8 May 2005

Although finishing in only fourth place in both the Boys and Girls competitions there were many excellent performances throughout Central Athletic Club’s Team in the Scottish Young Athletes League at Wishaw on Sunday 8 May.  The sunny but unseasonably cold and windy conditions appeared to spur on the Club’s athletes and there were a number of personal bests throughout the day.

The Under 13 Girls showed that their hard work in training was paying off with good performances throughout. Jennifer Kean sped to 3^rd ‘A’ in the 75metres in 11.3seconds then followed up with a fine win in the ‘B’ 150metres in 21.3secs.  Rachel Mills continues to impress and her 5^th in the ‘A’ 150metres (22.4secs) was backed up by a fine 2^nd in the ‘A’ 70metres hurdles (13.8secs) and 1^st ‘B’ long jump 3.91metres. Katie Marie King is looking stronger this year and came through with a 2^nd placing in the 75metres (11.6secs) and a fine 3.98metre long jump.  Fiona Cameron made light of the difficult conditions to come home with a personal best in the 800metres in 2.51.8 usefully backed up by Sara Hamilton as 1^st ‘B’ in 2.57.3.  Lorna Cameron and Mairi Gillespie both showed excellent form as they ran into ‘A’ and ‘B’ second places in the 1200metres in 4.06.9 and 4.25.9 respectively.  The 4x100metre team of Lorna Cameron, Katie Marie, Rachel and Jennifer ran an excellent 57.3seconds for second place.

The Under 15 Girls also had a fine range of results and both Lynn Harvey and Dee Henderson clocked 14.1seconds in the 100metres.  The 200metres saw Dee stride out to 28.4secs for third ‘A’ and Ashley Smith coming through in 31.1seconds.  Becky Hay and Kate Morris were both competitive in a classy 800metres finishing in 2.42.4 and 2.47.0 respectively. Rachel Hunter showed an improved competitive streak, coming home second in the ‘A’ 1500metres in 5.19.7 while Eilidh Hargreaves was always in control of the ‘B’ race with 5.31.6. Jennifer Hutchison is another to show improvement and came home a close second in the ‘A’ 75metre hurdles in 12.8seconds. In the Field events Lynn Harvey had a 1.25metre high jump while Amber and Jemma Stevens showed good form in the javelin for more useful points.  The 4x100metre team of Ashley, Dee, Jennifer and Lynn had a good run for third in 55.8seconds.

Tammy Breingan was the one girl Under 17 team and did well to run into fifth in the ‘A’ 100 and 200metres in 14.5 and 30.1seconds. Tammy also improved her personal best in the long jump with fourth place in 4.26metres.

Central’s Under 13 Boys look the pick of the bunch in Scotland at present and there were, once again, superb performances throughout the team.  Martyn Paterson continues to impress and won both the ‘A’ 75 and 200metres in 10.6 and 29.2seconds and set a new personal best with 4.63metres in the long jump. Roddy Irvine is another showing improvement, taking first in the ‘B’ 75metres (11.2secs) and ‘B’ 800metres in a personal best of 2.35.4.  Chris Clarke showed excellent pace judgement as he took the ‘A’ 800metres with another personal best in 2.28.7and leapt out to win the long jump with 4.75metres.  David Hutchison looked good with second ‘B’ in the 200metres and third ‘B’ in the 1500metres in 5.40.1.  Ross Milne couldn’t quite match his superb mid-week personal best of 5.20.4 but still ran a fine race for 4^th in the ‘A’ 1500metres.  Kyle Henderson weighed in with first in the shot putt (8.97metres) and Ross Milne won the ‘B’ event with 6.51metres. The 4x100metres saw the team of Chris Clarke, Roddy Irvine, Ross Milne and Martyn Paterson power to a superb victory.

There may have only been three Under 15 Boys competing for Central but there was a 100 percent win record.  Matthew Gillespie showed his class with a fine win in the 800metres in 2.16.8.  Sean Reilly timed his effort to perfection running away from his rivals on the last lap of the 1500metres to win in 4.31.7. Ryan Stewart was always in control in the javelin and shot putt with two superb personal bests of 47.35 and 12.34metres.

Central’s Under 17 Men saw a gutsy run by Michael Gillespie, just losing out in a hard fought 800metres with second in 2.05.4. Josh Clarke is another who continues to impress and ran into a superb second in the ‘A’ 200metres (25.2seconds).  There was just too little rest before Josh had to take on the challenging 400metres, however he poured out an excellent effort to finish in 55.6seconds. Graham Harvey is another to show steady improvement and ran a well controlled race for 2^nd in the 1500metres in 4.41.6.

A number of the Club’s athletes showed good early season form at the Grangemouth Open Graded Meeting on 4 May, however it was the 800metres development race at the start of the Meeting that produced arguably the most interesting results. Conor Kerr showed good pace judgement to win the race in 2.41.4 while Katherine Gillespie came through for a magnificent personal best in 2.47.7. There were other good performances from the Stirling Primary School athletes, Steven Campbell from Doune (2.58.8); Gordon Milne from Gargunnock along with Ciorstaidh Allingham and Rebecca Sandilands from Thornhill.

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14 & 15 May 2005

There were excellent performances across the age groups and athletics disciplines from Central Athletic Club’s athletes at the East & West District Track and Field Championships and the Scottish Hill Running Championships over the weekend of 14 and 15 May.

There were three double Gold performances from Central athletes. Ryan Stewart finished the 2004 Season top of the Under 13 Boys Throws rankings and looks set to continue this in 2005 with wins in the Hammer (49.44metres) and Javelin (48.89metres) and a Silver with 11.99metres in the Shot Put. Morag MacLarty is also the class act in the Under 20 Womens endurance events and came away with wins in the 800metres (2.10.19) and 1500metres (4.24.83).  Multi-eventer Elayne Henderson rounded off the double Gold performances with a Triple Jump of 11.79metres and a high jump of 1.65metres. In the Under 17 Mens category Michael Gillespie pulled off two superb endurance performances with a 4min 24.44secs clocking for Gold the 1500metres and Silver with 9.24.51 in the 3000metres.  Michael Wright worked hard to finish with Gold in the Under 20 Mens 5000metres in16.28.01 and Silver in the 2000metre Steeplechase (6.34.23). 

There were further Silver medal performances from Sean Reilly in the Under 15 Boys 800metres (2.06.27) and Matthew Gillespie in the Under 15 Boys 1500metres (4.24.44). Ainsley Normand won Silver in the Womens 1500metres (4.49.28); Rowena Bell-Scott also taking Silver in the Under 20 Womens 1500metres (5.04.38) and Elayne Henderson in the Under20 Womens 100metres 12.66.

Martyn Paterson continues to show good form and this time there were Bronze medals in the Under 13 Boys 100metres in 14.30secs (14.13secs in heat) and Long Jump (4.65metres). Murray MacLarty will be pleased with his Bronze medal run in the Under 20 Mens 5000metres (17.21.07).  Elayne Henderson rounded off her medal haul with a 25.46 clocking in the 200metres.  There was a surprise Bronze for the improving Ian McDonald in the Senior Mens 200metres (22.66secs), behind the Gold medal run by Ian Mackie.

A niggling injury kept Calum Laing from taking an almost certain medal in the sprint hurdles and Calum had to settle for two fourth places in the Senior Mens 100 and 200metres with runs of 11.72 and 22.75secs. Ian McDonald also showed good form in the 100metres to finish fifth in 11.74secs. There was also some competitive sprinting throughout the age groups with David Scott finishing fifth in the Under 13 Boys 100metres in 14.71secs following a 14.49 clocking in the heat.  David also showed good form in the long jump with 4.32metres. Jack Dawson rounded off the Under 13 Boys sprint performances with a 16.15secs clocking into a strong headwind.  In the distance events Anthony Gillespie worked hard for fourth in the Under 15 Boys 1500metres.  The Under 13 Girls competed well with Lorna Cameron finishing in fourth spot in the 800metres in 2.34.37 after a 2.31.14 heat. Jennifer Kean had to withdraw from the final of he 100metres following a 14.26secs clocking in the heat. Mairi Gillespie and Fiona Cameron ran well in their Under 13 800metre heats but did not progress to the final on this occasion.

Central’s Under 15 Girls also produced some good performances without bringing home medals.  Jennifer Hutchison could not have come closer to a medal having been judged as fourth in the 75metre hurdles but having the same time (12.59secs) as the bronze medallist, Jennifer also produced a 28.38secs 200metres.  Dee Henderson finished fourth in the Under 15 Girls shot put (6.28metres) then had to settle for fifth in the 200metres (27.78secs).  Lynn Harvey was also competitive in this age group with fifth in the long jump (4.48metres) and seventh in the 100metres (13.53secs). Becky Hay was another to run well for eighth in the Under 15 Girls 1500meters finishing in 5.41.73.

Josh Clarke showed good form in finishing seventh in the Under 17 Mens 200metres at 24.32secs. Ainsley Normand almost added to the medal haul in the Senior Womens 800metres with fourth place in 2.27.66.  Scottish Senior Cross Country Champion Robert Russell moved down in distance for some speed work finishing fifth in the 1500metres in 3.56.68 and sixth in the 800metres in 2.00.08.  Alastair Hay was found just lacking in competitive experience this year but still finished seventh in the 800metres in 2.02.6 following a heat timing of 2.01.31.  Martin Crawford and Miguel Merayo both competed well in their 800metre Senior Mens heat.

The Scottish Hill Running Championships at Kinross also provided an opportunity for medals for Central’s athletes and it was Alasdair Anthony who again proved his endurance credentials with second place in the Senior Mens race. Hazel Dean was also a Silver medallist in the Senior Womens race, taking Gold in the Veteran Womens category.  Stirling University student Jennifer Emsley won Gold in the Under 19 Womens category.  William Bowers also showed the benefit of some hard training over the winter to come home with Silver, less than 10 secs behind the winner, in the Under 14 Boys category.

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Morag MacLarty - Loughborough International

Morag MacLarty was representing Scotland in the Loughborough International on 22 May and should be pleased with her fast run that saw her place fourth in the Senior 1500metres in a fine personal best time of 4.20.97.

Scottish Young Athletes League -22 May

Central Athletic Club’s young athletes acquitted themselves well with the Girls finishing third and the Boys fourth in the latest round of the Scottish Young Athletes League held in showery conditions at Wishaw on Sunday 22 May. Once again there were many excellent performances throughout both the Girls and Boys Teams, the only failing from the Club being insufficient athletes in some of the age groups.

It was virtually personal bests all the way in the Under 13 Girls category and certainly good performances throughout. Jennifer Kean improved to 11.0secs in the ‘A’ 75metres in second and had a superb win in the ‘B’ 150metres in 20.6secs, the fastest time of the day.  Rachel Mills also improved as she won the ‘A’ 150metres (20.9secs), ran an excellent 70metres hurdles (14.3secs) and again took the ‘B’ long jump with 3.72metres. Katie Marie King was another to show improvement with 11.4secs for 3rd in the 75metres, 15.2secs for the 70metres hurdles and another fine long jump (3.86metres). Lorna Cameron picked up excellent points with second in the 800metres (2.33.7), a personal best of 1.25metres for second in the high jump and a useful 5.32metre shot putt. Twin sister Fiona also showed good form in the 800metres for second ‘B’ with 2.51.7 and a 4.15metre shot put.  The 4x100metre relay team of Lorna, Katie-Marie, Rachel and Jennifer, ran 57.7seconds for second place.

The Under 15 Girls also performed with distinction.  Lynn Harvey ran 13.6seconds for the 100metres for third ‘A’ while Dee Henderson was second ‘B’ runner with 13.8seconds.  The 200metres saw Dee take 28.4secs for third ‘A’ and Jennifer Hutchison 28.3 for third ‘B’. Rachel Hunter ran 2.41.6 in the 800metres with Gemma Milne gaining useful points with her 2.48.0.  Jennifer Hutchison showed some improved hurdling to win the ‘A’ 75metre hurdles in 12.6seconds, with Jemma Stevens, in her first run in this event, returning a competent 16.4seconds. Lynn Harvey was second ‘A’ in the long jump with 4.38metres while Gemma Milne’s 7.20metres was also second ‘A’ in the shot put.  Dee Henderson won the ‘B’ shot put with 6.51metres. Gemma Milne and Amber Stevens won their respective discus competitions with 16.87 and14.40 metres respectively. The 4x100metre team of Hilary Warkentin, Dee, Jennifer and Lynn had an improved run finishing fourth in 54.2seconds.

Amy Pearson and Tammy Breingan became the two girl Under 17 team.  Tammy improved her time for the 100metres to 13.8seconds and Amy came home in 14.4seconds.  Tammy also improved in the 200metres to 29.4seconds while Amy ran a useful 47.8seconds for the 300metres. Tammy and Amy also competed in the discus but results were not available.

The Under 13 Boys continue to impress and, on this occasion, it was Martyn Paterson who caught the eye as he sped to two sprint wins in the 100 and 200 metres in 13.9 and 28secs, this latter, a fine personal best.  Martyn also triumphed in the long jump with 4.43metres. Roddy Irvine is also making his mark in this age group, taking the 100metres ‘B’ event in 14.3secs and coming home third in the 800metres in 2.35.6.  It was good to see David Scott in full flight taking second in the ‘B’ 200metres (29.3) and finishing the 75metre hurdles in second in a personal best of 15.2secs. David Hutchison is another to continue to impress and came home fifth in the 1500metres and third ‘A’ with 6.22metres in the shot putt. Chris Clarke was not feeling at his best but still won the ‘B’ long jump with 4.31metres.  Ross Milne rounded off the individual scoring in this age group with first in the ‘B’ shot putt (6.22metres).  The 4x100metres team of Chris Clarke, Roddy Irvine, David Scott and Martyn Paterson romped home for first in an excellent 54.6seconds, just 0.4seconds outside the league record.

Ryan Stewart made up the whole Under 15 Boys team and again produced an excellent shot putt victory of 12.29metres.  Ryan is no longer specialising in the discus but his throw of 26.73metres was good enough for third place.

It was good to see more of Central’s Under 17 Men competing and Michael Gillespie again just missed out in the 800metres with second in 2.05.5. Matthew Pope looked good with an 11.7secs win in the 100metres and victory in 24.1 in the ‘B’ 200metres.  Josh Clarke improved by 0.2seconds from his run two weeks earlier as he again ran into a superb second in the ‘A’ 200metres (25.0seconds). Josh again showed good form in the 400metres to come home third in 57.1seconds.  Rory Houston weighed in with an excellent fourth place in the ‘B’ 100metres in 12.9secs.

With Central assisting in convening this meeting there was an excellent turn out of volunteer helpers and team managers, all of whom deserve considerable thanks, especially after braving a mid meeting downpour.

JSB Plumbing League Report - 19 May

Central AC’s young Thursday evening team came away from Livingston with a third place in the match to lift them higher up the table in the JSB Plumbing Forth Valley League.  The under 11 boys gave their usual highly competitive performances. Neil Cameron and Matthew Mills led the way with Neil winning a very tight finish in the A 200m metres race in 31.3s, and Matthew winning the B race, but with a faster time in 30.9s. Both boys then took on the high jump taking second place spots.  Young Conor Kerr just keeps getting better with a further improvement in his 800m personal best to 2m 40s, but may soon have a rival for top under 11 middle distance runner at Central, as debutant Alexander Coughrough won the B race in 2m 49.4s, and clearly has considerable potential.  In the under 11 girls Ellie Marr had a fine debut in the 200m in addition to taking good points in the high jump, whilst Mary Gathergood showed further improvement in her sprinting with third place in the 200m B race in 35.7s. Abby Housego and Megan Thomson both gave spirited performances in the 800metres to finish fourth and third in the A and B races respectively.

In the under 13 boys, David Scott and Callum Gathergood faced highly competitive opposition with David taking fourth in the A race in 29.1s and Callum second in the B race in 30.5s.  Robbie Gathergood ran a well judged 800 metres to finish third in 2m 45s with William Jamieson starting his racing career with 3m02.3s.  Joanna Cubitt was pitched in the deep end in her first outing over the A 200metres in the under 13 girls but was pleased with her 31.2s, a time matched by Georgia Quin to take second in the B race. The 800m saw Mairi Gillespie take third place and improve her personal best to 2m44.6s, a feat also achieved by fast improving Fiona Cameron with 2m 49.1s in the B event.

The under 15 girls saw Ellen Houston achieve a very fast time of 27.8s against really top opposition, whilst Kate Morris improved her personal best to 30.0s.  In the 800 metres, Becky Hay built another strong racing performance with a further improvement in time to 2m 40.9s for third place and will soon break the 2m 40s barrier whilst Anna Jamieson had a gutsy debut performance in 2m 53s. Twins Jemma and Amber Stevens combined to win 9 points between them in their shot puts with throws of 5.38 and 4.91m. The under 15 boys events provided an opportunity for Ryan Stewart to further show his class with a discus throw of 31.56m to win the event, whilst Euan Hamilton took a large point haul from his debut performances in the B discus and A 200m.  In the 800 m Matthew and Anthony Gillespie both took second places in their respective A and B events, again making a major contribution in points to lift the team’s placing. Final league placing now see the club lying equal fourth with Dunfermline and West Fife and ahead of Falkirk with a further two matches to go.

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28 & 29 May 2005

There were many excellent performances at a variety of athletic events at the weekend but pride of place must go to Elayne Henderson who took the Scottish Under 20 Women’s Heptathlon title at a rainy and windy Aberdeen. Competing in seven events over two days Elayne won the first six events – 100m hurdles (16.05secs), high jump (1.64metres), 200metres (26.38), shot put (9.53), long jump (5.30) and javelin (28.69), only losing out in the 800metres as she amassed some 4344 points.  This was a superb performance, giving Elayne a magnificent hat trick of wins in her three years in this age group.

Michael Gillespie returned from Aberdeen with a Silver medal from the Bank of Scotland Under 17 Mens 3000metres Championships running the distance in an excellent 9mins 16.6secs.  The Under 20 Mens race saw Michael Wright finish just outside the medals in a close fourth place (9.35.93), while Murray MacLarty finished in eighth in 10.04.16.

In the Scottish Masters Championships, also a rain soaked Aberdeen, Frank Houston won Gold in the high jump with a fine leap of 1.64metres and Silver with an 11.05metre triple jump, just 6 centimetres short of a further Gold. Alex Milne came away with Bronze from the 800metres with 2mins 09.98secs, while Robert Hutcheson must have been one of the unluckiest athletes on the day with two fourth places, an 800metres in 2.10.65 and just missing out in a close fought 1500metres in 4.37.13.

Lewis Millar ran into an excellent third place in the tough Pittencrieff Park, Dunfermline 5K Road Race in 17min 42secs while Alan Hume finished eighth in the large field in 18.55.

The Club’s Run, Jump, Throw competition for young athletes at Stirling University on Sunday 29 May was well attended with 25 young athletes, many of whom produced personal bests.

The eleven runners in the 600metres made this an interesting race with Roddy Irvine making his trademark late run to win in 1.48.4. William Bowers ran a well paced race to finish in 1.49.9 while Rachel Hunter came through well to win the Girls race in 1.51.4, closely followed by Becky Hay in 1.51.8. Tom Watson at 1.52.2, Conor Kerr with 1.52.9 and Kate Morris in 1.53.3 all finished strongly and there were also useful runs from Rachel Adamson (1.57.7), Alexander Couborough (2.02.1), Rebecca Sandilands (2.13) and Gordon Milne (2.19).

The 100metre series of races also produced some fine performances. In the Under 15 Girls it was Rachel Hunter who caught the eye with a fine 14.2secs. Ellen Houston (14.5), Lily Eadie (14.7) and Becky Hay (14.8) also showed good form in highly competitive races. Among the Under 13 Girls it was Rebecca Chroston who led the way in 14.5secs with Rachel Mills (14.7), Ruth Clark (15.5), Rachel Adamson (15.6), Louise Anderson (15.8), Becky Stevens (15.9), Emma Chalmers (16.5) and Louise Carson all producing useful performances.  Under 11 Girls Megan Thompson (17.9secs) and Hannah Bowers also showed some good form in the 100metres.

Amongst the Boys Under 15 Euan Hamilton and Under 13 speedster Roddy Irvine could not be separated, both coming home in 14.3secs. Under 15 William Bowers continues to show a good turn of speed, finishing in 14.6secs while Under 13 Tom Watson was close up in 16secs. Of the Under 11 Boys it was Matthew Mills who led the way in 15.1secs with Conor Kerr in close contention in 15.5.  Gordon Milne came through well in 17.9secs while newcomer Adam Gilbert produced a useful 18.2secs.

The outstanding long jumps amongst the Girls came from Megan Chroston with 4.28metres; Rachel Mills (4.16) and Becky Hay producing a useful 3.94metres.

William Bowers jumped out to 4.11metres and both Roddy Irvine (3.82) and Matthew Mills (3.78) showed useful form.

In the shot putt Rebecca Chroston (5.86 metres) and Ellen Houston (5.62) were the pick of the Girls while Euan Hamilton (9.84), William Bowers (7.96), Gordon Milne (5.82) and Adam Gilbert (4.90) all managed good throws.

Thanks are due to Starter, Hamish Fleming and Timekeeper, Hamish MacPhee and to the parent helpers who made this such a successful and worthwhile day.

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