September 2005

Tayside Pentathlon, 4th September 2005, Caird Park, Dundee

There were some encouraging performances from Central AC athletes at the Tayside Pentathlon championships held in Dundee on Sunday.

Ellen Houston, Jemma Stevens, Amber Stevens and Rebecca Chroston were all competing in their first ever pentathlon and were rewarded with some personal bests.  Under 13 athlete, Rebecca Chroston produced an excellent 70m hurdles display (12.4s) to take her to fourth on the Scottish rankings for the year in this event.  With a personal best 7.51m shot put and respectable performances in the long jump, high jump and 800m she finished 4th overall in 1832 pts.

Ellen, Jemma and Amber all competed in the under 15 girls event. Jemma opened with a personal best 4.06m Long Jump followed by Ellen (3.98m) and Amber (3.84m). In the 75 hurdles race both Ellen (14.1s) and Jemma (14.6s) produced new personal bests. They then followed this with respectable shot put performances followed by an excellent High Jump which saw all 3 athletes set new personal bests. Amber lead the way with a jump of 1.39m followed by Jemma (1.36m) and Ellen (1.33m). 

In the final event, the 800m, Ellen produced a strong run in 2:48.3 mins but just missed out on the medals with 4th place overall with 1939pts. Amber completed her first ever 800m race in 2:55.6 mins to finish with 1780 pts.

All 4 athletes enjoyed the competition and have learned much from this event.

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Club Championships 17 September 2005 and Wallace 700 City of Stirling 10k and Fun Run – 18 September 2005

It was a busy weekend for Central Athletics Club with the Club Championships on Saturday 17 November at Grangemouth Stadium and the Wallace 700 City of Stirling 10K on Sunday 18 September. The Club Championships were held jointly with athletes from Falkirk Victoria Harriers and Kirkintilloch Olympians and produced some fine performances and a good standard of competition throughout the age groups.

There was a superb turnout of Under 11 Girls which saw an assured 800metre run from young Kathryn Gillespie, winning the race in a superb 2min 49secs. The 800metre series also saw good performances from Abby Housego, Agatha William-Kelly, Paula Whyte and Megan Stewart. The competition also saw some fine sprinting from Mary Gathergood, Ellie Marr and Romy Berits. It was also good to see Aimee Bilsland, Kirsty Mitchell, Beth Robertson, Megan Stewart, Hannah Marshall, Sophie Brown and Lucy Gee all competing with style.  The Under 11 Boys competition also saw some excellent sprint performances and tight finishes from Matthew Mills and Neil Cameron.  Conor Kerr produced another superb front running 800metres victory and there were useful performances at this distance from Alexander Couborough and Gordon Milne. David Russell was the class act in the shot put in this age group.

Stephanie O’Neil’s hurdling, sprinting and long jumping were top features in the Under 13 Girls competition. Lorna Cameron is making her way back to full fitness and looked good in her favoured 800metre event. Joanne Cubitt competed well in her events, as did Jennifer Kean. There were more than useful performances from Fiona Cameron and Georgia Quinn while Katie Campbell, Rosie Hastings, Megan Jardine, Stephanie Holman, Leila McLaren, Megan McNab and Danielle McGrath are all making useful progress across a range of events.  The Club also has a number of excellent Under 13 Boys and David Hutchison and Ross Milne added to their points in middle distance events with good javelin performances. Chris Clarke looked assured across his events while Martyn Paterson’s sprinting and long jumping is of the highest quality.  Roddy Irvine is another who shows talent across a range of events and David Scott continues to look good as a high quality sprinter.  There is little to split twins Calum and Robbie Gathergood with close finishes in all events and Jack Dawson looked good with fine times in his sprints.

Jennifer Hutchison experimented with the 300metres hurdles and was rewarded with an excellent 49.1secs performance.  Ellen Houston used her multi event background to good effect while Rachel Hunter moved on with strong sprinting and a fine 800metre run.  Ashley Smith’s sprinting continues to impress while Amber and Jemma Stevens showed good form over a variety of events. Gemma Milne is another continuing to make progress while Becky Hay, Kate Morris and Catriona Buchanan all produced excellent middle distance runs and both Lisa Garrow and Lily Eadie produced some improved sprinting.  It was good to see Kirsten Phillips and Hannah Gilbert taking part and trying out some new events. Ryan Stewart’s throwing was pitted against Sean Reilly’s middle distance ability, both athletes having produced performances that will rank amongst the best in Scotland this year and again there were top class throws and runs from these two athletes.  Ewan Hamilton and Isaac Sanchez-Cruz have been useful additions to the Club this year with both showing strong sprinting performances.

Tammy Breingan has stood alone as the Club’s only female representative at many of the Club’s League matches this year and so it was again at the Club Championships with Tammy looking good in her sprinting, jumping and throwing. In the Under 17 Mens events Scott McDonald showed some good running, especially in the 800metres (2.11.9) while Graham Harvey is another to be making useful progress.  David Devlin is doing well across a variety of running and jumping events and David Keye looked good in both his 200 and 800metre runs.

Under 20 athlete Stuart Mooney has been competing well for the Mens League Team over the past two Seasons and again produced some useful sprinting and excellent long jumping (5.29metres), triple jumping (11.69metres) and high Jumping (1.65metres).

Ian McDonald produced some classy sprinting with victories in the 100 and 200metres in 11.4secs and 23.5secs respectively.  Martin Crawford was just a little off his best but still produced a useful 800metres (2.05.1) and Gordon McNeil did well in his 200/600/Javelin and Discus combination.  Some young looking Veterans contested the Masters events with Frank Houston producing a 100metres (12.5secs), Triple Jump (9.83metres), High Jump (1.60metres) combination against Robert Hutchison’s middle distance running backed up with triple jumping and Javelin.

Click here for full results.

Thanks are due to the many Officials, parents and friends who once again helped to make the day a great success for the Club.

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The Club also organised the Wallace 700 City of Stirling 10K and 2K Fun Run on Sunday 18 September and it was the quality of organisation that shone through with Race Director Cameron Campbell once again leading the Club’s volunteers to produce two excellent events.

The main sponsors of the 10K were Stirling Chartered Accountants Campbell Dallas and NHS Forth Valley.  Ian Williams of Campbell Dallas was on hand to present some of the prizes while four members of the Campbell Dallas staff completed the 10K run. It was also good to see NHS Forth Valley’s Health Promotion Manager Lucy Denvir completing the race and staying on to assist with presentations.  Other sponsors of the event also reflected local support with Stirling Wood Centre providing the young athletes prizes. Once again the Club is indebted to Stirling Council and Stirling Sports Council for their superb support and were pleased to welcome Provost Colin O’Brian to the event.  As always it was Alison Houston's results team that came under pressure but quickly produced the results. There was superb back-up from the local Army Cadets, St Andrews Ambulance and Central Scotland Police and Race Officials Hamish Fleming, Tom McMenemy, Joe Bruce, Shona Malcolm and Bob Gray all brought their professionalism to bear.

While again the focus of attention was on the prize winners this event continues to be a winner for the Stirling Community with all categories benefiting from the fitness involved in training and competing.

The Fun Run gave a number of Central’s young athletes the opportunity to show their talent.  Sean Reilly was the pick of the day, winning the race overall and lifting the Under 15 prize covering the 2 kilometre course in an impressive 6mins 30secs; while Lorna Cameron (7.21) repeated last year’s win in the Girls race and lift the  Under 13 Girls first prize. Other top performances from Central AC included Alan Bennie, second overall in 6.55, David Hutchison (first Under 13 Boy in 7.04) closely followed by Roddy Irvine, also in 7.04. Conor Kerr was another to underline his reputation with a 7.07 clocking while Ross Milne (7.08), Alex Couborough (7.09) and Neil Cameron (7.55) all had classy runs. Becky Hay won the Under 15 Girls race in 7.23, closely followed by Kate Morris in 7.25.  Other girls with high placings included Fiona Cameron (7.26), Anna Jamieson (7.51), Claire Tunally (7.55), Georgia Quinn (7.55) and Gemma Milne (7.56). Jack Kerr deserves special mention for a good run Under 10 race to finish in 9.00.

The actual Wallace 700 City of Stirling 10K race saw Central’s Scottish Cross Country Champion Robert Russell break the course record while winning in 30mins 56secs.  Alastair Hay came home second in 31.39 to take the Under 21 prize and Ewan Gault showed a return to form with fourth in 33.34. Michael Wright finished as third Under21 in 35.01 while Kevin Dawson took the honours in the Veteran Mens category in 34.32. Alan Hume (8th in 34.29) and Phil Williams (10th in 34.56) showed the Club’s strength in depth.  Jennifer Emsley was the Club’s top female athlete taking the Under 21 prize in 40.05.

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