sole Club member in the Under 14 Boys race, running for Dollar Academy Anthony ran with great flair to finish 14th.  His brother Matthew stole the show in the 14 to15 Boys race winning by a considerable margin whilst Michael Gillespie, still fighting off flu symptoms, ran superbly to take second place in the 15 to17 age group.

The 14 to15 Girls race, with a field of around 260 competitors, saw a fantastic run by the ever improving Catriona Buchanan (Stirling High) in 42nd place, closely followed by Rachel Hunter (Dunblane High) in 45th, Gemma Milne (Stirling High) in 54th and Claire Tunaley (Dunblane High) in 66^th all showed the benefits of their hard training this winter.  Rowena Bell-Scott, representing Dollar Academy in the Over 17 Girl's race, had a fantastic run to take a well deserved silver medal.

The Over 17 Boy's race saw Murray MacLarty, representing Perth High, and running superbly well in a top class field to take 11th place.  Michael Wright, Dollar Academy, also had a good run to finish 14th.

National Cross Country Champion Robert Russell was on International duty in Northern Spain anchoring Scotland to an excellent victory in the Ekiden (Marathon) Relay against many other European countries.

Central’s Hazel Dean followed up her recent win in the Scottish Master’s Championship with a win in the British Masters Cross Country Championships in Bangor, Northern Ireland.  In a remarkable run, Hazel took the gold medal placing in the W40 category, and second in the race overall behind the W35 winner, Kate Ramsay from Charnwood.AC, in a time of 19m 28s for the 6K course.  Jane Waterhouse took the bronze medal in her W50 age group, overall 24^th place in a time of 21m 32s.

The Scottish Universities Indoor Championships gave Ian McDonald a chance to assess his winter’s training.  Ian, representing Edinburgh University, narrowly missed a medal, finishing in fourth place with a new personal best of 7.44 seconds for the 60metres showing he is on course for some improved times in the summer.

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Report from 26 & 27 March 2005

There were all round improved performances as Central Athletic Club swept to silver medals in both the Mens and Womens Scottish Road Relay Championships at Livingston on Saturday 26 March.

Conditions were unseasonably cold and misty as Claire Waterhouse tackled the first short leg, running determinedly to finish seventh in 19mins 50secs.  Ainsley Normand ran almost two minutes faster than 2004 on the first long leg (37.02), as she picked up three places in a well judged run to bring the Club up to fourth.  Morag MacLarty’s run at the World Cross Country Championships the previous week had been in 27 degree heat and the temperature in Livingston was some 20 degrees cooler, however Morag appeared undeterred, showing her talent with a short leg timing of 18.15 to bring her team through to third.  In a superb solo run Toni McIntosh ran the fastest long leg of the day (34.14) to bring the Club through to the silver medal position, an improvement of two places on 2004, in an overall 1.49.21.

The Mens team of Ross Houston, Alastair Hay, Alex Milne, Alasdair Anthony, Michael Wright and Robert Russell also showed improvement of two places from 2004 in taking the silver medals in a close contest with Ron Hill Cambuslang Harriers.  Ross Houston ensured the Club were in contention from the first with a 16.08 short leg clocking for seventh overall.  Alastair Hay picked up the challenge on the first long leg, bringing the team through to second with a fine 29.31 run.  Alex Milne kept the Club in close contention with another excellent short leg run in 17.04 but it was Alasdair Anthony who caught the eye as he made up some 45 seconds to hand over a 10 metre lead at the end of the fourth leg (29.46).  It was youngster Michael Wright’s first exposure at this level and it was no surprise that the experienced Cambuslang runner snatched back the lead, however Michael’s 17.09 run underlines his promise and this will provide positive motivation for the future.  Scottish Cross Country Champion Robert Russell was left to tackle a 50 second gap on his rival but, in spite of clocking a superb second fastest long leg of the day (28.46), the team had to settle for the silver medals.

Central Mens ‘B’ team also showed improvement, taking 21^st overall in 2.36.22 and it was good to see the Club finishing a ‘C’ team in 33^rd overall (2.49.27) with some 46 teams completing the course.

Alex Milne had another good run on Sunday at the Loch Katrine 12K event to take third place. 

Sunday also saw the Club’s pre season Track and Field Meeting at Grangemouth Stadium.  In cold and dank conditions many of the Club’s youngsters were trying out events for the first time.  Among a number of fine performances it was a Javelin (36.54metres) and Hammer (46.60metres) double by Under 15 Ryan Stewart that stood out.  In the Under 11 Boys Neil Cameron and Matthew Mills (both 15.51secs for 100metres) were the class in the sprints while Conor Kerr showed superb form in winning the 800metres (2.46.04).  Chris Clarke had an excellent 100metre/800metre double in 13.97/2.34.68 in the Under 13 Boys while Kyle Henderson had a javelin throw of 24.54metres and there was a superb 200metre race between Martyn Paterson (30.03) and David Scott (30.12). Sean Reilly produced a good run to win the Under 15 Boys 800metres (2.19.26).

The sprinting of Under 13 Girls Jennifer Kean (14.85/30.76) and Rachel Mills (14.89/30.55) caught the eye.  Lynn Harvey (100metres/13.85), Dee Henderson (200metres/28.26), Jennifer Hutchison (75metre hurdles/13.51), Rachel Hunter (800metres/2.39.86) and Becky Hay (1500metres/5.41.17) were the pick of the Under 15 Girls.  Tammy Breingan and Amy Pearson ran well in the Under 17 Womens events and Under 20 pentathlete Elayne Henderson had a busy afternoon (100metre hurdles/16.08; triple jump 10.78metres and shot putt 9.01metres).

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