McAndrew Relays and Baxter’s 10k – 4 and 5 October 2008

A contingent of fourteen Central Athletic Club athletes competed in the McAndrew Road Relay event held at Jordanhill, Glasgow on Saturday 4^th October.  The race is held over a four lap course of 3.25 mile laps and Central’s first team of Michael Wright (17min 10secs); Alex Hendry (16.53); Lewis Millar (16.45) and Alastair Hay (15.49) completed the course in 66min 37secs.  The team were lying in fifth place at the start of the final leg however the superb effort by Alastair Hay, running the second fastest leg of the day, pulled the team up to finish in an excellent third place, only nine seconds behind second place Inverclyde.  Alex Hendry also underlined his promise with the second fastest leg by a Junior athlete.

Central’s ‘B’ team of Jonathon Tolson (18.44); David Lindsay (17.29); Murray MacLarty (17.41); and Miguel Merayo (19.07) proved the Club’s strength in depth with an eighth place finish, while the ‘C’ team of Liam McCabe (20.03); David Hay (22.14); Robert Hutchison (19.29) and Phil Hendry (21.10) completed the course in a highly acceptable 29^th position.  John Millar (23.07) and Sandy MacLarty (24.17) both ran with their normal enthusiasm but had no one to complete their ‘D’ team effort.

The spotlight on Sunday moved on to Inverness where the Baxter’ River Ness 10K comprised the penultimate round of the Stewarts Road Race Grand Prix.  Ross Houston completed the race in the fine time of 31min 20secs, having to settle for fourth place on this occasion.  Alison Docherty had another excellent run to finish third in 36.15, finishing 23^rd overall in the race while Alex Milne continues to roll back the years as he finished 40^th in 37min 28secs.

Golden Double for Central at East District Cross Country Relays - 11 October

Central AC lived up to their billing as hot favourites at the East District Cross Country Relay Championships at Prestonpans. Winning the two senior titles and gaining bronze medals in both the junior team titles, came close to last years perfection as the Central squads yet again dominated this traditional opener of the winter season.

It was ‘business as usual’ for Central’s Mens Teams in the East Cross Country Relay Championships as the first two teams totally dominated the race.  The first Team of Scott McDonald (12.56), Robert Russell (12.47), Ross Houston (13.16) and Alastair Hay (12.50) led from start to finish as the successively pulled away from the rest of the field.  Robert’s run proved to be the fastest of the day while Scott and Alastair recorded two of the four fastest runs over the 4 kilometre course.  Central’s Silver medals were picked up from the superb efforts of Sean Reilly (13.09), Michael Wright (13.28), Alasdair Anthony (13.17) and Lewis Millar (13.24), some 51 seconds ahead of the third placed Corstorphine Team.  Indeed, if not for a slip and a fall by Sean on a tight bend near the finish of the first leg the margin would have been even more impressive

Central’s ‘C’ team also proved to be a handy outfit with Robert Wiseman (14.04), David Lindsay (14.08), Kyle Cowie (14.10) and Murray MacLarty (14.05) showing commitment and a consistency of performance that brought the team home in overall ninth place.  The ‘D’ team of Will Hensman (14.54), David Eiser (29.38), Graham Harvey (15.22) and Miguel Merayo (15.30) finished 19^th but were given a stout challenge from the ‘F’ team of Alex Milne (15.21), David Armour (14.24), Steve Laing (15.30) and Liam McCabe (15.43) who finished just one place and thirty seconds behind.  The ‘E’ team of Ian McDonald (16.18), Hugh Buchanan (16.53), Martin Devine (18.18) and Philip Hendry (16.38) completed their stint in 36^th place while the ‘G’ team of John Millar (18.37), Alan Gall (18.46), Jim Drummond (20.42) and David Hay (17.54) rounded off Central’s efforts in a very acceptable 44^th placing. 

The winning Ladies team were led off by Fiona Thompson who took on the pace from the start with her 15:21s timing, confirming her fine form fresh from a high placed run in the Great North Run in a massive new personal best of 1:22.51. Fiona passed on a 27 second lead to Emma Waterhouse who strode off to put Central further ahead in the fastest lap of the day (15:05). As in the men's race, Edinburgh-based Hunters Bog Trotters were the only team to come close and Alison Docherty on the last leg had a full minute lead to defend and pulled further away as she recorded her time of 15:30 and a final time of 45:56s, making it a sixth successive year of wins for Central Ladies teams.

In the B team, Jane Waterhouse completed the first leg in seventh place (17:08s), passing on to daughter Claire Houston who brought the team up to 5^th with her 16:34s, with Jennifer Emsley bringing the team home seconds in 6^th place, close behind Edinburgh’s A team with her 16:59s last leg and a composite time of 50:41s

The C team were lead off by newcomer Alayne Finlay who just pipped the Central B team to make the first changeover in sixth place in an identical time of 17:08s, with Fiona Kelsall (10^th in 17:58) and Katie Whitehouse (17:59s) to finish in 11^th place with 53:05s well up in a field of twenty five teams.

In the junior girls, Central’s A team was led off by Kathryn Gillespie  on the under 13 leg, with strong front running putting Central in the lead with a 10:36 time that turned out to be the fourth fastest time of the day across the age groups. Rachel Adamson ran well to hold the lead for the under 15 leg with her 10:45s to the changeover to Rosie Hastings for the under 17’s and she had the daunting task of holding off Emily Stewart from Dundee who put in the fastest lap of the day, but Rosie ran resolutely under the pressure to hold onto bronze medal place, as her 11:17s brought team home in 32:38.  There was further great running by Central’s other three girl teams, with many running in a higher age-group. Results; Emily Greenan (12:13s, 19^th), Julie Cook (11:56s, 18^th)and  Catriona Buchanan (11:18s) and 13^th team at the finish; Roisin Bonucchi (11:16s, 6^th),  Stacey Hardman (12:34s, 15^th)  Shona Buchanan (12:23) to finish in 36:13 for 16^th placing; Tara Walls (12.26, 22nd), Farren Parkins (12:34s, 26^th) and  Imogen Burnell (11:48s) to finish in 36:48; Laura Clarke (12:45s, 28^th) Roanna Fraser (12:39s, 29^th) Amy Hendry (12:25s,) in 37:49s finishing 26^th team, with Lisa Hardman producing a well deserved high placing on a solo under 13 leg (12:26s,  23^rd).

The Young Males 3 x 2,500metres Race saw five teams from Central Athletic Club, with all fifteen of the youngsters stepping up to take the challenge.  Under 13 debutant, Nathan Betton was handed the toughest test running the first leg for the ‘A’ team and it was good to see Nathan coming round in eleventh place (11min 5secs) to give his older colleagues a fighting chance of lifting a set of medals.  Tom Watson is Scottish Under 15 Champion over 800metres and Tom used his speed and stamina to great effect as he pulled the Team up to fifth place with the fastest Under 15 performance of the day (9min 23secs).  Andrew Butchart proved how much progress he has made with a mature and controlled run on the Under 17, final leg, as he hauled the Team into a deserved Bronze medal position with his 9min 1sec leg, the third fastest run on the day.

Philip Wright also showed good form as he brought Central’s ‘B’ team round in fifteenth place on the Under 13 leg (11.35).  Ross Milne picked up the Under 15 challenge to excellent effect as he brought this team up to eighth place, recording the second fastest leg by an Under 15 (9.27).  Chris Clarke also showed his fighting qualities as he finished off the team effort with a 9min 56secs run for an overall ninth placing.  Central’s ‘C’ team consisted of Under 13 Domenico Angiolini (12.11); Under 15 Roddy Irvine (10.34) and Under 17 David Hutchison (9.57) finish in fifteenth overall a great effort by these three young men.  Central’s fourth team of Malcolm English (13.40); Logan Bonar (10.36) and David MacKinlay (10.49) finished 24^th overall closely followed in 25^th by a team of Michael McCabe (12.31); Sam Fraser (11.12) and Sandy MacLarty (11.51) with all the Boys deserving the highest praise for their effort and commitment.

The British and Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships, held on the Pentland Hills on Sunday 12 October, proved a happy hunting ground for Central’s young athletes.  Scott McDonald showed that Saturday’s effort didn’t affect his form as he led Scotland to both Individual and Team titles with a time of 29min 18sec for the 6.8 kilometre course including 470 metres of climb.  Alex Hendry ended up with an individual Bronze medal in this Under 19 race with an excellent 29.57 run.  Scott Green also led Scotland to a hard won victory in the Under 16 Boys race held over a 5.8 kilometre course with 340metres of climbing, coming through the field on the final lap to take a superb Individual Bronze medal with a 24min 50sec clocking.  Scotland lifted the overall Team Trophy, the City of Edinburgh Cup with 11points, four points ahead of England.

National Cross Country Relays and Sunday local league. - 25 October

It was another remarkable double for Central AC as their men and women’s team took the National Cross Country Relay Championships for the second year in succession at a storm-battered Cumbernauld course.  The Central men’s team won a tightly fought battle against the controversial Shettleston Harriers team, with the ladies dominating the race from gun to tape with a comfortable victory by well over two minutes. A further highlight was the silver medal winning exploits of the junior girl’s team.

The contest of the day was set up by pre-race publicity to be Central’s defence of their Men’s title with Shettleston Harriers’ Eritreans, Kilbarchan’s young guns as well as strong teams from Inverclyde and Ron Hill Cambuslang all fancying their chances over the 4 times 4,000metre race.  With Shettleston as strong favourites the stage was set for an intriguing race even before the heavy underfoot conditions, gale force winds and incessant rain were added to the mix.  Scott McDonald was charged with first leg duties and, showing maturity well beyond his years, brought his team round in fourth (14mins 28secs) behind Inverclyde’s Chris MacKay’s fastest leg of the day (14.02), Shettleston’s Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab (14.08) and Shettleston’s ‘B’ team runner Tsegai Tewelde (14.25).  Ross Houston (14.53) continued the challenge on the second leg as he sped past Shettleston’s ‘B’ team and Inverclyde and chased down Shettleston’s Tsegezab Woldemichael to complete the defining leg of the day, closing to within two seconds of the lead with Kilbarchan’s Derek Hawkins finishing the leg a further two seconds back.

The third leg saw Robert Russell (14.30) pushing past Shettleston’s Paul Sorrie early in the stage and continue to carve out a seven second lead by the end of the leg with Kilbarchan a further 38secs down so the destination of the Gold and Silver medals came down to a head-to-head between Alastair Hay and Shettleston’s Amanuel Hagus.  With the knowledge that all the Eritreans had arrived in Scotland to compete for their country with world-class credentials in the World Cross Country Championships in March, Alastair knew he would have his work cut-out to hold a lead to the finish.  Amanuel showed his class by closing the gap to four seconds by the halfway point and it looked as though the race was going down to the wire.  Alastair had other ideas as he called on all his reserves of strength and experience over the latter half of the race and ensured there would be no need to call on his sprint finish as he pulled his lead out to some 17secs by the finish with the second fastest leg of the day (14.04).  Shettleston came home second with Kilbarchan picking up the Bronze medals a further 60seconds behind.

Central’s ‘B’ team also showed great resolve in the conditions with Sean Reilly (15.01) bringing the team round for twelfth at the end of the first leg.  Lewis Millar (15.28) survived a heavy fall in the mud to pick-up four places on the second leg while Alex Hendry had a storming run (14.59) to bring his team up to fourth at the end of the third leg.  Michael Wright finished off the ‘B’ team challenge with a 16min 10secs run with the team finishing in a superb sixth place.

It was Robert Wiseman (15.38) who kick started the ‘C’ team’s challenge, coming home in an superb 20^th position.  Miguel Merayo’s leg of (17.55) saw the team slip to 33^rd but legs of 17.10 by Will Hensman and 16.19 by Murray MacLarty brought the team through, first to 28^th then finishing 22^nd overall.

Central’s Veteran Team (‘E’ team) of Alex Milne (17.04/43^rd), David Armour (17.16/36^th), Ewan Jack (17.25/34^th) and Robert Hutchison (18.32) finished thirty sixth overall and seventh Veteran Team.  The ‘D’ Team of Ian McDonald (18.18), Hugh Buchanan (19.00), Liam McCabe (18.42) and Alan Hume (19.14) finished 62^nd, while the ‘F’ Team of David Hay (21.13), Alan Gall (21.15), John Millar (21.55) and John Dickson (25.09) came home in 88^th and it was Philip Hendry (18.12) and Jim Drummond (24.24) who rounded off Central’s effort in an incomplete team.

The senior ladies team hardly got a mention in the pre-race publicity, but with the addition to the winning east district relay team of Morag MacLarty, the team were always going to be contenders. Starting the rejuvenated Morag off on the first leg  proved to set the scene for the whole race as she lead from the gun and established a 70 second lead over the field of 49 teams, with a 15.52 run that turned out to be by far the fastest leg of the whole race. Fiona Thompson took over, with another fiercely determined run, to put the Central trio further ahead with by now a 1m.42s lead with a personal time of 17.13. Emma Waterhouse had a final leg with 17.25, pushing the lead even further to increase to a 2m27s margin over Kilbarchan’s Kerry Lang, exactly the same position as last year, when the international tri-athlete had threatened to spoil the Central party. Central’s winning time of 50.30 was some two minutes slower than their winning time in last year’s better conditions.

The second team was led off by Alison Docherty with a great 17.24s first leg for fifth place at the changeover, with Jennifer Emsley ( 10^th, 18.52s) and Sarah Wiseman (12^th, 19.33) to finish in 12^th overall with 55.49s. The third Central team home were the Master’s ladies team who took a medal in the Masters competition for the fourth successive year, taking a third place in that competition, and 20th team overall. Jane Waterhouse led off with 19.59s for fourth place (31st place overall), Fiona Kelsall  moved them up into third in the Masters stakes (24^th, 20.15),with Hazel Dean further advancing through the field to consolidate thirds masters and  20^th overall with a 18.27 timing for 58.41s overall. The fourth Central team home was led off by Stephanie Loach (40^th, 20.38s), passing on to Kayleigh McGurk (32^nd, 21.08s) and Gill Brett (38^th, 23.32) with an overall time of 65.18.

The junior girls relay race was a thrilling affair for the Central supporters run over 3 legs of 2,500 metres, and girls and boys teams from all clubs demonstrated great character and determination on a course which is hard in good conditions, but in Saturday’s weather was absolutely brutal.   Kathryn Gillespie led off for Central and it is a measure of Kathryn’s ability that no-one was surprised that the youngest of the Gillespie running dynasty came home on the first under 13 leg in first place (11.23s) with a 21second  lead over Edinburgh and Dundee. Rachel Adamson took over on the under 15 leg, putting on a top class performance, holding the lead at 19s with her 11.15s being the second fastest under 15 leg of the day. Rosie Hastings was another who rose to the occasion on the under 17 leg  where yet again faced with the daunting task of holding off girls with faster times on paper. Dundee repeated the story of two week’s earlier at the east district championships by flowing past Rosie to take the win. But Rosie bravely defended her second place from fast catching Giffnock North and Edinburgh till the finishing phase and then came up trumps with a sprint for the line that turned what looked like a set of hard-worked bronze medals back to superb silver as she re-took Giffnock’s runner with a personal time of 12.00 and an overall team time of 34.38s

Centrals other girls teams battled  through the mud against some 59 teams Central’s teams were Emily Greenan  28^th/12.58s, Imogen Burnell 26^th/12.44, Catriona Buchanan  22^nd/12.07s to finish with 37.49s; Lisa Hardman  49^th/13.38s, Kirsty Buchanan  31^st /12.33s, Julie Cook  37^th/13.16s to finish with 39.27s; Tara Walls  36^th/13.18s,  Stacey Hardman 38^th/13.21s, Shona Buchanan 13.19/38^th in a total time of 39.58s. Farren Parkins 45^th /13.38s Molly Tweedle 42^nd/13.08s, Amy Hendry 42^nd/13.46s, total time of 40.32. Roanna Fraser 54^th/14.05s, Cairy McNeil 58^th/14.39s, Heather Smillie 56^th/15.53s, total time of 44.37s.

The Young Male athlete’s race over was also held on the same course as the girls and it was Under 13 Scottish Pentathlon Champion Alexander Semple who was introduced to cross-country with a place in Central’s ‘A’ team and Alex had to show all his resilience as he came round in 33^rd place in 11min 52secs.  Tom Watson, on the contrary, has loads of cross-country experience and here picked up a fantastic 23 places on the Under 15 leg (10.06) and it was left to the up and coming Scott Green to face up to the Under 17 Challenge and bring the Team through to eighth overall in 9min 53secs.  The ‘B’ team of Nathan Betton (39^th/12.06), Ross Milne (10.36), picking up 20 places, and Chris Clarke (10.49) brought the team home in 22^nd place.  The ‘C’ team of Philip Wright (59^th/13.21), Roddy Irvine (54^th/11.44) and David Hutchison (48^th/10.46) all ran strongly while the ‘D’ team of Michael McCabe (71^st/14.47), Logan Bonar (63^rd/11.45) and David MacKinlay (11.59) finished well in 6ist place.  It was left to Joe Little (57^th/13.09), Sam Fraser (58^th/12.50) and Sandy MacLarty (63^rd/13.23) to complete Central’s effort.

Junior Cross Country Series – 26 October

The now well-established Central Athletic Club Junior Cross Country Series started on Sunday 26^th October at Stirling University with an excellent turnout of 18 athletes who were welcomed by squally showers and a one and a half mile race around the University Loch.  It was Under 15’s Sam Fraser (9min 36secs) and Kirsty Buchanan (9.41) who proved to be the top athletes on the day while the main contest was among the Under 11 athletes where Jack Kerr (10.06) caught the eye as he finished in overall third place and first Under 11 home.  Scott Fleming (19.26) continues to impress and there were further committed runs from the remaining Under 11’s Lewis Strachan (10.44), Rory Strachan (11.31), Jack Bauchop (11.56) and Liam McGregor (13.14) all making their debut.  There were good runs from the Under 11 Girls with Abbie Watson coming home first in 11min 10secs, closely followed by Bevan Trevis (11.33), Charlotte Tilley (11.34), Jennifer Downie (12.02) and Helen Mitchell (12.36).  Michael McCabe (10.26) ran well to take the Under 13 Boys honours, as did Farren Parkins (10.18) in the Under 13 Girls category with Eilidh MacCorquodale (11.47) and Amy Bilsland (12.46) taking the minor positions in this age group.  Jenna Cramb (12.46) was another newcomer to the Series finishing as second Under 15 Girl.  There were smiles from all the youngsters at the end and this should add to the pool of talent available for future League events.