Young Athletes League  - 4^th May

Some quality performances helped Central AC youngsters get off to a good start in the first match of the Young Athletes League at Wishaw. With final results still not available, team managers confidently predicted a third place for the team after performances with lots of spirit.

The under 15 girls finished off their day with a victory in their final relay pushing rivals Falkirk into second, the quartet of Lousie Anderson, Rachel Adamson, Sarah Dick and Sophie Brown had led the way with quality performances across the events. Louise and Sarah doubled up in the two sprints with Louise taking second place in the A 100m in 13.5s, a timing and placing matched by Sarah in the B race. In the 200m Louise was third with 28.3 with Sarah winning her B race with 28.4s. Sophie Brown put in another quality high jump performance to win with 1.50metres. Rachel Adamson teamed up with Julie Cook as Rachel took second place in the A 800m with 2:31, and Julie taking 2nd in the B race with 2:41.5. In the 1500m, Stacey Hardman and Shona Buchanan ran stride for stride almost until the tape as they both achieved fourth places for A and B in the combined race, with Stacey just getting the nod on the line with her 5:52.3s.

In the under 13 age group, the relay team of Lily Cairns-Haylor, Agatha Williams-Kelly, Tara Wells and Caitlin Watson were happy with their second place run in the curtain call events. Earlier Caitlin took two second places in a sprint double with 10.6s for the 75m and 20.9s for the 150m. In the B races, Agatha gained second place with 11.3 and fifth with her 22.9s timing for 150m. In the distance events, Emily Greenan put in one of the performances of the day to win the 1200m with a gun to tape run of 4m:16.5s, taking almost 20 seconds off her time from last season, Tara Wells ran to an excellent second place in the B event with 4:50.8. The 800m saw another pair of gutsy runs with Roanna Fraser giving a good account for herself with a big new personal best of 2m:48s to take sixth place, and Roisin Bonnuchi finishing second in the B race with 2:51.3. Agatha Williams-Kelly put in another speedy race over the barriers as she gained third place in the hurdles with 13.3s, with Lily Cairns-Haylor matching the place in the B event with 14.2 seconds in her debut.  Caitlin Watson capped her day with a new personal best in the long jump for second with 4.26m, with Agatha pitching in with 3.64m

It was tougher going for the Under 17's with Katie-Mairi King having two tough sixth places in the two sprints with 13.8 and 30s respectively, while Georgia Quinn made the most of fighting out at the front of the B races to post a fast 28.5 in the 200m and 14.0 for 100m to gain two second places. Katie-Mairi lifted her personal best to 4.66m to take a second place in the long jump. In the distance events, Lorna Cameron had another powerful run in the 800m to take second place with 2:29.1 and then teamed up with Rosie Hastings as they achieved 45.5s and 46.9s for 5th and first place respectively in the 300m. A fine relay race left the under 17 quartet in third place.

Central Athletic Club Boy’s team also produced a strong effort in this Match

In the under-13’s, Carrick Mclelland, 14.8sec and Duncan Ross, 15.1sec ran well in the 100m. Duncan doubled up to score useful points in the 200m with a time of 31.4sec while Nathan Betton debuted at 800m and produced a very promising run of 2min 45sec to finish sixth in a large field.

The under-15s team performed at a high level across all events, and were dominant in this age group. In the 100m, Sanju Siriwardena 12.9sec and Neil Cameron 14.6sec, got the event off to a good start. Tom Watson and Ross Milne scored maximum points in the 800m with times of 2min 10sec and 2min 11sec respectively and later repeated their double act in the 80m hurdles, again scoring maximum points with 13.5sec and 14.6 sec. In the 200m, Neil Cameron again ran well to record 29sec, and Gordon Milne produced a fine debut at this distance with 28.2sec. Roddy Irvine showed typical versatility with high-scoring performances in the 400m (58.7sec) and long-jump (4m.19). Also in the long-jump, Neil Cameron produced a personal best with an excellent effort of 4m 55. Sanju Siriwardena debuted in the 400m, and produced maximum points as B runner with a promising 60.4sec.

Gordon and Ross Milne continued their great contribution to the team with wins in discus for Gordon (17.29m) and shot putt ‘A’ string for Ross (9.91m) and ‘B’string for Gordon (7.65m). The 1500m again produced maximum points from Tom Watson and Kieran Everden with times of 4 min 40s from Tom and Kieran showing great potential with a 4 min 49s clocking.

Sprinters Sanju Siriwardena and Neil Cameron completed their day’s work by leading the 4 by 100m relay team to second place, with able support from Roddy Irvine and Ross Milne.

In the under-17s, Martyn Paterson produced competitive runs in the 100m 11.9sec and 400m 54.4s to score well for the team while David Scott showed determination to record 26.2 in the 200m. Amongst the highlights of the afternoon were Andrew Butchart’s performances. After a useful 800m of 2m 06s, he went on to complete a stunning front running effort in the 1500m to win by a wide margin in 4m17.7s.

Weekend Action – 10 and 11 May 2008

The first outdoor Track and Field Championship weekend of the Summer proved to be to the liking of Central Athletic Club’s athletes as a variety of Scottish East and West District medals and Closed Senior Championship medals were brought home and numerous personal bests set.

The competition was held at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh over the weekend of 10 and 11 May with mainly bright sunshine on the Saturday but colder and overcast conditions on Sunday.  The Senior competitions covered both Under 20 and Senior athletes and it was the 3,000 metre Steeplechase which saw the unlikely circumstances of three medals being won by two Central athletes in the one race. Seventeen year old Alex Hendry grasped the initiative in this race as he and Michael Wright pulled away from the field and it was Alex who prevailed in the latter stages to take the title with a superb 9min 77.04secs clocking to win both the Senior and Under 20 Golds.  Michael prevailed over the rest of the field to record a new personal best and lift Silver in a tasty 10min 9.09secs.  Alex came back on Sunday to contest the 800metres, once again setting a new personal best with a gritty 2min 3.33secs performance.  The 800metres was also Morag MacLarty’s preferred event and having coasted through her heat held of some early challenges in the final to win in style in the fine time of 2min 9.51secs.  Alastair Hay also hit some fine early season form in the 5,000metres as he shared the mid race pace with Scottish Cross Country Champion Mark Pollard but here it was Alastair’s pace and stamina that prevailed as he strode to a fine victory in 14min 31.65secs. Scott McDonald also showed good form in this race stopping the clock at 15min 15.28secs, while Emma Waterhouse lifted the Womens title with a strong run (17min 13.84secs) adding Gold to her 2,000metre Steeplechase (6min 59.53secs) Silver from the previous day, a prodigious weekend’s work.

Elsewhere in the Under 20/Senior category seventeen year old Jennifer Hutchison showed some progress in the 400metres with a strong run to record 59.12secs, returning on the Sunday to finish the 400metre hurdles in 67.58secs and Rico Keidel showed some true resolve as he finished his heat of the 800metres in 2min 13.50secs. Seventeen year old Sean Reilly had romped into the final of the 1500metres but found the mix of tactics and fast acceleration at Senior level just a little too hard to handle, having to settle for seventh in 4min 3.62secs on this occasion. Fiona Thompson also finished seventh from a large field in the 1500metres with 4min 38.17secs, a time that would have won the event the previous year. Elizabeth Normand is another to be congratulated as she spun the hammer out to 32.02metres. Ian McDonald contested the 400metres for the second time this Season with an improved run to record 53.30secs.

The Under 17 age group also had a golden lining with a fine win in the West District Long Jump by Kyle Henderson, with a best leap of some 6.10metres, a distance that would also have won Gold in the East competition. Andrew Butchart was another young athlete to show a positive attitude, finishing his 3,000metres in 9min 11.81secs to lift Silver in the East District race while Scott Green also underlined his distance running credentials to take Bronze with 9min 25.54secs.  Lorna Cameron and Rosie Hastings contested the East District Under 17 800metres Final with useful runs of 2min 26.44secs and 2min 30.9secs respectively.  Martyn Paterson put his sprinting skills to the test in the East District 200metres coming through to take Bronze with an excellent 24.99secs clocking.                .

Further medals were picked up by Central athletes in the Under 15 East series of events with TomWatson leading the way winning two Golds in a fine middle distance double, recording an excellent 2min 5.83secs for 800metres and following up later in the day with 4min 40.03secs in the 1500metres. Ross Milne was not far behind in the 800metres recording 2min 10.50secs on his way to lifting Silver while his younger brother Gordon showed a fine turn of finishing speed to record a significant personal best of 2min 23.77secs. Laura MacAulay lifted Shot Put Gold with a best of 8.79metres and will improve on this as the Season progresses.  Sophie Brown never quite got to terms with the cold conditions and slippery run-up in the High Jump and had to settle for Bronze with a 1.45metre clearance. Sophie went on to record 30.28secs in the 200metres. Louise Anderson powered through to the 100metres Final finishing the day with a best of 14.07secs. Sarah Dick also showed good speed to finish in 14.29secs while Amy Douglas must have been one of the unluckiest young athletes on the day, pulling a hamstring in the 100metres (15.85secs), preventing her appearance in her preferred 200metre event. Sarah Dick proved she had strength as well as speed in the 200metres finishing in 29.40secs in her heat to head Louise Anderson’s 29.63secs. Louise rounded off a busy day with a more than useful 4.36metre long jump.  Rachel Adamson and Julie Cook contested the 800metres final with Rachel finishing in 2min 32.2secs and Julie improving her personal best to 2min40secs. Sanju Sinwardena is proving a useful addition to the Club and here powered through to the 100metres final where he clocked 12.77secs in finishing sixth, a placing he repeated in the 200metres with a 26.91secs timing.  Roddy Irvine improved his personal best to 58.26secs in the 400metres but had to settle for fourth place behind the Bronze medal performance of Ross Milne (57.21secs).  Ross also won Silver in the Shot Put (9.04metres) again ahead of his younger brother Gordon who once again just missed out on a medal with fourth (7.99metres).

Top local performance in the Under 13 East District events was undoubtedly Kathryn Gillespie’s well judged and well executed win in the 800metres with an excellent run of 2min 29.08secs.  Emily Greenan also contested the final but couldn’t reproduce her earlier 2min 44.14secs run from her heat. Roisin Bonucchi lowered her personal best in her heat with 2min 48.4secs as did Lily Cairns-Haylor (2min 55.3secs). Indeed Lily went on to record 16.59secs in the 100metres and a 3.26metre Long Jump.  Eilidh Ironside also had a busy day with her 16.18secs 100metres being followed with a  5.26 metres Shot Put effort.  Philip Wright ran 2min 48.88secs for 800metres but looked more comfortable with his 100metres where he finished in a time of 15.56secs.

The Scottish Half Marathon Championship

Central athletes were once again to the fore in these championships, held in conjunction with the Dunfermline Half Marathon and also the third race in the Stewarts Scottish Road Race Grand Prix Series so double congratulations are due to Central’s Robert Russell (67min 36secs) and Alison Docherty (81min 44secs) for taking the Mens and Womens titles on this hilly course.  Ross Houston’s good Season extended for yet another week with Silver in 69min 29secs and with twelfth place falling to Lewis Millar (75min 53secs) Central also scooped the Team Gold medals, a very satisfactory outcome indeed.  David Linsay also performed well to finish fifteenth in 78.55 and Phil Sweeney also having a useful run to clock 83.23. Hazel Dean underlined her recent form with seventh place in the Womens race (87min 58secs).

Scottish Women’s League - Match 2

Central AC’s middle distance and endurance runners led the way at the Scottish Women’s League at Grangemouth in taking three of the four individual wins by the combined Forth Valley team in the second match of the Scottish Women’s Athletic League.

In the 800metres races Morag MacLarty continued to get back into racing in winning the senior race from the front in 2:09.04, with Kathryn Gillespie matching this in the under 13 race in 2:29.86s. In a cracking race by Emily Greenan, she won the B under 13 race in a new personal best of 2:37.66 making it the only event with maximum points for the Forth Valley. Emma Waterhouse dominated a lacklustre field in the 3000 metres with her solo run to 10.07.72 with Polly Harrison making her track debut with 3^rd in the B race in 11:25.07.

The under 13 trio of Caitlin Watson, Aimee Bilsland and Agatha Williams-Kelly ably shared the sprint duties for a day with slow times into the Grangemouth headwind with Caitlin taking 4^th in the 100m in 14.51 and Amie 6^th in 15.90s. In  the 200m, Aimee moved up into the A race to take 7^th in 29.31s and Agatha 3^rd in B with 32.27s. Caitlin advanced her personal best in the long jump to 4.30m gaining 3^rd place with Amie achieving 4^th in the B event with 4.57m. Agatha made a major advance in the hurdles by taking 4th in 13.02, with Caitlin taking 5^th in the B race. Agatha put the shot a useful 6.65m to take 5th place with Eilidh Ironside 4^th in the B with 5.32m.. The relay team of Caitlin, Agatha, Emily and Eilidh taking a spirited 4th place in the relay.

In the under 15 events, Louise Anderson  had a busy day with 5^th in B 100m with 14.41s, 2^nd in the long jump with 4.57m long jump and 7th in the shot in a new personal best of 6.99m.  Sarah Dick  took a 6^th place in 200m with 29.01s. Sophie Brown was disappointed with her high jump with 1.45cm clearance back 10cms from her season’s best but still achieved 4^th place, but took solace as she lifted  her discus personal best to 14.09m in coming fourth in the B event. Julie Cook made a strong run at the front of the B 800m before coming in 4^th in a new personal best of 2:37.53, whilst Rachel Adamson made her first foray this season over 1500m to take second place in 5:14.00.

In the under 17, Hannah Smith took advantage of new coaching arrangement to achieve two personal bests with two second places in shot and discus with 8.86m and 23.32m respectively. Katie-Mari King made another class long jump with 4.47m for third, with Rosie Hastings 2^nd in the B with 4.12m . In the sprints, Katie-Mairi worked hard to gain 5^th place in the 100m with 14.51s and Georgia Quinn running to 4^th place in the B 200m with 29.06s. Lorna Cameron put in another strong race to achieve 3rd place in 800m with 2:26.70s.

In the seniors, Jennifer Hutchison got the team off to a good start with 3^rd in 67.70s in first track event of 400m hurdles. Elizabeth Normand put in characteristic steady performances in the hammer and shot with third in both (27.82m and 7.72m) in B events, whilst Elle Harvey gained fourth place in the long jump with 4.50m and 6th place in the 100m with 13.92s. Rosie Hastings stepped up to senior to improve her personal best in the 1500m to 5:21.95s and Lorna Cameron did similarly when jumping to 9.59m in triple jump for 6^th place in the A event. Lorna joined Morag MacLarty as part of the final 4 x 400m relay with Morag posting the fastest split time, but Lorna more than justifying her selection as she had the third fastest lap time in the team came 5^th place.

Overall standing were Edinburgh AC 493.5, Tayside 419, Lothian 395, Team West 386, Forth Valley 345.5, Pitreavie 301, VP Glasgow 272, Aberdeen 255.

Scottish Mens League – 17 May 2008

The second Match of the 2008 Scottish Mens Track and Field League saw Central Athletic Club produce another superb performance with another second place finish in Division One. The Match was held in cold overcast conditions at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh on Saturday 17 May and saw the Club consolidate their overall second place in the League.

With Robert Russell and Alastair Hay on Scottish International duty at the Manchester 10K Road Race this was an opportunity for others to take centre stage, and all accepted the challenge and passed with flying colours.

The most successful event, on an afternoon littered with personal and season bests, was the 3,000metres Steeplechase.  Michael Wright showed his superb hurdling and endurance skills to take first place in a new best on 9min 54.92secs with the evergreen Alex Milne taking first ‘B’ placing in 11min 7.28secs.  Michael had earlier put his hurdling to the test in the 400metres hurdles to pick up good points with a 66.19secs timing, well backed up by Alex Hendry with 69.60secs.

Sean Reilly also showed good form to come home second in the 1500metres, finishing in a tasty 4min 1.42secs, while Robert Hutchison showed the ‘can do’ attitude that ran throughout the team to complete his first 1500metres for two years in a highly competent 4min 40.39secs. Scott McDonald put in a prodigious shift by firstly reducing his 800metres best to 1min 59.69secs for fourth ‘A’ place then coming through third in the 5000metres in 15min 25.06secs. Rico Keidel reduced his 800metre best by some four seconds to 2min 9.85secs with a characteristically committed run and although Alex Hendry started off a little too fast in his first track 5000metres, still came trough to an excellent first ‘B’ placing with 15min 47.32secs.

With a strong headwind it was never going to be a day for fast times but it was good to see Alastair Beaton again making the long journey from Inverness to come through for a fine third place in the 100metres (11.72secs).  Alasdair’s form dipped a bit in the 200metres but he still showed fine character to take fifth in 24.11secs. Cameron Smith made his debut for the Team with third ‘B’ placing in the 100metres with a 12.01secs clocking, while Shane Malone lost out in the last stride of the ‘B’ 200metres to take second with a superb 23.65secs run.  Jamie Hannah also proved to be a welcome addition and he showed good speed and endurance to come home fourth in the ‘A’ 400metres with an excellent 42.09secs. Ian McDonald again reduced his Season’s best to 53.13secs in finishing third in the ‘B’ 400metres.

Jamie Hannah showed his breadth of ability with an excellent second place in the Long Jump (5.78metres) and although slightly disappointed with his High Jump, best of 1.75metres, picked up more `useful points in fourth place. Kenny Pearson proved his worth with a 1.60metre High Jump clearance for third ‘B’ placing. Shane Malone continued with his high quality performances to win the Triple Jump with an improved 12.97metrs while Ron Todd again provided the back-up with a 10.02metre performance. Indeed Ron went on to underline his worth to the Club with fourth ‘A’ in the Hammer (32.27metres), and third ’B’ places in the Shot Put (8.93metres) and Discus (30.18metres). Gary Sweeney was another to make a long journey to support the Team, again covering all four throws with efforts of 11.35metres Shot Put; 32.62metres Javelin and improved throws of 31.40metres Discus and 30.02metres Hammer to contribute some 38 personal points to the Team’s total.

The relays held the attention of Central’s athletes and supporters with the quartet of Cameron Smith, Shane Malone, Gary Sweeney and Alasdair Beaton taking an excellent second place with 45.54secs for the 4x100metres. As at the first Match there were only four volunteers left at the end of the day for the 4x400metres so it was a tremendous effort from Ian McDonald, Sean Reilly, Jamie Hannah and Rico Keidel who pulled together to improve their timing to 42.15secs..

Scores at the end of the Match were Arbroath and District 340points; Central 301; Shettleston  280; Whitemoss 264, Pitreavie 252; Victoria Park/City of Glasgow 202; Ayr Seaforth 146 and Giffnock North 94. This translates to League Points after two Matches, with Match Points in brackets, of Arbroath and District 16 (700); Central 14 (597); Whitemoss 9 (484); Pitreavie 9 (479); Victoria Park/City of Glasgow 9 (476); Shettleston 9 (474); Ayr Seaforth 4 (328) and Giffnock North 2 (224).

Thanks are due to John Dickson, Tom McMenemy, Meg Sweeney and Joe Malone for carrying out Officiating duties throughout the day.

Development Race

The latest in the Forth Valley Development Races was held at Callendar Park, Falkirk on Sunday 18^th May over a one and a half mile Trail Course.  In good conditions it was Andrew Campbell who came home first with a welljudged effort to finish in 7min 45secs.  Roisin Bonucchi looked as though she might take the win but slightly misjudged her effort and had to settle for first Girl in 7min 50secs.  Daniel Stansfield also showed good judgement to finish in 8min 13secs while Stacey Hardman kept her concentration to finish in 8min 25secs. Tara Walls (8min 30secs) finished a couple of strides ahead of Lisa Hardman (8min 31secs) and there was a similar spacing between Isla Burns (9.15) and Jennifer Campbell (9.16) with all the youngsters finishing in fine style.  Derek Easton deservedly received a round of applause for his organisation of the event.

International Scene

Robert Russell, fresh from his previous week’s win in the Scottish Half Marathon Championships, proved to be the top Scot in the BUPA Great Manchester 10K, held on 18 May, finishing 23^rd in an International Field in a tasty 29min 43secs.  Alastair Hay was also competing for Scotland in Manchester, coming home with an excellent 30min 58secs clocking.   Meanwhile Alison Docherty was also in the mix with an International field in Glasgow’s Resolution Asset Management Women’s 10K, finishing fifteenth overall in a fine time of 36min 50secs.

Central and Southern Scotland League – Match 2

The Second ‘home’ match of the Central and Southern Scotland League at Grangemouth saw Central AC lift their team performances with some fine individual performances as the team put in a stronger team placing to take fifth place as they fought to keep their place in Division 1 of the league.

Highlights from the match started in the very first race when Agatha Williams-Kelly and Lily Cairns-Haylor coming second and first in under 13 A and B hurdles races in 13.3 and 13.5s respectively. In the 200m series, Caitlin Watson was the leading Central runner of the day coming in second  in her with 30.2s into the Grangemouth headwind.  Sarah Dick came home in 4^th in her 200m (29.0) for the under 15’s, as did Dee Henderson in the seniors in 28.5s with Georgia Quinn gaining 2^nd in her 200m B race in 29.0.

In the Master’s competition Elizabeth Normand stormed to a second place in the 200m, whilst Jane Waterhouse led the performances in the middle distance series with her 1500m win with 5:34.2. Rosie Hastings competed as a senior with Kayleigh McGurk making her competitive debut for the club  in 5:26.9 and 5:48.2 respectivley in the senior race. The battle of the Buchanan girls saw Shona taking the honours over Kirsty as they joined forces in combined under 15 1500m. Roanna Fraser ran another impressive 800m with 4^th place in 2:49.6 and Laura Clarke gave a good account of herself in second in the B race in 2:56.2 in her debut for the club in the under 13 series.

The under 11 age group gave impressive performances with Jennifer Downie and Ciara Harper 24.6 and 27.in their  150m. Isla Burns and Charlotte Tilley providing another quality 800m race both coming third in 2:55.7 and 3.12.1 in A and B races respectively. All four girls combined to put together a quality relay race gaining third place.

In the field events, Elizabeth Normand took second with 8.00m , with Dee Henderson matching this placing in the B event with 6.57m. In the under 15’s Laura Macaulay gained a big personal best when coming third in the javelin with 24.82m with Katie Adam making it another PB as she won the B event with 12.49m. In the under 13 girls, Agatha William-Kelly took second with a new personal best in the shot and won the discus with her first ever competition with 16.12m, as she made it to top points scorer for the Central team on the day. Lorna Cameron won her triple jump with another best ever of 9.92m to add to her second place from the 1500m earlier in the day. Sophie Brown looked good to take third in the under 15 high jump in 1.45m where Niamh Callan won the B event with 1.35m.

Some fierce relay running was a feature of the day with Central girls posting 3^rd for under 11, under 13 and seniors with 5^th in a tough under 15 race. All helped the girls to 3^rd place in the female competition with an empty under 17 age group providing a point of weakness in a strong overall performance.

In the boys/men team, from the outset, there was much to cheer, where Ross Milne to third in hurdles in 14.9s, with brother Gordon 4^th in B with 18.3s.in the under 15 hurdles. Andrew McNally took on the under 13’s in 200m and 1500m, taking 5^th place in a highly competitive metric mile race with his 5:17.7. The under 11 age group took on the 800m where Jack Kerr made it 5^th place with 2:57.6 and Scott Fleming 3^rd in the B race with 3:11.6. Scott Green was third in under 17 1500m with 4:24.0 and David Hutchison third in B race with 5:02.7, followed by showing his javelin throwing is still more than capable with 5^th with 21.88m. Sanju Siriwardena continued to impress with a fine 200m in 26.7s for 5^th place in the under 15s.

In Masters, Alex Milne held off Robert Hutchison as they gained 5^th (4:38.2) and 2^nd (4:41.6) respectively, with Rico Keidel and Graham Harvey made their impression in the senior race with 4:37.0 and 4:53.5. In the field Roddy Irvine was 4^th with 4.29m and Neil Cameron 2^nd in B with 4.08m in the under 15 long jump whilst the Milne brothers made it 3^rd and second in the shot with 9.64m and 7.91m respectively . The under 15 relay team made it fifth with 55.0s.

Overall points were    Kilbarchan 626, Whitemoss 522, Ayr 507, Giffnock North 498, Central 386, Law 376, Shettleston 365 and East Kilbride 308.