Monthly Roundup

The Inter Counties Cross Country Championships held in Nottingham normally signals the peak of the Cross Country Season and with places up for grabs in the British Teams for the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh on 30 March this year’s event bore extra significance.

The Nottingham event had a number of Central Athletic Club athletes competing for the East of Scotland and taking on the best of British.

The best placed Central athlete on the day was Michael Gillespie (seventh in the Under 20 Mens Race) which must put him into contention for the GB Junior Team for the World Cross Country Championships. Michael completed the 8  kilometre course in an impressive 26min 16secs. Scott McDonald also showed good form in the same race but had to settle for 26^th in a very useful 27min 15secs.

The Senior Mens race was held over a testing 12 kilometres and it was Alastair Hay who came home first of the Central athletes in 49^th place in a time of 39min 38secs.  Ross Houston had another good run and a storming last lap brought him home in 91^st (41.05), closely followed by Alasdair Anthony, 105^th in 41.22, helping the East Team to fifth overall. 

Alexander Hendrie produced his normal ‘can do’ attitude in the Under 17 race over 6 kilometres coming home 24^th in a time of 21min 2secs and taking home a Team Bronze medal. This was Scott Green’s first exposure at this level and it was good to see him stride round for 56^th placing in 16min 6secs over the 4.5 kilometres in the Under 15 Boys race.

Alison Docherty was Central’s sole female representative this year and again this was her first experience at this level.  Alison mastered the 8 kilometre course coming home in 67^th in 31min 23secs ensuring she contributed to the East of Scotland’s seventh team placing.

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A quick round-up of events from the weekend of 8^th and 9^th March saw some superb performances from local athletes.  The Scottish Schools Cross Country Championships, held in Irvine, saw yet another excellent performance from Alexander Hendry picking up a Bronze medal in the Over 16 age group.  Rosie Hastings showed good form to finish 29^th in the 15 to 17 Girls age group.  In the 15 to 17 Boys age group Scott Green had another fine run for thirteenth place with Duncan MacArthur 23^rd and David MacKinlay 68th also having useful runs.

The 14 and 15 Boys Age Group also saw Tom Watson lift a Bronze medal in one of the tightest races of the day, missing out on Silver by a whisker. Ross Milne in tenth once again underlined his promise as did Conor Kerr (15^th) and Alexander Coughborough (17^th). Kieran Everden (33^rd) and Roddy Irvine (51^st) added to the race, proving the local strength in depth. The 14 and 15 Girls race saw Julie Cook (38^th), Amy Hendry (64^th) and Cairy McNeil (70^th) pitting their form against the best youngsters in Scotland.  Kirsty Buchanan was the pick of the local runners in the Under 14 races coming home in a satisfactory 16^th placing.  In the Under 14 Boys race it was Gordon Milne (31^st) and Sam Park (37^th) who provided the local colour.

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There were a number of Central athletes well to the fore in the Gartmorn 6 mile race in Sauchie, held on 9 March. Lewis Millar (32min 50secs) came home in third place, one place ahead of youngster, Sean Reilly (33.49). Also at the front of the field Bob Wiseman ran into seventh place in 35.09 with Hugh Kerr taking tenth in 37.35.  Sarah Jane Pickett had a good run to win the Ladies Race with 40min 22secs and Jane Waterhouse once again rolled back the years to win the Veterans prize in 42.04.

The Junior Race was held over 2.8miles and here there were a number of quality performances from Central’s youngsters.  Conor Kerr (13min 12secs) and Logan Bonar (14.05) lifted first and third places in the Under 15 Boys category and Jack Kerr came through in 16.24 to win the Under 13 Boys race.  In the Girls race there were good performances and medals for Roisin Bonucchi (15.24), Tara Walls (16.04) and Isla Burns (15.24).

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Robert Russell was the Mens winner in the 2007 Stewarts Road Race Grand Prix Series but decided to disregard the first race of this year’s Series, the Inverness Half Marathon. It was therefore left to Alison Docherty to make an impact for Central Athletic Club as she did with a five minute personal best to come home second Lady in 81min 24secs.  With superb back up from Hazel Dean (eleventh in 87.16) and Polly Harrison (17^th in 89.37) Central were able to capture the Team Gold medals and ensure a great start to the Grand Prix Series.

Scottish Athletics Junior Road Race Championships

The Scottish Athletics Junior Road Race Championships was held in blizzard conditions in Aberdeen on Sunday 23^rd March.  While the weather conditions tested the athletes to the extreme it is fair to say that Central Athletic Club’s youngsters passed with flying colours. Indeed with an individual Gold medal, two individual Silver medals, two sets of team Gold medals and a set of Bronze team medals it turned out to be a very successful day for the Club.

Central’s ‘Race of the Day’ saw Sean Reilly and Alex Hendry battle round the 6 kilometre course, swapping the lead on a regular basis, with Sean prevailing over the final run in to take Gold in 17mins 32secs to Alex’s 17min 36secs as these talented young men lifted Gold and Silver in the Under 17 Mens race. Andrew Butchart (sixth in 18.08) ensured the Club came home with Gold Team medals.  Jonathon Tolson (18^th in 19.19) nd Sandy MacLarty (30^th) also ran well in the miserable conditions

Scott McDonald continues to make progress and here moved through well to take Silver in the Under 20 Mens race covering the course of almost 8 kilometres in 23min 21secs.  With superb back up from Kyle Cowie (sixth in 24.26) and Graham Harvey (thirteenth in 28.02) ensuring he held off Aberdeen AAC’s third counter, the Team were again rewarded with Gold Team medals.

The Club’s largest turnout was in the Under 15 Boys race over a 4.6 kilometre course and here there was determined running from all six of Central’s young athletes. Scott Green proved to be the pick of the bunch as he finished sixth in 14min 13secs and with Tom Watson (eleventh in 15.03) closely followed by a fast finishing Ross Milne (twelfth in 15.07) the Club lifted the Team Bronze medals.  David Hutchison again showed good form to finish 22^nd in 16.05 and there were further good runs from Keiran Everdon (24^th in 16.20) and Martin Hall in 30^th 16.54). Gordon Milne was Central’s only runner in the Under 13 Boys Race and although never quite getting to terms with the extreme weather conditions still finished in a very admirable 34^th place in 10min 17secs.

The Under 13 Girls race was held over a 2.7kilometre course and Amy Hendry caught the eye to finish in a more than useful 16^th place in 10min 32secs.  Stacy Hardman will have learned much from this experience, completing the course in 28^th in 11min 11secs.  There was a good turnout of Under 15 Girls with the talented Rachel Adamson finishing 14^th in 17min 33secs.  Julie Cook has been making good progress all winter and here had an excellent 17^th place finish in 17.55 with Rosie Hastings again running well for 19^th in 18.09. Shona Buchanan also conquered the conditions to finish well in 26^th 19.57.  Kayleigh McGurk was Central’s sole Under 17 Woman completing a tough race in the worst of the weather in 17^th place in 18min 58secs.

The World Championship weekend at Holyrood Park was the setting for some fine domestic competition across the age groups, with Central AC featuring heavily throughout.

Central AC put out 6 teams of three athletes in the under 11 and under 13 Young Athlete relays that combined a road, trail and cross country legs of around 1500 metres each. First off were the under 11’s, where Roisin Bonnuchi brought the Central A team back in the lead after the road leg up Queen’s Drive. In the B team, Jennifer Downie showed great spirit as she brought her team back with a mid-race palcing. The tough trail race saw Isla Burns fight all the way to hold her team in contention now in second place, whilst Lily Cairns-Haylor kept up the good work with another spirited run for the next Central team. Kathryn Gillespie running in her true age group after a season with older girls revelled in the opportunity and brought her team home to victory on the cross country leg, where Lisa Hardman also picked off the field as she finished strongly.

In the under 11 boys, Jack Kerr, Daniel Stansfield  and  Domenico Angiolini tackled the same course with stroing running throughout to bring the team home in 8^th place. The Under 13 girls had two teams and Maeve Weldon, Ruth McCabe, Emily Greenan     Christina Fairley, Kirsty Buchanan  and Stacey Hardman ran with great credit in the largest race of the session. Alva Academy also entered a team with Central members of Cairy McNeil, Charlotte Burns and Lauren Steele to show a great deal of depth in this age group.

For the under 13 boys the experienced trio of Gordon Milne, Alexander Coubrough and Conor Kerr all ran strongly, with Gordon bring the first leg home within close contention, Alexander bringing the team to second and Conor not managing to make any headway against the visiting Mulingar Athletics club from Ireland but were pleased to receive their awards from TV’s Raven.

In the Inter-regional matches a mix of under 15 and under 17 runners representing the SportsCentral region had major Central AC input. In the boys race Alexander Hendy continues to go from strength to strength and a mature performance saw him take the bronze medal position with Sean Reilly following close behind in fourth place.

Scott Green’s 12th place over all in the race and 2nd under 15 athlete, only 10 seconds behind David Vernon of Nithsdale AC who finished 3rd at the Inter County Championships in Nottingham was the next counter and sealed the team Gold medals for Central region against the four other Sports Districts in Scotland.

Tom Watson, fresh from finishing 2nd Scot in the School International the previous day,  battled bravely to finish in 18th place, finishing 3rd under 15 in the race and together with Ross Milne showing up well against their age group contenders.

In the girls, it was another silver team result, with the two Inglis girls from Lothian Running Club stealing the limelight at the very front of the race, but with Catriona Buchanan producing an outstanding race to finish in fourth place and second counter behind Sarah Inglis who won the race. The three under 15 girls for the Central Region were team-mates Lorna Cameron, Rachel Adamson and Rosie Hastings. A strong and confident run by Lorna from the start saw her maintain a modest lead over Rachel and Rosie until the finishing straight with a sprint finish by them at the end seeing the three athlets cross the line in very close order and bringing their region home in second place .

In the senior race saw Michael Gillespie make another step forward as he represented Scotland in combined senior and under 20 team in the re-instituted Home Countries International. Michael spent most of the race at the first placed under 20 from Scotland, breathing down the neck of the Scottish Cross Country Champion Mark Pollard, but in the end he had to give way to Conor McNulty from Kilbarchan as the team took overall second.