The 4J Scottish Indoor Combined Events Championships for all age groups took place at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow over the weekend of 28-29 January.
Under-13 Girls
Central Athletic Club had 4 girls in the Under-13 age group, none of which had ever entered a combined event competition before.
The first event for the girls was the High Jump and with the girls going through their routines marking out their run-ups it was clear there were more nerves in the stands from parents watching then in the field! Rachel led the way for Central girls: having set a new personal best two weeks earlier at the SAIL match of 1.35m, she had five first time clearances before she needed a second attempt to clear 1.34m. She bettered that with a 1.37m clearance for a new personal best to end the first round in joint second. Tessa had never competed in High Jump before but cleared her opening heights with ease and finished on 1.22m for joint sixth overall. Emily had also never competed in High Jump before and had a nervous start failing the first two attempts at the opening height of 1.01m before composing herself for her final attempt which she cleared – she then continued to clear heights all the way up to and including 1.13m to finish the first event in 12th place. Olivia, the youngest of our athletes, had competed in High Jump before in August 2022 at the Forth Valley League where she cleared 90cm – so the opening height of 1.01m already represented an 11cm improvement which she managed at her second attempt followed by two first time clearances to finish with a new personal best of 1.07m and end the first round in 16th place.
The second event was the 60 Metres Hurdles and only Rachel had had previous competitive experience at this event. Emily and Olivia were in race one which Olivia finished in third with 13.08s and Emily fifth with 14.29s. Race 2 included Tessa who ran well to finish third with 12.05s. Race 3 included Rachel and despite the distraction of the athlete beside her falling and tripping another athlete Rachel kept going to finish in third with 11.42s.
The next event was the Long Jump. Emily started off with a no-jump but came back to jump 3.12m for a new personal best with her third jump. Tessa smashed her personal best with her first jump of 3.20m and this turned out to be her best of the day. Olivia also started with a no-jump before jumping 3.22m with her second jump. Rachel had a previous personal best of 3.44m and edged towards this with her first two jumps before beating it with her third attempt to finish with 3.63m.
The fourth event was the Shot Put and despite tiredness starting to set in the girls all did well. This was Olivia’s first attempt at the heavier 2.72kg weight having only ever thrown 2kg before where she had a personal best of 3.82m – so to finish with 3.93m with the heavier weight was an amazing effort. Emily had only recently set a personal best in this event of 4.22m but the sheer amazement on her face when she threw 4.59m with her third attempt was a joy to behold! Tessa was throwing for the first time in competition and had three throws over 4m including a final throw 4.91m. Like Tessa, Rachel was throwing for the first time and also managed two throws over 4m and a best throw of 5.12m.
The final event was the 800 Metres. Olivia and Emily were in the first race, both just missing out on personal bests with Emily in sixth and Olivia in eighth which is excellent running at the end of a busy day. Olivia finished on a points total of 969 points and Emily 1,038 points. This left Tessa and Rachel in the last race of the day. Tessa finished the race in fifth position and Rachel in seventh which resulted in Tessa finishing the competition in eighth position with 1,377 points and Rachel in fourth position with 1,672 points. An amazing effort by all of the athletes in their first attempt at a Pentathlon!
Under-13 Boys
Only Alfie Laing from Central was competing in the Under-13 Boys Pentathlon and it was going to be a big step up from the previous week’s endeavours at the Under-12 SUPERteams event. There was a reduced field of just three athletes so it was good to see that Alfie kept fighting for personal best performances rather than just sitting back knowing he was guaranteed a medal. The first event saw him take on the Shot Put – having set a personal best with the 3kg shot earlier in the month it was great to see him beat that with his first attempt and finish with 4.49m. Second up was the 60 Metres Hurdles which was Alfie’s first competitive attempt at them and he finished in a creditable 12.75s. Next up was the High Jump and he had four excellent first time clearances taking him to 1.13m. 1.16m would have represented a new personal best for him and he was not far away with his second attempt but it was just out of reach on this occasion. The fourth event was Long Jump and with a previous personal best of 3.65m it was great to see Alfie jump 3.87m with his first attempt. He managed another two jumps over 3.80m with his best being 3.89m. The final event was the 800 Metres and Alfie went into this with a personal best of 3:01.30 so at the end of a busy day it was an amazing effort for him to finish the race in second with a time of 2:49.84 finishing off with a bronze medal on 767 points.
Under-15 Girls, Under-17 Girls, Under-20 Women
Central had 4 athletes in the Under-15 Girls Pentathlon: Alexandra Montgomery, Dara Clark, Hazel Prince and Emily Stanford. The first event was the High Jump where Alexandra set a new personal best 1.20m. Emily managed to clear 1.23m in her first ever High Jump and Hazel, also competing for the first time, cleared all the way up to 1.35m. For Dara this is her best event and she confidently cleared up to 1.41m but then had a wobble at 1.44m where she needed all 3 attempts to go clear. However with her confidence restored she then cleared a new personal best 1.47m at the second attempt to put her in second place overall.
The 60 Metres Hurdles came next and it was Emily’s turn to try a new event in the first heat where she finished 3rd in 11.64s. Heat 2 saw Dara set a personal best 11.11s and Alex come close to a personal best with 12.49s. In heat 3 Hazel just missed her personal best placing third in 11.28s. In the Long Jump Dara jumped 4.43m, Emily 3.87m, Hazel a personal best 3.58m and Alex 3.31m. In the Shot Put Dara threw 7.10m in the first round to smash her personal best by a metre. Emily also set a personal best 6.17m while Alex threw 6m and Hazel in her first ever Shot Put competition threw 5.23m. The final 800 Metres event saw Alex, Emily and Hazel go in the first heat. Emily ran away to win the heat in 2 minutes 32.03 seconds, the second fastest time overall. Hazel finished fifth in a personal best 2:51.89 just ahead of Alex in sixth who also ran a personal best 2:52.95. Dara ran in the final heat for the leading athletes and finished in 2:58.32. Overall Dara took eighth place with a personal best score of 2,240 points. Emily was 13th in her first ever Pentathlon scoring 2,005 points. Hazel, also in her first Pentathlon was 17th with 1,834 points and Alex was 21st with 1,497 points.
Loren Stewart and Connie Bateman took part in the Under-17 Girls Pentathlon. Loren set a personal best in the 60 Metres Hurdles of 11.07s, was close to a personal best in the Shot Put with 8.66m and jumped 4.87m in the Long Jump before having to withdraw. Connie set season’s bests in 60 Metres Hurdles (11.85s), Long Jump (4.48m) and Shot Put (7.69m) before also having to withdraw.
Ellen Montgomery was our sole Under-20 Woman taking part in the Pentathlon. She started in the 60 Metres Hurdles coming close to her personal best with 11.37s, she then just missed her personal best in the High Jump clearing 1.33m then threw an excellent 7.42m in the Shot Put. She then jumped a season’s best 4.39m in the Long Jump and finished with 2:54.24 for the 800 Metres to finish on a new personal best score 2,100 points for eighth place overall.
Under-17 Men
Central had Jamie Connor and Cameron Milne taking on the Under-17 Heptathlon, both for the first time. The first of the four events in day 1 was the 60 Metres sprint and both athletes set new personal bests – Jamie in 8.39s and Cameron a shade behind in 8.44s. Second event was the Long Jump – Jamie was struggling with his run up and although he got three jumps in he was down on his personal best finishing with a best of 4.04m. Cameron, with a previous personal best of 3.72m, increased it to 3.77m with his first jump, then again to 3.86m with his second and finally to 3.95m with his final jump. The third event was the Shot Put and as this was Jamie’s first attempt at the heavier 5kg shot, having thrown a best of 7.28m with the 4kg, he has to be pleased with 7.40m. Cameron had just increased his personal best to 8.65m two weeks earlier and was just shy of that with 8.57m. The final event of day 1 was the High Jump and with a previous personal best of 1.40m for Jamie and 1.35m for Cameron and an opening height of 1.37m, this was the day 1 event they both feared and unfortunately for Jamie he just could not get over the first height. Cameron however surpassed all expectations with four first time clearances taking him to 1.49m before a first failure – he eventually finished clearing 1.52m, a massive 17cm improvement. Jamie finished day 1 on 995 points and Cameron on 1,441 points.
Day 2 started with the 60 Metres Hurdles and Jamie and Cameron took part in heat 1, Jamie placing fourth in a near personal best 10.78s, Cameron setting a personal best 11.68s for fifth in his first attempt at the higher Under-17 hurdles. The Pole Vault was a new event for both athletes and they were pleased to not only clear the opening height but both went on to clear 2.17m. This left the 1,000 Metres event to finish, Jamie placed seventh with 3:30.42 and Cameron eighth in 3:39.97. Overall Cameron finished his first ever Heptathlon seventh with a score of 2,209 points and Jamie eighth with 1,968 points.
Under-20, Senior and Masters Men
Ross Lawrie was the only athlete from Central taking on the Heptathlon at Under-20 age level. The 60 Metres sprint was his first event and he managed it in a season’s best 8.34s. The second event was Long Jump and Ross struggled with his run up but with his final jump he managed a season’s best 4.98m. The third event was the 6kg Shot Put and Ross threw just 5cm short of his personal best with an impressive 8.53m. The final event of day 1 for Ross was the High Jump and he finished off with a third time clearance at 1.49m before just missing out on matching his 1.52m personal best. Ross finished day 1 on 1,622 points.
Ross opened the second day well with a personal best 11.91s in the 60 Metres Hurdles then followed this up with another personal best clearance in the Pole Vault of 2.27m. In his final 1,000 Metres event he just missed his personal best, running 3:11.01 for a respectable third place. Ross finished with an overall score 2,613 points for a new personal best and fifth place.
Central’s leading senior decathlete and GB international, Tom Chandler, originally from Balfron, returned to compete north of the border for the first time in 4 years. He is now training full time at Basingstoke and set an excellent personal best decathlon score of 6,913 points last summer to go second in the Scottish rankings. Tom started with 7.50s in the 60 Metres however felt a recurrence of a hamstring problem during the race and opted to withdraw rather than risk injury. He is hoping to return to compete in a Central vest again later in the year.
In the Masters event Ron Todd returned a week after setting a Scottish indoor Over-60 age best for the Pole Vault at 3.30m. He started with 8.84s in the 60 Metres then couldn’t quite match his Scottish record in the Pole Vault but cleared an excellent 3.20m. He then threw 10.03m in the Shot Put before withdrawing from the event.