PB Magazine - Issue 1, 2019

www.scottishathletics.org.uk

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INSIDE

2019

Issue 1

PB

Seven pages of Glasgow 2019 glory + Lindsays National XC

The official magazine for members of scottishathletics

Issue 1

PB2019 04 Contacts

Mark Munro

06 Glasgow 2019: Laura Muir 07 Glasgow 2019: Laura Muir 08 Glasgow 2019: Laura Muir 09 Glasgow 2019: Lee McConnell 10 Glasgow 2019: Chris O’Hare 11 Glasgow 2019: Chris O’Hare 12 Glasgow 2019: Zoey Clark and Eilidh Doyle 13 News 14 FPSG Seniors 16 FPSG Age Groups: Picture Special 18 Adam Craig 19 Derek Rae 20 #peoplemakeathletics: Willy Russell 23 Lindsays National XC 24 Lindsays National XC: by Hugh MacDonald 28 Great Stirling XC 29 Scottish Inter-District XC 30 Grassroots Athletics: Perth Strathtay Harriers 32 Grassroots Athletics: Hamilton and District AC 34 Grassroots Athletics: Dundee Road Runners 36 Grassroots Athletics: Kilbarchan AAC 38 Education Section: Personal Responsibility 40 Education Section: Nutrition 42 Ultra Running: Grant MacDonald 44 Ultra Running: Jasmin Paris 46 Masters: Scott McDonald

The official magazine for members of scottishathletics www.scottishathletics.org.uk

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Chief Executive Mark Munro

W

elcome to the latest edition of PB Magazine.

They say in life that there are certain moments that will be etched in your memory forever, and my goodness, Laura Muir’s Double-Double European Indoor Championship gold medals have certainly done that for thousands if not millions of people across Scotland, the UK and Europe.

I am very fortunate to do the job I do, but in the eight years I’ve been employed by scottishathletics, I am not sure there has been a more inspirational period than I’ve witnessed over the past couple of months.

Mark Munro Chief Executive Scottish Athletics

@SALMarkMunro

Everyone can play a part in helping build on momentum

It is not all about the Scottish international stars, but it was stunning to watch Laura Muir (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers- coach Andy Young), Chris O’Hare (Edinburgh AC – coach Terrence Mahon), Eilidh Doyle (Pitreavie AAC – coach Brian Doyle) and Zoey Clark (Aberdeen AAC – coach Eddie McKenna) contribute to a third of the GB medal tally.

This gives us a great opportunity to capitalise on the widespread media coverage and inspire the next generation of athletes into the sport and, for those already within the sport, to aspire to be the best they can be.

I would also like to personally congratulate and thank their coaches Andy Young, Terrence Mahon, Brian Doyle and Eddie McKenna. If the athlete is training for 30 hours per week, their coaches are putting in at least 40 hours and are often overlooked in the reporting of their success in the wider media.

However, I take just as much pride and inspiration seeing the growth in the Lindsays National XC; or Maria Lyle (Team East Lothian) leading a blaze of glory at the Dubai World Para Grand Prix; or over 100 teams competing in the FPSG U12 SUPERteams competition; or the Masters XC; or the wonderful Combined Events revolution that a group of coaches and clubs are really leading and driving; or our Officials delivering at another major championships; or the sheer number of age group and senior records being broken on a regular basis.

I believe we definitely have the most inclusive sport in the country and one of the most inspiring in which to be involved, with the full spectrum of ages, disciplines and ability levels all competing together.

We try to capture this on social media on #SALtogether It would be remiss of me not to congratulate our two new Lindsays National Senior XC Champions, Adam Craig (Inverclyde AC)

and Steph Twell (Kilbarachan AAC) – great to see two new names prominent.

For me, the Lindsays National XC epitomises the best club camaraderie in sport in Scotland – over 100 clubs, all age ranges, all abilities, tented village, fund raising, Olympians and Paralympians all competing . . . and the sight of almost 750 men charging up the first hill in front of Callendar House is a something to behold.

Whilst Laura Muir has been very much on form and Chris O’Hare certainly showed that the Ingebritsens can be beaten, it was fantastic to watch Josh Kerr set a new national indoor 1500m record at the Birmingham Grand Prix in February with 3.35.72, (in a quicker time than Jakob has run all winter).

I think we are in for a real treat over the next few years and whilst Jakob is very much the man to beat, hopefully Josh, Chris, Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley are going to show the world that it is not just the Ingebritsen show. ************************************* Since the last edition of PB we also launched the National Club framework.

The framework has been developed to provide support to every club in Scotland, with bespoke support and advice provided depending on where each club is within their development journey. For more information contact Colin Hutchison, Head of Development.

January through to the end of March is the busiest period in the national events calendar. Once again we have continued to try and improve events where we can and we have seen some excellent competitions with strong numbers of entries. Again, my personal thanks go to our Commissions and our army of technical officials who continue to deliver a fantastic product for the sport in Scotland. Thank You. So, where next? Whilst there has been a number of positive developments in recent months, it is imperative that we stay focused and continue to deliver against the new national strategy ‘Building a Culture of Success’.

We will continue to support clubs, officials and coaches, and over the next few months we will have a focus on developing European competition opportunities for young aspiring athletes, improving coach education and the qualifications pathway, continued modernisation support for clubs amongst other projects.

For now, a thank you to everyone in the sport for your contributions over the last period, a fantastic advert for the sport in Scotland and good luck in the months ahead.

scottishathletics

5

Glasgow 2019

By Peter Jardine

T

here’s now absolutely no dispute that Laura Muir loves a double. Or even a ‘double double’ after delivering big time over 3000m and 1500m at Glasgow 2019.

But neither is there anything new in this great Scot taking on two significant athletic challenges in a short period of time.

Turn the clock back to one weekend in February fully seven years ago and Muir displayed arguably the first real signs of her ability to combine endurance and speed.

‘I just love run

(and we just love watching yo

The London 2012 Olympics were on the horizon, but for Laura the somewhat earthier target (literally) was cross country glory at Callendar Park in Falkirk at the National XC with the Senior Indoor Champs the following day at the old Kelvin Hall in Glasgow thrown in for good measure.

Not long under the tutelage of coach Andy Young, the then 18-year-old Glasgow University student duly won gold in the U20 National XC and then promptly broke the U20 Scottish National record for 800m indoors – taking that particular accolade from Linsey Macdonald.

Photos by Bobby Gavin ‘I remember that weekend and the big thing for me at the time was Falkirk and the National XC,’ recalled Laura.

‘I’d not been in the medals before and that was the first year I’d really hoped to be a contender for the podium. I think it was wet and muddy over about 4.5K at that time, and I was absolutely thrilled to win it.

‘Afterwards Andy said to me : ‘‘I think you should still run the 800m at the Seniors tomorrow’’.

I wasn’t quite sure of it myself at the time on the Saturday, standing in the mud at Falkirk, but as it happens it all went pretty well at Kelvin Hall the next day.

‘I guess you could say doubles have been a long time in the planning!’

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Laura clocked 2.08.12 in the 800m that day and in the countdown to Glasgow 2019, one newspaper feature tracked the drop in her 1500m over a 12-year-period from Scottish Age Group champs on the track through to Berlin and the Diamond League final in Brussels.

Built on the very solid base of endurance, the speed is coming and in quite spectacular fashion.

‘Look at the finishing speed - she’s become one of the world’s very best indoor runners,’ gasped Steve Cram during one of the commentaries.

It was never more apparent than in the latter stages of the 3000m final with German rival Konstanze Klosterhalfen desperate to try and shake off the Scot before the bell loomed.

‘The race went off maybe a little bit quicker than I would have liked and I had to put that bit more

Glasgow 2019

nning’

ou run, Laura)

Overwhelmed? Muir’s icy calm that weekend at the Emirates really was something to behold given the level of pressure now on her slight shoulders.

Laura was Ambassador for the event itself, her photo loomed large at Glasgow Airport and around the city itself, and ‘Double-Double’ talk inevitably made headlines. How did she cope?

‘I am not someone who seeks the limelight,’ she told us.

‘But, having it, I am like ‘Okay, it is there because people want me to do well’ and I have come to view that as support. If this event had happened a couple of years ago I would have been like ‘Woah, I don’t know if I can deal with this’ but to be honest I was so excited to race Glasgow 2019. I felt I could embrace the pressure and feed off it.

‘I just love running – I don’t know how to say it any other way than that. I know I train hard and I know I can run fast. I knew family and friends would be here and it was my home track.’

The Emuirates Arena, in fact! That was the message on Twitter after scottishathletics (only half-joking) proposed a name change for the Glasgow venue.

Muir and Jemma Reekie have trained at the venue for the past three years, and the ante is being raised, as the 21-year-old from Kilbarchan AAC revealed.

work in than I would have liked but I was still comfortable,’ said Laura, who was to win it in a new Championship Best of 8.30.61.

‘It was going at a good pace and then Klosterhalfen really ramped it up and I thought I was just going to have to hang on as best I could.

‘I did that and had to keep telling myself to try and wait for the right moment to kick.

Thankfully, in the last 200m, I put the welly down and knew I had to run as fast as I could to the line.

‘To break the Championship record and get a world lead I was so chuffed.

‘In a way it was nice to have the 1500m heat earlier on the Friday evening and see what the atmosphere was like and on the start line with the reception I was like ‘woah’, it overwhelmed me a little bit but it prepared me well for the final.’

‘Our reps just keep getting quicker and quicker,’ said Jemma. ‘Every time I get a little bit closer, Laura then just gets faster ‘ Go figure. Nonetheless Reekie’s development over the past three years has been startling regardless of any shadow cast by Muir.

That progress didn’t really show itself at the Emirates Arena in a 1500m heat where Jemma posted a PB of 4.13.44 she found scant consolation for a sixth place finish.

At one stage, a run of under 4.10 seemed possible but the strength wasn’t quite there in the last couple of laps.

Jemma, in fairness, had been ill a fortnight earlier and missed the Birmingham GP as a consequence.

‘It just wasn’t there at the end but I’m young, I do need to get stronger and fitter and that’s not where I’m at in training and I know that some day it’s going to pay off - my training and everything I’ve been doing,’ said Jemma.

Eilish McColgan joined Laura on the podium in Belgrade two years ago with a 3000m bronze but, this time, finished seventh in front of family and friends at the Emirates. It may well have been her last indoors event.

With her eyes on 5000m and 10,000m in the outdoor season this summer, and in 2020, a move to the roads is pencilled in for after the Olympics.

‘It’s a difficult one isn’t it because as an athlete you just can’t turn down an opportunity like this, to compete in Glasgow,’ said Eilish.

‘I didn’t run well and it was even more disappointing because I was able to pick out all sorts of family members and from Uni and school and the Hawks from years ago.

‘It’s so frustrating I knew I shouldn’t really be there, I shouldn’t be racing but as I said it’s so difficult to say no. I may well not be racing indoors next year and then am thinking about half marathon and marathon so that might be my last indoor event.’

Leave the last word on the aura of Laura to Eilish.

‘She is pushing everyone,’ said her Dundee Hawkhill club-mate.

‘She drags us along and I have no doubts she will continue to do that. One person just blasts through the barriers and it shows that we can compete against everyone else even though we come from a small nation.’

Muir has proved that, for sure, with a Double-Double that was seven years (minimum) in the making.

scottishathletics

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Glasgow 2019

‘You ask where it was won. It was the hours and hours Laura ran Paula Radcliffe round this track’

T

here’s no such thing as a sure thing in sport. Or so they say.

BBC athletics commentator Cram is in no doubt Laura is moving into the very top echelon of sport.

Chris O’Hare would take some convincing, however. Standing in the Emirates Arena media Mixed Zone on Saturday evening, cradling his own silver medal, he was asked if he fancied Laura Muir’s chances of completing an unique double by successfully defending her 1500m title some 24 hours later.

‘What a weekend for Muir - a superstar of our sport. The manner in which she runs is one everyone can delight in. You see the effort, hard work and determination there’s nothing left out there.

‘She doesn’t run easy. She gives the crowd something to cheer.’

‘I’ve never been any more certain of anything in my life,’ he replied.

And his co-commentator, Paula Radcliffe, had a different take on the idea of home advantage.

‘Laura will win that in sensational style.

The rest of the 1500m field would be as well staying in the Call Room.’

‘I wanted to dictate the race more tonight.

Rather than the way it went in the 3000m when Konstanze (Klosterhalfen) was at the front. I wanted control and I knew my tactics. I knew how I could execute my race.

‘You ask where it was won. It was the hours and hours Laura ran around this track.’

‘I was looking to be in front and then throw in a really hard 400m and I felt if I could do that, then nobody would be able to match that kind of speed. It worked! ‘’I expected the girls to be a little closer although, during it, I didn’t know what was happening behind me. I was trying to look at screens but it didn’t really work.

Chris was proved right, of course. And in quite a fashion.

Laura led the 1500m final race from start to finish and never allowed anyone else to enter ‘her race’.

Don’t be fooled, though. It’s so hard to make it look so easy. Steve Cram called it a ‘procession’.

‘That was Plan A and it went pretty well!’ said Laura, who won it in 4.05.92 with Poland’ Sofia Ennaoui just managing to pip Ireland’s Ciara Mageen for the silver – some three and a half seconds behind the imperious Scot.

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‘I was just driving on towards the finish and ready to give everything whether they were 10m behind or half a metre behind.’

Cue scenes of wild celebration and a lap of honour which included being gifted a tiara which she quickly crowned on bemused on coach Andy Young, as well as a cuddle from her grandmother.

‘I’m so relieved. I set myself a big test this weekend - there was a lot of pressure for the Double-Double,’ added Laura.

‘So much hard work goes into it. It’s day after day [of training] and on this track.

There’s a huge support network behind me.

It’s so special to win in Glasgow. To be on my home track is surreal.’

H

e was the only bona fide Glaswegian out of some 600 athletes at Glasgow 2019.

But the European Indoors ended in bitter disappointment for Neil Gourley as he was forced to withdraw from the 1500m final at the last minute through illness.

Neil, who had looked very good in winning his heat on the Friday, had warmed up but was advised by the British Athletics medical staff he wasn’t fit to race.

‘I want to stress I will be fine,’ said Neil.

‘The timing was devastating but I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m incredibly fortunate to have the right people around me and they will help me through this wee setback.’

Glasgow 2019

Glasgow belongs to Laura every week to put in the training sessions – and all the talk about defending two titles.

‘But she put that one to bed at the Emirates. Emphatically.’

With Chris O’Hare’s silver medal in the Men’s 3000m final plus silvers for Zoey Clark and Eilidh Doyle in the Women’s 4 x 400m, four Scots came home with medals.

The tally of nine selected was a best-ever representation.

‘It is brilliant to have nine athletes competing for GB and NI at a European Indoors – it’s quite a number if you think about it within the overall team size,’ added Lee.

E

ilidh Doyle once found herself on top of the Hampden roof with a Saltire flag for a photo opportunity which later became the enduring image of Glasgow 2014.

Doyle was back as the Team Scotland standard-bearer for Gold Coast 2018 when she was voted by her fellow athletes for the role of carrying the flag into the stadium for the Opening Ceremony in Australia.

Come Glasgow 2019, however, and there’s not a shadow of a doubt that Eilidh had handed the ‘poster girl’ baton on to her fellow ex-Kinross High School alumni, Laura Muir.

As Ambassador for the European Indoors, it was Laura’s image which met visitors at the Arrivals Hall in Glasgow Airport and was up on billboards around the city.

With that profile comes further expectation and publicity. The DoubleDouble winner, in fairness, shows every prospect of being able to handle it.

‘I am really impressed with the way Laura is handling the spotlight,’ said Lee McConnell, triple Olympian and among those admitted to the scottishathletics Hall of Fame back in November.

‘She is delivering big performances on the track, and medals, and off the track she is coping well with all the hype.

‘Laura looks confident now and that comes over in the media interviews. Laura has a good head on her shoulders. She is sensible, she is committed and she knows what she wants and needs to do to merit the attention.

‘It is clear to me that she can cope with the nerves and the pressure that come with being a favourite.’

McConnell should know. For 10 years or so, Lee was in many ways the face of athletics in Scotland, shortly before the social media explosion created even more profile.

‘You learn from it over time,’ said the now mother-of-two.

‘If your face is up on posters, in papers and on websites, then you have to get used to that. There are knocks along the way – there is a focus that comes on you even when you don’t do well, and you would maybe rather it didn’t.

Muir can handle limelight says Lee

‘Laura has had some knocks and she has grown from that.

Arguably, these knocks are helping her deliver the performances now.

‘She has not made the same mistakes again.

The Commonwealth Games in 2014 were painful for her. So then Glasgow 2019 becomes huge for her for obvious reasons – the Emirates Arena is where she comes

‘When I was competing it was nothing like that! So it is very good to see and encouraging for the sport in Scotland.

‘The big thing is: they are not just on the team – they are really good. They are winning medals or making finals or getting in contention.’

McConnell’s habit for picking up medals hasn’t deserted her. Even in retirement.

With the sport keen to try and right wrongs accountable to drug cheats of the past, an ‘upgrade’ came her way from the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona.

GB and NI were elevated from bronze to silver with Russia, the original winners, now scrubbed from the record books.

‘You want to get the medals you deserve at the time,’ said Lee, who was joined in that team by Nicola Sanders, Marilyn Okoro and Perri Shakes-Drayton.

‘It’s the medals in these performances that make you grow as an athlete; that make you motivated for the following winter; and it gives you confidence for the next year.

‘But, having said that, to get a presentation in Glasgow at a venue where I trained for the latter part of my career – it was a nice moment. The acknowledgement is appreciated and they have to keep on rewriting results.’

And so the recalibration of McConnell’s career continues – as Muir’s profile rockets.

scottishathletics

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Glasgow 2019

With his wife Meredith halfway through pregnancy – the couple already have a son, Ronan – Chris had made a big commitment to compete at the British Trials and then the European Indoors.

He had pondered his very future in the sport after disappointment in Berlin followed on from a Gold Coast Commonwealth Games campaign which was affected by only a short recovery from injury.

‘Any athlete will know what it is like after the lows in your career - so you love these moments,’ he said.

Home S-T-R-E-T-C-H Emirates roar spurs Chris to silver

T

here’s nothing new or remarkable about one or two folk stumbling or falling over in the East End of Glasgow on a Saturday night.

It’s just not too often that such events account for high drama at indoor athletics and feature the GB and NI team captain for Glasgow 2019 and the eldest brother in the best-known family in Norway.

We will come in due course to the mishaps of Guy Learmonth who, by his own admission, has had a roller-coaster career in the 800m.

Let’s start instead with a flailing lunge by Henrik Ingebritsen for the 3000m final finishing line in a desperate – and ultimately unsuccessful – bid to prevent Chris O’Hare

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from landing the silver medal.

In the end, it was the Scot’s hands who closed over the precious metal. It took O’Hare’s tally of European medals to three, after two bronzes previously over 1500m in first Zurich in 2014 and Prague in 2015.

‘After Berlin last year I really thought about giving it all up and getting a real job. I was in a pretty dark place.

‘I’ve a wife and a son and I wondered about spending more time with them and giving up elite athletics.

‘It took me quite a while to get back really serious about my running again and get into some proper training.

‘In terms of the planning, the idea of 3000m indoors just came along at the right time and I’ve enjoyed it. I’m not finished

But this one meant so much.

‘To win a silver medal in front of a Scottish crowd was huge for me,’ said Chris, as he recalled a thrilling showdown he won by just three thousandths of a second with both men timed at 7.57.19, with Jacob Ingebritsen taking the gold at 7.56.15.

‘I’m always very proud and passionate about my roots, even though I’ve lived in America for a few years now, and people who know me know that.

‘With 200m to go I thought ‘I’ve got bronze’ and tried to give it everything I had to be on Henrik’s shoulder. with 1500m by any means but I may try a couple of 5000m races this summer just to ‘It took me a lot to get on his shoulder, mix it up a bit.’ but then round the bend the crowd just erupted.

If O’Hare was ecstatic that Saturday evening at the Emirates then Andy Butchart cut a ‘That roar inside the Emirates Arena really crestfallen figure as he raced through the does kind of pick you up and chuck you media zone. towards the line.

Andy had set a new Scottish Native Record ‘Obviously every medal is different by way of 7.51.28 in Friday’s heat, coming home of what it took to get there – I got my first in second just behind Jacob Ingebritsen. In two as a rookie on the scene. Now I am the final, however, he couldn’t stay with the maybe kind of the old boy so it’s good to leaders in the latter stages of the race after kind of get back on medal standing and be having moved up and down a number of rewarded for four years of hard work.’

Glasgow 2019

times early-on.

Of course, the Central AC runner was out for almost all of 2018 with a fractured foot and although his comeback initially looked very promising – with a good 3000m run in Boston – his medal hopes evaporated at the Emirates.

‘Clubs have played a key role’

By Ian Beattie Chairman, scottishathletics ‘The selection of nine Scottish athletes as part of the British team for the European Indoor Championships is another sign of the progress made over the last few years.

There was more agony attached to Learmonth’s 800m semi-final exit, however.

Guy, so proud to be skipper of a GB and NI team who ultimately landed a record 12 medals, had come through his heat on Friday unscathed.

‘A representation of around 10 percent of the team would be in line with the Scottish population; to achieve just short of 20 percent (9 out of 49) is evidence of the way athletics in Scotland is punching above its weight, and continues the positive trend seen over the last few championships.

‘Congratulations are due from scottishathletics to the athletes, their coaches and their clubs for this

eight years has been on developing strong clubs.

‘Clubs like Kilbarchan, Edinburgh, Giffnock North, Pitreavie, Dundee Hawkhill, Aberdeen, Lasswade and Central should be very proud of the role they have played in helping athletes gain selection for events such as this.

‘We have been fortunate as a sport that our top athletes have been such wonderful role models; Laura Muir, Eilidh Doyle, Andy Butchart and the others have done so much to inspire our youngsters, particularly in the way they have continued to compete regularly at Scottish championships and other events.

‘We have also benefited from hosting so many high quality athletics events in Scotland in recent years, and we appreciate the significant role played by the Scottish Government, Event Scotland and Glasgow City Council in that regard.

There was no such luck in the semi, as he crashed to the track after trying to get beyond Irish athlete Mark English and was left as a spectator as the remaining 350m un-folded. English, as it happened, won an appeal while Guy was a DQ and the Irishman duly won a bronze medal in the final.

Learmonth, for his part, will dust himself down once again.

But let’s return to the silver medallist O’Hare on that battle with the elder Ingebritsen – which led to a TV interview being conducted by the bold Henrik.

‘I beat Henrik in the heat on the Friday lunch-time and actually took a bit of stick because people couldn’t see why I needed to do that when getting through was the priority.

‘But it was important to me to know I could beat Henrik on the sprint finish.’

A Norwegian newspaperman then asked Chris for his opinion on their famous family.

‘My son Ronan is two-and-a-half at the moment . . . so in about a year I will send him over to Norway and the Ingebritsens can adopt him and turn him into another world-beater!!’

achievement. This success has not happened overnight, but in all cases has taken many years of hard work, and a considerable amount of support from many people across the sport.

‘Scottish athletes are now expecting to be selected for British teams and, once there, have the confidence to believe that they are capable of winning medals.

‘Self-belief and a positive mentality are features shared by all the Scots selected.

‘As the governing body for athletics in Scotland, our primary focus over the last

‘We at scottishathletics have seen a great legacy from the 2014 Commonwealth Games, not only at the top end of the sport but also in a significant increase in membership numbers across the sport as a whole.

‘The European indoor championship has provided another opportunity to inspire the next generation, and will help us in our objective of building a long lasting culture of success for athletics in Scotland.’

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Glasgow 2019

S

cotland played host to the European Indoors for the first time in almost three decades . . . and amid a threeday roller-coaster those wearing the spikes delivered our best performance in half a century of this event.

The five medals achieved at Glasgow 2019 in four events surpasses the tally from Belgrade two years ago when Laura Muir did her first 1500m/3000m double and Eilish McColgan (3000m bronze) and Eilidh Doyle (4 x 400m silver) also won medals.

This time, four athletes were involved rather than three in 2017 as Chris O’Hare collected silver in the 3000m while Zoey Clark and Doyle formed half of the GB and NI Women’s 4 x 400m team who also won silver.

There were also two Native Records for indoors - with Andy Butchart’s 7.51.28 in the 3000m heats and Muir’s 8.30.61 in the 3000m final.

It comes after nine athletes were selected for the 49-strong GB and NI team with that being the largest representation ever for Scots at this particular championships.

Aberdeen AAC athlete Clark, who is putting together a formidable CV now in terms of relay medals, is convinced the future is bright.

‘I think athletics in Scotland is really on the up and up,’ said Zoey.

‘Yes, we had nine athletes in the GB team for Glasgow 2019 but there were quite a few others who were very close to selection or were out injured. There were people in the mix and who can get in the mix for championships coming up in the next couple of years.

‘And we’ve youngsters coming through at the lower levels who are doing well and making progress.

‘It is great to see and nice to be part of it all. Athletes and coaches are seeing hard work pay off. I honestly believe we keep it all going upwards.’

Clark was absolutely thrilled to deliver

Our Best Ever Relay duo bolster medal tally another medal after, by her own admission, a very poor run in the 400m individual heats.

catch the Polish athlete. I didn’t want to do anything silly and go very hard at it straight away.

‘My individual was a real let-down for me and it was a new experience for me in a sense that you don’t have long to pick yourself up for the relay,’ said Zoey.

‘I had to run my own race and I wasn’t at all sure about what was going on behind me. I could hear the crowd roaring and I honestly didn’t know if that was for me closing on the Pole or someone getting closer to me.

‘Hampden in 2014 was quite intimidating for me as it was my first major competition.

‘So, this time in Glasgow, I was really determined to kind of redeem myself. The atmosphere was very special out there and I made the most of it and really enjoyed it.

‘The other teams were so strong and we all knew that – we knew it was going to be tight fighting for any medal so the crowd was inspiration.’

For Eilidh Doyle it was yet another medal on the big stage and, again, it felt like redemption after bowing out of the 400m on Friday evening at the semi-final stage.

‘I was disappointed after Friday night but that’s what happens when you are in the relay team – you have that chance to go again quite soon. You don’t actually have any time to sit and feel sorry for yourself.

‘We were together as a team and we all wanted to do well for each other as a team.

So we were absolutely determined to come away with something and we all ran really well – we had different jobs to do on each leg.

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‘There was a wee moment when I wondered if I could

‘You have to try and keep concentrating.

Listen, it would have been lovely to catch her and us to win gold but we knew Poland had a really strong team and it is a good silver medal in the end.

‘I will look back on all those medals at some stage in my life and try and really savour it and appreciate it. I am coming to major champs now and not wanting to leave without one.

So, when the individual 400m went away from me on Friday, I just had to keep telling myself ‘it has to be the 4 x 400m now’.

‘I know how strong GB and NI women are at this event. I think I am right in saying we’ve won a medal at every major champs since 2013. It’s been quite a sequence and something lovely to be part of a number of times.

‘We are used to, but we particularly wanted to do it here in Scotland.’

Keep up to date with all the stories @www.scottishathletics.org.uk

NEWS Fife AC savoured their moment at the European Champion Clubs XC Champs in Albufeira in early February – with the conditions something of a contrast to back home!

Six athletes featured in the Senior Women’s race with Megan Crawford best placed as she came in 49th in the Portuguese sunshine.

Megan was closely followed by Halina Rees at 51st place and Jenny Selman (55) and Helen Sharpe (59) completed the counters in a team backed up by Jennifer Spence and Jennifer Cruickshanks.

Record-breakers GB international Andrew Murphy has landed the Scottish Men’s heptathlon indoor record – with a superb performance over the weekend at the Emirates Arena.

And Josh Kerr made it two Scottish Records in one day in Birmingham as he seized the mark for 1500m with a very impressive 3.35.72 run in a classy race which witness a World Record for indoors by Samuel Tefera at 3.31.04.

That ensured an 11th place finish in the team race for Fife AC, who had won the right to represent British Athletics in Portugal via the British Cross Challenge match at Liverpool back in November where they saw off opposition from England and Wales.

Annabel Simpson made the journey, too, and the Fife AC delegation were led by Lesley Thirkell and Kate Fernando - with the weekend involving flights via Lisbon and a 500k round-trip by road!

Murphy, who went close to this Record a few weeks ago in the Cardiff International Meet, took his tally to 5662 points with a fine run over 1000m in the last event.

And that means the Kilbarchan AAC athlete surpassed the record held by Jamie Quarry (5640) – which had stood for some 20 years. It was also a Native Record for Murphy.

Many congratulations to Andrew, his family, coach Colin Sinclair and all involved in his development at Kilbarchan AAC and, previously, Ayr Seaforth.

Adding to the CE feelgood factor on a great weekend was yet another U20 heptathlon record – with Edinburgh AC athlete Scott Connal the latest to break the mark (traded recently by Joel McFarlane and Scott Brindley).

It was once again awesome running against the clock as Laura went against the clock for the last few laps in that familiar style.

Laura’s 1500m split, at 4.01.83, is also a new British Record, breaking her own mark for that distance.

Connal, who has recovered well from injury issues for the past couple of years, has now pushed on the record even more by reaching 5367 points after a superb weekend at the Emirates. Well done to Scott and coach Iain McEwan.

Kerr, the America-based Edinburgh AC athlete, posted 3.35.72 for fourth place in an amazing race and that eclipses the previous best of 3.37.03 held by Chris O’Hare from 12 months ago.

************************************* Laura Muir rewrote the British Record books once again as she smashed the indoor time set by Kirsty Wade for the mile with a superb run of 4.18.75.

That was almost five seconds faster than Wade’s mark of 4.23.86 from 31 years ago and was well inside the Scottish Record held for indoors by Yvonne Murray at 4.32.00.

It was also the third fastest time of all-time for the mile indoors for women - another huge achievement for Laura.

‘The British record and the Scottish record are pretty close and I’m honoured to have that to my name now,’ said Josh.

‘Training has been great, I’ve stayed away from injury and everything is really starting to come together on the circuit. I’m loving being a part of what’s happening for me.

I’m working hard to race as well as I can and be happy, but I’ll be ready again for the outdoors.’

Chris took fifth place in the race (3.37.42) and Neil Gourley made it a Scottish 1-2-3 in terms of the Brits in the race in 8th place with an indoor PB of 3.38.32.

************************************* International ultra running is coming to Scotland this month with the 100K Home International event, the Anglo Celtic Plate, to be staged in Perth.

The Perth event will happen on Sunday 24 March and the longer distance will feature both the British and Scottish 100K road championships for 2019. The 50k distance incorporates the Scottish road champs for 2019 at that distance.

Four women and five men have been selected with Scotland always very competitive in this event which this year as usual features teams from England and Wales with Northern Ireland involved for the first time in recent years.

Scotland Men: James Stewart VP Glasgow; Kyle Greig Metro Aberdeen; Robert Turner Edinburgh AC; Alastair Higgins Dublin Bay; Dave Ward Hunters Bog Trotters Scotland Women: Sophie Mullins Fife AC; Morgan Windram Fife AC; Lynne Allen; Joanna Murphy Carnegie Harriers

FPSG Seniors

M

inutes after a thrilling Senior Men’s long jump competition concluded at the FPSG Scottish Champs at the Emirates Arena, the body language in the medal collection area told its own story.

Alessandro Schenini couldn’t keep the smile off his wide-eyed face as he chatted in clear excitement to friends and club-mates about a thrilling denouement.

Stephen McKenzie, relegated to the silver medal position by a single centimetre in the final round, by contrast lay prostrate on the floor next to a physio bed looking utterly dazed and spent.

Bronze medallist, David J Martin, often a contender on such occasions, for his part wore a ‘what might have been’ expression – believing he should have done better than the 7.23m on his scorecard.

Schenini had won it with 7.52m to McKenzie’s 7.51m, with both of those leaps well beyond the erstwhile Scottish U20 long jump record of 7.38m set by David

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Emirates Arena

Clerihew some 23 years ago in 1996.

Head of Performance and Coaching Stephen Maguire had watched the action unfold from a seat in the Emirates Arena stand . . . and was mightily impressed.

‘If you are asking me to pick out a highlight from the FPSG Seniors then it would certainly be that men’s long jump comp,’ said Stephen, after the final medal presentations had taken place at close to 6pm.

structure, was rightly delighted with his progress.

‘I thought it was terrific. There is a ton of ‘If there is a best way to win a long jump talent there in our young long jumpers and it competition then I guess that is probably is really good to see. it, ‘ grinned Alessandro, who is coached by David Watson and Ryan McAllister.

‘Even better, Stephen and Alessandro pulled out their very best in a National competition ‘I’ve managed it with a PB and I’ve manged meet. That is encouraging as well. Stephen with a last round jump to win by one broke the Scottish U20 Record with his centimetre. Stephen had set the target with opening round and Alessandro was then in that first round jump but my rounds were a position of jumping PB performances but quite consistent around the 7.37m from the still trailing in the competition – until his first round.

7.52m final round.’

‘But it was great to pull out a new PB in Giffnock North AC athlete Schenini, who the final round. I would think that will get came through our National Academy me into better events now over the next few

FPSG Seniors

Emirates Arena

Great leap forward Maguire impressed by long jump duo

Zoey sets sights The radio adverts for Glasgow 2019 were playing across local stations when Zoey Clark headed back to Aberdeen from the Emirates Arena on January 26.

A gold and a silver medal double at the FPSG Scottish Seniors and U17s Champs had given the GB international plenty of hope of a return to the Glasgow venue for the ‘real thing’ and the European Indoors a few weeks later.

Double World Relay medallist Clark clocked 7.42 in the 60m final to take silver behind visiting Portuguese athlete Tamiris de Liz (7.37), with the Aberdeen AAC athlete’s time taking her fifth on the Scottish all-time list for that distance, even though she is essentially a 400m runner.

Hannah Lawler of Edinburgh AC took gold in the pole vault with 3.63m clearance as club-mate Gillian Cooke took silver. Sarah Warnock, also Edinburgh AC, collected Eight days on the FPSG Seniors and the pair silver in the long jump with 6.13m as clashed again in the U20 final. Incredibly, English athlete Lucy Hadaway won at this time Stephen triumphed with a 7.35m 6.26m. leap which was one cm further than the 7.34m achieved by Alessandro! Talk about Jax Thoirs claimed another Scottish pole the competitive juices flowing. vault title with a 4.91m clearance; Katy Brown won the women’s 1500m gold and Kane Elliott, at 17, was one of those as the Falkirk Vics prospect completed a fine Philippa Millage took the 800m crown in solo run win at 1500m with his 3.50.98 2.07.15. The men’s 800m final produced winning time very close to the U20 indoor a tight finish with Pitreavie’s Ewan Dyer record. taking the title in 1.55.52. months. I was at the British indoors last year and Greg Rutherford was still jumping so it was a great experience.’

Fraser Angus, a sprinter with Giffnock North, was another young man in form as he took gold in the men’s 200m final in a run of 21.67. Michael Olsen of Edinburgh AC took the men’s 60m title in 6.81.

GB international Cameron Chalmers flew in from Guernsey to win the 400m gold in 47.84 to win from his brother Alastair, with Lewis Brown top Scot in third in 48.31.

Mhairi Patience won the Women’s 400m gold with 56.85 seconds.

Jane Davidson raced to gold in the 60m Women’s hurdles final with 8.80m in her first event as a Senior.

There were other Scottish title wins for Henry Clarkson (Lasswade) and Carolyn Harvey (Ayr Seaforth) in the Triple Jump and Lewis McGuire (VP-Glasgow) and Emma Nuttall (Edinburgh AC) in the High Jump. Mhairi Porterfield (VP-Glasgow) won the shot with 13.28m.

In the 200m final, the last event of a whole programme and Zoey’s fifth race of a hectic day, she surged home in 23.60 – just two hundredths of a second adrift of the National Record she set in the same venue in January 2018.

‘When I ran that 23.58 last year, it was only my second race so to get so close to that time and win gold this year in 23.60 in my fifth race of the day is really pleasing,’ said Zoey, with silver and bronze for Blackpool’s Katy Wyper and Chloe Lambert (VPGlasgow) in that race.

‘I was happy with the 60m time, too. It was good to get a competitive women’s race like that. You don’t always get that kind of chance and the Portuguese athlete, Tamiris, did really well.

‘It is all about preparation at this stage and seeing if I can get back to the Emirates for Glasgow 2019.’

scottishathletics

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FPSG Age Groups

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Picture Special

Photos by Bobby Gavin

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Adam Craig

Be inspired !

How Adam admires old school pal Sammi

A

dam Craig’s arrival as an emergent name on the athletics scene in Scotland can probably be traced to a fine win over 10K in Glasgow at the Great Scottish Run last September.

It announced his return to these shores from a spell at university in America and he quickly backed up the performance by winning in a quality field at the Abbey Dash 10K in Leeds while representing Scotland – as he raced to a PB of 29.08.

Craig’s star has very much continued to rise since then, contesting Scottish championship events in cross country and on the track with Sol Sweeney and then competing well in the International Mixed Relay against Jamie Williamson at Stirling.

And, of course, he surged to an impressive gold at the Lindsay’s National XC in Falkirk (see pages 23-26) But to understand Adam’s motivation and inspiration the story needs to be traced back somewhat further than last September – although the sight of Sammi Kinghorn at the Great Scottish Run doubtless triggered those positive vibes.

The pair, in fact, have been good friends since their school-days and it seems

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watching Kinghorn conquer the world in Para athletics continues to plant a seed.

‘We went to Earlston High School together some years ago,’ said Adam, who is from Lauder in the Borders with Sammi hailing from Gordon.

‘When she came back into school, there was that period when she didn’t really know what was happening. I think that was understandable.

‘But, in time, she worked things out and gave it a go in terms of wheelchair racing and Para sport. It wasn’t until she was 17 ‘It is definitely an inspiration to see how well or 18 that she really took it on and started she has done. It is not often you get to meet getting results. At that time, we got to know people like that, let alone know them, be ourselves a bit better through the sport. able to call them a friend, reach out and get help from them.

‘To be honest, it is no surprise to me that she has achieved what she is achieved. It is ‘Both before and after her accident, Sammi nice to have her close by (both now live in is still the same person. She has the same Glasgow) to get a bit of advice of. For things attitude and commitment that I knew in her like Saturday’s Cross Country speaking to many years ago when doing other things. her can help me get the job done.’

Derek Rae As Sammi wrestled with big decisions in her mid-teens, Adam found himself veering towards athletics rather than football.

‘I played football till I was 17, a typical young Scottish boy and I was using my running as training, doing races through the summer when there were no matches,’ he recalled.

‘When I was 15, I did one of the Highland Games on the Borders circuit and got £50 for winning the junior race and thought to myself ‘This is quite nice!’. From there I started to compete at regional races and stuff like that, trying to take it a bit serious.

‘I played football for Lauder, the town where I am from, and at one stage I was selected for Scotland South East. So I was not bad, but not really good enough to make a career. I am glad I took up athletics.’ like being in the Borders. There weren’t too many parties!

‘I work at Run for It, a local running store accepted for 18 months that I am not going

‘It was a small college, not quite the American dream, but it was very personal and it worked for me,’ he said.

‘When I came home last summer, I decided Glasgow is the place to be. I’m still with my university coach: it is a bit different, phoning him every few weeks and mapping it out online.

‘I was in Mount Olive, North Carolina, about a mile from Raleigh. It was such a small town, I had to drive about 20 minutes to go to the mall or two the bowling. It was a bit

‘I don’t know what my best distance is yet.

I think 10k but then when I run a 3k I think it might be a 3k or 5k.

He duly went to the United States on a scholarship at Mount Olive University in North Carolina.

on Bothwell Street, Glasgow. I have kind of to be raking in a lot of money but as long as I am paying the bills. ‘ *Adam finished second at the Armagh International Road Race with a 13.45 run whilst representing Scotland.

Derek Rae H

e put in the hard yards, or rather the miles, at a British Athletics warm weather training camp in Iten, Kenya.

And now Derek Rae can look forward to the London Marathon in April in the knowledge that the race again presents a Marathon World Cup opportunity.

Derek’s T46 classification is included in the Para marathon programme that day, following an announcement around the races and categories. These races mirror the marathon categories for the Paralympics in Tokyo in 2020.

Before then, as has been his usual preparation for London, the Fife AC athlete prepared by racing at the Lindsays National

XC in Falkirk. Also on his schedule were the Big-Half Marathon in London and the Scottish 10-Mile Champs at Strathclyde Park at the start of April.

‘We are delighted that London will once again host the world championship marathon events in April,’ said Para Athletics head coach, Paula Dunn.

‘It provides our marathon athletes with an essential opportunity to compete for world medals, and in doing so, taking on the best in the world in their classifications, which will be perfect preparation for next year’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo.’

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Coaching

Willy Russell

#peoplemakeathletics ‘You have to understand and remember that the athletes you are working with are not YOUR athletes. You are THEIR coach.’

Words of wisdom from a man who should know. Willy Russell is 78 but the Banchorybased coach is still as enthusiastic as ever about helping youngsters fulfil their potential, not only as athletes but also as human beings.

He was a decent athlete in his student days but it has been his contribution to the sport as a coach over the past 35 years which deservedly earned him a British Empire Medal in the 2019 New Year Honours List.

Russell’s background was as a sprinter and he didn’t fare too badly when competing against some classy opposition at Aberdeen University.

‘I think probably my best day as an athlete was at the Scottish Universities Championships in 1962 when I came second to Roger Hallet in the 100 yards and to Ming (Menzies) Campbell in the 220 yards,’ he said.

Hallet and Campbell, of course, were top class athletes of that era - so Russell’s achievements were no mean feat.

The lessons he learned at that time proved invaluable when he moved into coaching and he has continued to share his knowledge with countless young north east athletes.

Indeed, the stream of talent which has emerged from Banchory Stonehaven AC over four decades or so has been disproportionate to the size of the club.

Willy has been known to suggest there must be something in the water: others know it’s more down to the quality of the coaching available to the athletes.

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So what does he consider to be the main attributes of a good coach?

sure he is one of the cleverest people I have met.

‘You have to understand and remember that the athletes you are working with are not YOUR athletes. You are THEIR coach.

He is so knowledgeable not just about athletics, but about life in general.He is certainly a special guy.

‘That kind of approach in turn then determines what I believe is a correct attitude towards the coaching process.

‘When I sent him a text to congratulate him on his award he said it was all down to us, the athletes. That’s the sort of person he is.He won’t ever take the credit.

‘It is also important for the coach to show an interest in more than what they do in athletics.

‘I get the most satisfaction from seeing youngsters enjoying themselves, improving and gaining confidence, both on and off the track.’

GB Junior international and European and global age group medallist, Alisha Rees, can be counted among those to benefit from Russell’s sage coaching – prior to a move to Loughborough.

Alisha is just one of dozens of athletes from the small Aberdeenshire club to have achieved significant success under his guidance.

Last summer, the 19 year-old was part of the GB quartet which struck bronze in the 4x100m relay at the World Juniors in Finland.

She also collected the Scottish senior women’s 200m title for the fourth year in a row - a remarkable achievement for an athlete still in her teens.

‘I was only eight when I started,’ said Alisha.

‘I had gone along to a club trial and Willy invited me to join his training group. I think he spotted right away that I had some potential as a sprinter.

‘He is a real character and I really appreciate what he has done for me. His experience and stories are amazing. I am

‘But his record of coaching for more than 35 years is incredible. So many athletes in this area have done well, it’s no coincidence.

‘And its not just sprinters. Great Britain distance runners like Robbie Simpson and Rhona Auckland also went along to his sessions when they were younger. He really understands each individual and gets on so well with young athletes.

‘There were times when I’d turn up for training,maybe not really looking forward to it for whatever reason. Willy would spot this and manipulate the session in such a way that by the end I was loving it.

‘He knows exactly what to do to get the best out of us all in competitions and he has so many little tricks that I will always use.

‘He would be on the bend during a 200m race and shout at me to ‘stand up and run.’

It’s one of his favourite expressions and it certainly helps me at that crucial stage of a race. I always think of it.

‘He never lets the lack of facilities be used as an excuse either. For instance, the primary school hall we use in winter was too short for sprints so he simply opened the doors and let us use the corridors to give extra distance.

‘He would describe the outdoor track we used as being like a rice pudding because it was so wet and lumpy, but he still got us to run well on it.’

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Lindsays National XC

Falkirk

S

teph Twell dipped her toe in the Lindsays National XC for the first time – and found it to her liking.

The Olympian seized gold in firm underfoot conditions at Callendar Park on February 23 to duly add the Scottish title to the English gold she won at Leeds in 2010.

Inverclyde AC’s Adam Craig was an outstanding winner in the biggest Senior Men’s race since 1990 – as he carved out a 50-second advantage with powerful front run that early on left others resigned to battling for silver and bronze.

Twell represented Kilbarchan AAC for the first time, a nod to her mother’s place of birth in Paisley.

Cambuslang’s Czech international Moira Stewart took silver en route to the World Cross with 2017 champion, Central AC’s Morag Millar, taking the bronze this time.

In the Men’s race, Fife AC’s St Andrews Uni student, Kevin Wood, headed the pack on the final straight for silver with Michael Christoforou of Edinburgh AC rewarded for his fine run with bronze.

Fife AC Women took the team title for the very first time on 149 points – with HBT landing the silvers on 151 and Shettleston third (also 151).

Making history for Fife were Megan Crawford (19), Helen Sharpe (26), Sophie Mullins (30), Jennifer Cruickshanks (32) and Jennifer Kibble Spence (41).

History was very much to the fore in the men’s team race, too. Central AC were chasing Nine-in-a-Row and they did so with something to spare as the squad coached

by Derek Easton delivered six men home inside the first 32.

Alastair Hay, as he has so often, was their top counter at eight with Cameron Milne (10), Conan McCaughey (14), Dale Colley (15), Michael Wright (21) and Iain Davies (32) completing their winning team with 100 points. Cambuslang were at 142 to pip Inverclyde by four points in the battle for the silvers and bronzes.

The Pat Spence Trophy (for female races) and the AT Mays Trophy (for male races are team competitions, with the winning club having the lowest aggregate number of points across the five races in each division.

Giffnock North AC retain the Pat Spence Trophy while Cambuslang Harriers take the AT Mays Trophy for the sixth time in seven years (with Aberdeen having been the 2018 winners).

scottishathletics

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Lindsays National XC

Falkirk

EPI

Twell revels in Falkirk debu

By Hugh MacDonald

S

he had conquered the world. It was time to take on Callendar Park.

At 29, Steph Twell has been an Olympian in Beijing, a junior world champion over 1500m in Bydgoszcz, Poland, a senior and junior team gold medallist in the cross country in European Championships in Samatov, Hyres, San Giorgio, Torro, Brussels, Dublin and Chia.

Her lengthy CV also includes a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in Delhi and a European track 5000m bronze in Amsterdam.

The world was and is her playground.

But not Falkirk. The fun of Callendar Park and the Lindsay National Cross Country beckoned. Twell ran it for the first time this year. This may be a surprise to some.

She won. No one was shocked.

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The marathon may be in the sights of Twell as an elite runner but her facility for the cross country has not been blunted. She approached Callendar Park in the spirit of adventure and some sentiment and left with an impressive victory, adding the Scottish national championship to the English one she took in Leeds nine years ago.

There were 319 finishers in the women’s race in Falkirk but from a long way out there was only one winner. The triumph was fulfilling for Twell but the taking part was also significant.

‘I pretty much squeezed this in, saying ‘please can I have something in the calendar’,’ she said of conversations with her coach, Geoff Wightman.

‘I’ve always wanted to run for the club closest to where my mum’s lived. To run for Kilbarchan was special. I’m following in a lot of amazing footsteps. I think to strengthen that and support the clubs here I think is enormous. I think quite often in the sport you can drift away from your roots so to get the win is brilliant.’

Her words were spoken against a background of tents and flags that testified to the presence of more than 100 clubs who supplied almost 2500 competitors in the 26th version of the event, the highest figure ever.

‘The start line was epic, seeing every club together – I think that just shows the depth around the clubs,’ she said.

Twell, who is preparing for a season on both track and road, felt she ‘really needed’ the exertions of Callendar Park. She covered the 10k in 38.38, with Moira Stewart 13 seconds behind, and Morag Millar finishing third on 39.00. Last year’s winner Mhairi Maclennan, who has enjoyed a fine season with victories in the Scottish inter-district and in the North of England event, finished fourth.

Twell found the course made demands quickly. ‘I could tell my body wasn’t quite used to the undulations, the turns. You’ve got to learn your trade in cross country,’ she said.

Lindsays National XC

Falkirk

IC!

ut and Craig untouchable

Of the race, she commented: ‘I tried to stretch out but it was hard to do that. Moira had a fantastic run and I could hear a lot of commentary getting behind Moira, Mhairi, Morag so I was trying to work out what was going on in the race. I did feel tired on the last lap because it is a testing, true cross country course. I loved it and I hope to be back.’

The men’s side of the competition saw Central AC create history by winning the Elkington Shield – the team event – for the ninth successive time, beating the record they shared with Cambuslang Harriers (1987-1994).

However, the winner of the race – in spectacular fashion – was Inverclyde’s Adam Craig who produced a storming performance on the most mild of days. He covered the 10k course in 33.50, almost a minute faster than Kevin Wood, second in 34.48, with Michael Christoforou third in 34.50.

There was, rightly, a deep sense of personal satisfaction in his performance, particularly

after what he regarded as disappointing indoor track performances. He finished 12th in the 3000m at the recent British indoor trials and was second on the roads at the Armagh 5k.

But he was untouchable at Callendar Park with the unusual quick conditions underfoot contributing to what became a victory procession for Craig.

‘I knew I was fit,’ he said. ‘Everything was geared to the indoors and that didn’t quite go to plan. Getting out in Armagh was probably the best thing for me, to get my confidence back up and build it up from there. Coming in here, I was a bit cautious.

I waited half a mile but then I took over and just felt better and better.’

He stretched away from the field in blistering style with an audacious and breath-taking performance.

‘If I want to run fast, then I like to go for it.

Sometimes you just have to go out and do it. If someone has to push it, then I don’t mind doing it. In Armagh, I did the same

thing and beat some of the top guys in Britain.’

His solitary appearance in the finishing straight contrasted with the start line that resembled an outtake from battle scenes from Braveheart in terms of numbers and nervous tension.

More than 900 runners entered the race but, definitively, 720 finished it, the highest total in three decades.

It was a day of 10 triumphs over events from U13 upwards with Twell’s debut and Craig’s imperious surge taking the headlines.

There was, however, a good news story in every one of almost 1900 competitors.

It shouts that Scottish athletics is on the march - at running pace.

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Lindsays National XC

Falkirk

she studies very hard and did a difficult university course and still managed to get hey keep on running. But why? high in the sport. It showed you can do Scottish athletics had a veritable tide of academic work while doing high-end sport.’ youngsters flowing over the Callendar It is an example Finlay intends to follow as Park grass and the existence of such of his intention is not only to race over 1500m powerful force has intriguing lessons. but become a veterinary surgeon like Laura.

It was impossible to speak to young Anna Hedley, who continued a successful participants in the Lindsays Cross Country season by winning the U15 Girls event, and not be persuaded that the future of pointed out the importance of having ‘great athletics is in good hands and feet. The coaching’ at Fife AC after becoming involved runners came in both sexes, various ages in park runs. Her ambition is matched with and a multitude of shapes but they shared her enthusiasm. a message.

By Hugh MacDonald

T

It can be summarised thus: there is an importance in having local heroes, there is an appreciation of excellent coaching and there is a realisation that running cannot only be fun but help in other areas of life.

The first spokesman onto the podium was Finlay Ross of Harmeny, winner of the U13 event.

He wants to follow in the footsteps of his inspiration in sporting and professional terms. He said: ‘I really like Laura Muir.

It’s not just because of her running but

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The winner of the Celtic cross-country, East District Championship and Inter-District championships, Anna said: ‘I am definitely going to continue in this sport. I love running and have been inspired by Laura Muir and Dina Asher-Smith.’

Harry Henriksen, a member of Lasswade and winner of the U15 Boys race, also won at Callendar Park as a 13-year-old and he has no intention of stopping.

‘Yes, I want to keep running,’ he said. ‘I want to follow my parents into medicine and, apart from everything else, I feel running gives me a clear mindset and helps me study more easily. I like to run before I study.’

Cross-country is also the passion of U17 winner Megan Keith of Inverness AC. She started racing at 10, inspired by her father (Alec) who

is a hill runner and by her local heroine, Mhairi Maclennan.

‘I would hope to take it further,’ she said.

‘This season has made me realise that because I have come on so much.

There is so much that running gives me. I have made so many friends and, basically, running also makes me feel good about myself. Today is the classic example of that.’

Anna Cairns took the U13 Girls title on an excellent day for Inverness Harriers while Giffnock North AC’s Hamish Armitt was the champion in the U17 Men’s race.

Eloise Walker added the U20 Women’s title to U17 success at the same venue some 12 months earlier. Her Edinburgh AC team-mate, Freddie Carcas, collected the U20 Men’s gold to make it a double for the capital club.

The teams golds at U20 both went to Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds.

15

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Great Stirling XC

Homing in Laura and Jamie savour XC relay win

M

aybe the President of European Athletics, Svein Arne Hansen, already had Scotland on his mind with Glasgow 2019 looming up on the horizon.

Muir and many other elite athletes, from all three international teams in the main event as well as those selected for Scotland, spent a long time after their races signing autographs and posing for selfies.

Or maybe the Swedish administrator had his eyes on the Great Stirling XC because of an overall match success for a Team Europe laced with Spaniards over the United States and GB and NI.

The connection between the next generation and current top athletes has been a feature of this event over the years and it was good to see that remain intact after a move from the recent regular venue of Edinburgh to a new scenic backdrop at Stirling.

Or perhaps the President simply hasn’t forgotten the passion of Scottish cross country fan after that memorable photo of folk cheering on Callum Hawkins at Holyrood Park a couple of years ago.

Whatever the reason, Svein seemed suitably impressed by Laura Muir’s latest command performance at cross country to personally get involved on social media after we highlighted young fans mobbing their local hero at Stirling Golf Club.

Swapping one castle for another didn’t bother Muir, of course, as she personally extended her winning run in the International Mixed Relay to four wins out of four races (after finishing third with Scotland in a pilot 2 x 1K in 2015).

It was, as one headline put it, really just a ‘lap of honour’ for Laura after her teammates, fellow Scot Jamie Williamson, and English duo Alex Bell and Phil Sesemann had set up a winning lead over a Team

Europe quartet from Spain, who had been looking to replicate their Euro Cross win in Holland in December.

‘The team did really well, they were unlucky at the European Cross so it was good to win the race this time,’ said Laura.

‘For me, it was fantastic to see them build up such a strong lead for me, and then I thought ‘’Well, there’s no pressure now!’’

‘All credit to the team, they did a superb job of getting me into a good position and it’s as much of a team win as it is an individual win for me.

‘When I saw I was quite a bit ahead I thought I had to take it easier on the first half and make sure that I was strong on the finish and I had to judge it so I could be strong on the finish.

‘I take the crowd in more than I would on a track, there’s people there from school and Glasgow and running alongside that are all shouting things.

‘It’s nice to run and be so close to the crowd and having little kids running alongside you is really fun. It [the course] was a challenge but it was proper cross country and it was good fun.’

Scotland Juniors did well to take seventh place in the race thanks to the efforts of Kane Elliott, Erin Wallace, Joe Ewing and Sarah Calvert - on a day that was a superb learning curve for all our athletes in a live televised race.

They finished just one second ahead of the Scotland Senior team who had featured Adam Craig, Mhairi Hendry, Michael Ferguson and Steph Pennycook.

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Williamson raced for Scotland in this event in January 2018 but, after a breakthrough year, had made his GB and NI bow in Holland.

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‘It was brilliant to get the win and it makes

Scottish Inter-District XC Scottish Inter-District XC Mhairi Maclennan saw off a strong field to claim the Inter-District Senior Women’s gold and then expressed her delight at the support around the course at Stirling.

‘I’ve been on the podium at the InterDistricts before but this is my first win,’ said Lachlan, who won by seven seconds from Taylor with Hay at 25.25.

It was a new venue for these races after a number of years on the familiar routes of Holyrood Park in Edinburgh.

‘I didn’t expect to like the course too much as I’m not normally known for performing so well when it is flat and dry. There certainly wasn’t the mud we had at the Wests but as it happened I liked it fine.’

But Maclennan and others revelled in firm conditions underfoot across Kings Park and part of the Stirling Golf Club course as she took the race for the Scottish Students ahead of North of England’s Lucy Crookes and East athlete Morag Millar of Central AC. Millar took the silver medal with the North of England athletes guests in terms of the individual races - with Edinburgh AC youngster Eloise Walker, a late call-up for the East, coming up with a very fine run over the 6K course for the bronze medal.

‘We felt we had a really strong team twith Laura coming in for the last leg and three of us who were in Tilburg.

‘I was happy enough with the way I ran though one of the Europeans just pipped me at the change-over.

‘But it was a great race to be in. I represented Scotland in this race last year in Edinburgh and it was good to do it again at Stirling. It sets me up nicely for 2019.

‘It was great to win and I loved the course,’ said Mhairi, who won in 20.40 with a 15-second advantage over Crookes. Millar clocked 21.08.

Erin Wallace, now being coached by Andy Young, had a fine run for the Scotland Juniors on the second leg.

‘I think a lot of us were a wee bit nervous about racing somewhere new because many athletes did like Holyrood Park. I’ve raced there so many times myself.

‘Seriously, that was quite a good course for a 1500m track runner given it wasn’t muddy at all.’

With Elliott, Wallace, Ewing and Calvert all new to this event, as well as Adam Craig in the Senior team, we make it now 25 different athletes to represent Scotland in the International Mixed Relay over a five-year period – a really positive outcome from this particular event.

The men’s team race was won by the West from the East and the North of England.

Earlier, Finlay Ross of Harmeny had won the U13 title a year earlier in Edinburgh and repeated that feat at the new venue – with silver for his East team-mate, Corey Campbell of Team East Lothian. There was a third place for North athlete, Roy Taylor, of Moray Road Runners.

In the U13 Girls race, there was a superb 1-2 for Inverness Harriers. Anna Cairns took the gold for the North and her teammate, Grace McDonald, came through with a strong finish to seize the silver from third-placed East athlete Phoebe Armstrong (Aberdeen AAC).

up for the Euro Cross, where I slipped,’ said Jamie Willamson, who had the same 4.10 split as Sesemann.

‘I enjoyed that and felt it went pretty well,’ said Erin. ‘I was actually due to race in the Inter-District for the West Senior Women over 6K – so I was pretty pleased when the selection came through for 1.5K for Scotland Juniors!

medal in the Inter-Districts and Calum McKenzie of Corstorphine AAC landed the bronze.

‘But the course here was really good and it was fun to get on a golf course! We don’t get that too often in Scottish cross country.

And the crowds were brilliant right around the course with so many people cheering us on. That always gives you a boost.’

The team race was won by the East from the North of England and the Scottish Students.

Lachlan Oates won his first West District XC title in wet and muddy conditions at Kilmarnock - but the contrast at Stirling proved no problem for the Shettleston Harriers athlete.

Oates came home in 25.16 to win from Linton Taylor of the North of England as Alastair Hay of Central AC took the silver

No sooner had that race finished than the U15s were off – and Lucas Cairns duly made it a family double and added further glory for Inverness Harriers. Chris Perkins of Giffnock North led the race for the West for a while before being over-hauled by the North runner. East champion Harry Henriksen of Lasswade AC took third place.

Anna Hedley had looked favourite for the U15 Girls title and duly delivered with Katie Johnson of Edinburgh AC landing the silver.

West athlete Anya Maclean, of Garscube Harriers, was third.

The U15 team results were both West, East, North while it was East, West, North in the U13 Girls. And the West took the U13 Boys race with East second and the North third.

There were wins at U17 level at Stirling for Hamish Armitt of Giffnock and Cera Gemmell of Team East Lothian.

Armitt won for the West in the U17 Men’s race with second for Jack Patton of Kilbarchan AAC and third for East athlete Kristof Hornyik (Dundee Hawkhill).

Gemmell won for the East in the U17 Women’s race from North athlete Megan Keith (Inverness Harriers) and third-placed East runner Pippa Carcas (Edinburgh AC).

The team positions for the U17 Men were West, East, North and in the U17 Women there was a win for the East from West, North.

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Grassroots Athletics Header

Perth Strathtay Harriers

Perth Strathtay Harriers

Perth Strathtay provide the perfect pathway Fair City club has inclusive approach

P

erth Strathtay Harriers have been delivering athletics training and competition opportunities in Perthshire for more than 70 years.

The club has been based at The George Duncan Athletics Arena in Perth for the past 10 years.

Perth Strathtay recognises that partnership working and having many routes into the club is so important to its ongoing sustainability. A strong volunteer management committee and dedicated coaching team have the athletes at the centre of all we do.

We try and stick firmly to our agreed club objectives and ensures that we have a long term purpose. Successful outreach programmes in local schools, working with the NHS and come and try days are all part of what the club does each year.

We work hard to create a stimulating The Harriers has a membership of over 200 environment for all and we continue and like so many community based sports to learn and try to turn challenges into organisations is run by a team of volunteer opportunities. coaches and officials. Without them the club would simply not exist. The club coaching The club has developed a successful structure allows the opportunity for all who mentoring programme, working with local wish to take part, then as ability increases higher education students and Youth award a pathway is created into more specialised courses to offer volunteering opportunities groups. hopefully encouraging the next generation This wonderful track and stadium is far different from the days when we trained in local park areas and indoor football pitches.

Athletes travel from all over Perthshire and beyond to train all year round.

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of coaches.

PB 2019 | ISSUE 1

Tapping into the right people to give us

Report by Jim Hunter

guidance is so important. For example our scottishathletics contacts including Shona Malcolm and Jamie MacDonald have been invaluable.

Grassroots Athletics Stable governance and healthy finances, great team management and a dedicated band of coaches keep the club in the place our members want it to be. We continue to listen and develop - striving to meet our athletes’ needs. Simple things work, happy athletes and happy coaches generally mean a happy club.

Over the years some great athletes have developed their skills with the club, with endurance group athletes Ben Greenwood and Sol Sweeney being just 2 athletes who inspire the next generation to do their best.

This is now paying dividends with growing interest in longer distances and a wonderful group of young XC runners regularly competing in our orange vests.

However, giving all young people the chance to participate in the sport of athletics remains at the heart of Perth Strathtay Harriers.

Young athletes from five years of age take part in our ‘Fun in Athletics’ group, through our Run, Jump, Throw programmes. As the athletes grow older the dedicated sprints, endurance and field event groups provide plenty of opportunities to experience the wide variety of fully inclusive athletics.

Perth Strathtay Harriers Header Our annual Kinnoull hill race is a unique event harking back to our past where road running was a core activity and long before we had any athletic facilities.

FEEDBACK from MEMBERS, PARENTS

‘The Harriers is the most wonderful, warm, welcoming and supportive club, where each young person is accepted and valued.

Current organiser David Knight and his band Coaches and athletes are so encouraging and inclusive. of volunteer officials organise the 5 Mile Race in May each year around the scenic ‘With their support David has found a Perth woodland course. Our partnership sport he loves, achieved beyond our wildest with the wonderful residents of the Kinnoull dreams, overcome so many challenges, giving him self belief. Where others have area make it happen. This is just one of been so quick to say he can’t, harriers have a number of events the club stages to been, he can, we will find a way. I can’t welcome athletes to the fair city. thank you enough and words can’t express what a difference athletics has made.’

Our fully inclusive approach has been an overwhelming success. Sticking firmly to ‘It’s fun, exciting and hard work. But that is the belief that we coach the athlete not the why I travel through from Edinburgh once disability. Keeping it simple and flexible a month to join them. Not only that I get works! to see the improvement of the wee ones Partnerships with parents, carers, local authority and NHS make it easy for us to get on with the job of delivering coaching sessions. Of course, behind the scenes additional considerations are sometimes needed but with the right people in place it’s not difficult and extremely rewarding for all involved. From grassroots to international level, athletics is a great sport for anyone with a physical, sensory or learning disability to try.

on their RaceRunners and I get a chance to encourage them on. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.’

‘Perth Harriers means a lot to me it’s very hard work but it’s very fun and it’s means I can be independent and achieve thing that I never thought I could. I’m so thankful to have joined.’

‘Strathtay Harriers means a lot to our family and particularly the inclusion group.

I think it can be summed up by us feeling that: everyone is included.

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Grassroots Athletics

Hamilton and District AC

Growing up H

amilton and District Athletics Club have recently enjoyed the best of their six years in existence so far and they’re always looking for new members in a bid to stimulate even more growth.

It couldn’t be easier to join what is a familyorientated community club, and coach Gregg Dick says the sense of achievement is enormous.

coaching assistant’s qualification, as has Grant.

We do long jump, shot put, javelin, high jump, sprints, distance, so we’re trying to concentrate on everything.

‘We don’t look for any level of fitness.

We will take anybody from the absolute beginners – people who have never done anything whatsoever.

They’re not a huge all-singing all-dancing club that is heavily funded – and that makes ‘The progress we can see in kids who came in with no fitness is brilliant. They may not it all the more worthwhile when they win be competing just yet, but their level of something. fitness is improving and ultimately, that’s ‘We’ve been a club for six years,’ explained what we want to see as well.

Gregg.

‘If a kid comes every week and they’re ‘We were formed in November 2012, by coming for two, three or four years, as some Alan Wrisberg, who is a Level 4 coach. He of them have been, and they’re getting fitter, approached my friend Stuart Mitchell, who that’s the main thing. It’s about getting the was doing a lot of running at the time, so kids to enjoy it and be fit. he got involved in it, got a Level 1 coaching assistant’s badge, and Stuart is now a Level ‘It may still be quite a small club, a provincial club in respect of the size of other 2, going towards Level 3. clubs around us, but it’s good. I want us to ‘From there on in, the club just started to get a wee bit bigger, but not too big. expand and I am pleased to say we are ‘It’s good to manage it, it’s a good family going from strength to strenth. club, and the feedback we get from parents ‘We cover everything – it is an athletics is fantastic. club. Grant Wrisberg does a lot of the ‘It’s all voluntary and community-orientated, long-jump coaching, I’m doing a lot of Stuart and Alan are involved in Hamilton throws coaching and I do a lot of stuff for Sports Council, so they go to meetings the organisation of the club. My wife is the secretary, I do the social media side of stuff, for that, they get involved in Lanarkshire Amateur Athletics Association (Lanarkshire I promote all the events, and I have my AAA) and we’re involved with a lot of other PB 2019 | ISSUE 1 clubs.

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‘We have good relationships with all of the clubs in Lanarkshire – everybody knows everybody ‘This year was our biggest success by a country mile. It has taken us a while to get there, but it’s like everything. In athletics you can train for a year for so little gain, while footballers can maybe train and get the gain immediately.

‘In athletics you just don’t get that, it just doesn’t happen overnight, and can take months or years to achieve.

‘We got our first medal this year at the Scottish Indoor Championships. We got a silver medal in the Men’s U20 60m, we then went to the West District Championships and gained a gold and a silver at that.

‘Then we went to the Lanarkshire Relays this year and cleaned up really well. We had a team of nine-year-olds winning U11 relays and got a silver medal. Our girls had just turned nine, but they have been training with us for a while and did fantastically well.

“We’ve won medals at loads of different tournaments this year. We’ve had selections for the South Lanarkshire Youth Development League team, and had athletes who won medals did all the events leading up to the final, which was fantastic.’ *A version of this article first appeared in the Hamilton Advertiser

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Grassroots Athletics

Dundee Road Runners

ee

...and

By Gill Westwater

W

hen a handful of colleagues got together to support each other while they trained for the first Dundee marathon, they could not have anticipated the long-term impact their actions would have.

Within a few months, this little group had evolved into Dundee Roadrunners: a fully-fledged running club, affiliated to the Scottish Amateur Athletics and boasting an impressive 180 members.

DRR has always prided itself on being welcoming and all-inclusive and this is probably the reason the club has survived the last 35 years while one or two other groups have come and gone.

The first training session

up o s e th

und D n i n

ru

is a daunting challenge for many: will they be left behind? Will anyone speak to them?

Will they be facing abject humiliation?

But any newcomer brave enough to come along will quickly be blown away by the camaraderie and supportive nature within the club.

Of course there are running rivalries . . . but, more importantly, lasting friendships are forged that extend beyond the weekly training sessions and mean that the club frequently becomes one of the largest parts of a member’s life.

From the start, the club was very much a group of runners who trained hard and played hard with the regular Tuesday runs being followed by refreshments in the local pub!

Sadly, pints and sausage rolls are no longer a weekly occurrence, but DRR remains very much a group of runners who love to socialise. Apart from the numerous annual fixtures such as the Awards Night, the Santa Run and the Summer Social Run, the club seizes any opportunity for a celebration.

When long-term member David Rodley’s running streak reached 1000 days, the club ran from a local pub and ended the evening with pizza and a quiz.

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Great joy was also taken in Oor Wullie and Penguin hunting around Dundee when the displays were on and more recently there was a fun run to celebrate the opening of the V & A, with prizes for the most imaginative selfie!

PB 2019 | ISSUE 1

The soup runs which were a valued part

of the club in the early days have recently been revived to ensure that hungry runners have the chance to quickly replenish their glycogen levels after a long winter run.

This unique combination of silliness and serious training – coach Ged’s killer Thursday night sessions enable many members to run faster than they had ever thought possible – is one of the reasons DRR is flourishing with membership at an

all-time high of 239 and member retention sitting at an impressive 90%.

The club continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of the members. A very successful one-mile race series was introduced last year and the traditional Tuesday 10-mile route has now been replaced by a 4- mile option.

The tail runner rota continues to ensures that nobody is left behind. The early Sunday long run (always a social event with frequent stops to regroup) has now been joined by a later option which ensures that any member training for a marathon or just developing more stamina can pick from a variety of distances and paces.

The Club race calendar – populated by fixtures such as John McInally, the autumn and spring handicaps and Twin Peaks has expanded to include a 5-mile race. These

Grassroots Athletics

races don’t always reward the fastest; in the handicaps, the slower runners start first and the 5-mile award is given to the member whose time improves the most year-on-year.

While the Club welcomes all abilities, it still has its fair share of podium finishers!

To pick a few highlights from last year: Anwen Darling smashed her first attempt at a marathon, winning the ladies’ prize

Dundee Road Runners

‘The thing about the Roadrunners is that it has never been elitist, which you might have guessed since they welcomed me into the fold.’

Club standards were introduced in 2015, and quickly became a key driver for many members with the number of certificates issued doubling in three years.

The standards are a great way for all runners to push themselves and have their achievements recognised.

at the Glentress Marathon, while at the SA Marathon Championships in Stirling, Michelle Bruce won silver while Chris Earl, Matt Buck and Vinnie Stewart brought back the bronze team prize.

The DRR Transition Group is another recent development that is contributing to the Club’s growth. The TiGers programme was launched a couple of years ago to help runners build up from 5k to 10k distances.

A total of 39 runners have completed the training, with many going on to become active DRR members, successfully competing at all distances up to marathons!

Long-term member Ken Peters sums up the club beautifully.

‘The thing about the Roadrunners is that it has never been elitist, which you might have guessed since they welcomed me into the fold.

‘Throughout the years, countless others have been similarly encouraged. They’ve all set targets, attained targets, missed targets and had a ball along the way. ‘

Elaine Omand was first lady home at the Lakeland Trails Marathon, Alison McNeilly was second lady at the Run the Blades Ultra while Robbie Dunlop shattered the Ochil Ultra course record, running 30 miles in 3:45:20.

It’s not just relative newcomers that are medal-winners either, many long- term members continue to be age group winners.

David Rodley (continuing his much celebrated running streak) is getting faster and faster and picked up the last year’s V60 prize at Inverness marathon in an inspirational 3:02, one of the reasons that he has found himself shortlisted for Dundee’s Senior Sportsperson of the Year Award!

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Grassroots Athletics

Kilbarchan AAC

Kilbarchan’s indoor vision

I

Renfrewshire Council Leader, Councillor Iain Nicolson, said: ‘We’re committed to providing opportunities for local groups and residents to make a positive difference to where they live, and the Community Asset Transfer process is one of a number of ways that communities can make their mark.

t required a leap of faith as a first step.

And then an awful lot of hard work behind the scenes to try and make a vision become a reality.

But Kilbarchan AAC are moving ever closer to fulfilling on what started as highly ambitious plans for one club to create and own an indoor athletics centre.

Planning approval has been granted by Renfrewshire Council for the venue, close to the existing On-X sports centre at Linwood and linked in with the current track and field facility.

‘The approval of this land transfer will allow Kilbarchan AAC to advance these exciting proposals and the successful completion of the development would significantly enhance the quality of the athletics training facilities available in Renfrewshire.’

The Kilbarchan training centre at Linwood will include a 60m running track, javelin throwing cages and horizontal and vertical jumps. The club are due to acquire more than 4000sqm of land to build the facility following approval from Renfrewshire Council.

Colin Hutchison, Head of Development for scottishathletics, believes the project is important and fits with our strategy to work hard to increase participation and standards in athletics

Behind the whole blueprint is the prospect that the whole venue will then become a centre of development and excellence for athletes in that part of Scotland.

‘The facility will be vital to continue growing athletics in Renfrewshire and the indoor facility will greatly enhance the club’s capacity to develop their young athletes year-round,’ said Colin.

The proposal for the indoor training centre includes: *60m running track *Horizontal and vertical jumps *Pole vault *Indoor throwing cage including javelin *Club room *Strength and conditioning areas It is hoped the training centre will help young people to hone their athletic skills and provide a gateway into Senior representations at competitions at Scottish, British, European and even global level.

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‘This development would offer us the opportunity to train in any weather, allyear-round, and make the On-X Centre a complete facility for elite and club athletes in Renfrewshire,’ said Jim Goudie, Kilbarchan AAC immediate past president.

‘We want to bring as many people we can into athletics and having this indoor facility will give people the chance to take up the sport, while keeping younger athletes from becoming disheartened with training sessions cancelled or in the pouring rain.

‘We’ve had four Olympians pass through our club so far and we want to give our members the best possible chance to follow in their footsteps - and this facility would do just that.’

The project has also been allocated £500,000 by Renfrewshire Council to provide facilities for both elite and club athletes across Renfrewshire.

‘We are fully behind Kilbarchan’s proposed facility development at the On-X in Linwood and are excited about the opportunities it will present for the club and athletics in Renfrewshire.

‘The commitment from the club’s volunteers to get the project to this stage has been phenomenal and we are all extremely grateful to the generous funders that are contributing to the project.’

The club will continue to identify funding opportunities to source the remaining financial support required to advance the project to the next stage.

Photos: with thanks to CRGP Architects and Surveyors

Education

Personal Responsibility

We often share responsibility with our coach or team but we cannot share our accountability.

We are responsible before and after the event; however, we are only accountable after the event.

Personal responsibility in developing excellence

By Dr Paul McCarthy

I

n sport and in life, we combine our body and our mind to summon success.

The success jigsaw comprises various components: physical, mental, technical, tactical and lifestyle; but not all of these components are observable and measurable so it leads us to prize what is noticeable.

Our body is physical and therefore

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PB 2019 | ISSUE 1

noticeable so we can see how crucial the physical components are to every event from the sprinting to javelin to decathlon.

What is less visible is the role our mind plays in athletic performance.

It is easy to recognise and accept concrete events in our lives. For example, when we use our senses, our sensory experience feels real. When we taste fruit, touch a javelin, or see the finish line. The role of our mind is less tangible. Are we thinking helpfully or unhelpfully? Are we thinking optimistically

or pessimistically? Are we thinking about our responsibilities or avoiding them?

Because our thoughts are hidden from others, we often hide behind them and avoid the responsibility and accountability that would allow us to succeed. Personal responsibility in developing excellence is a challenging and worthwhile pursuit for all athletes because it acknowledges a few things we need to address.

First, when we admit our responsibility, we acknowledge what we need to do to meet

Education

Personal Responsibility

the demands of the responsibility before us.

But responsibility is often used interchangeably with accountability; however, there is a difference between these words. Being accountable means we are responsible but also answerable for our actions. We often share responsibility with our coach or team but we cannot share our accountability. We are responsible before and after the event; however, we are only accountable after the event.

Consider an athlete preparing for the Olympics. The training, nutrition, recovery and so on are the responsibilities before the Olympics. These responsibilities are also there after the Olympics if the athlete decides to continue training and competing.

The athlete is only answerable – needs to provide an explanation for her actions – if she did not achieve what she set out to do.

Many athletes wish to protect their selfesteem; however, this desire to protect their self-esteem can be so strong that athletes do not invest the time and energy to allow them to improve and prepare well enough to compete in the event.

day and prepare for the next day.

If an athlete feels he is not going to perform well, he might, unbeknownst to himself, create obstacles to justify his failures. These obstacles might be drinking alcohol, taking illegal substances or avoiding training.

These obstacles then seem sufficient to divert attention from blaming themselves if they do fail.

The key to achieving each day’s work is a mix of a sensible system and adaptable strategies with you as the performer working to marshal your strengths.

If an athlete felt she were going to perform poorly in an upcoming competition, then she might make up an excuse for this potential failure by saying: ‘My injury is playing up again’ or ‘I’m feeling under the weather this morning’.

Though these steps seem simple they are not easy. Something that is simple but not easy means that you know what to do but you need to mobilise your energy daily.

People value rewards and rewards support and activate our motivation. Rewards might include a relaxing bath, a warm shower or an energy drink. The most important factor is that the rewards are meaningful to you.

Second, write down what you achieved each day however small or insignificant it might appear to you. Three, make a public declaration of your intentions to family, friends and more. You might choose to post

‘When we cultivate personal responsibility in developing excellence and accept accountability for our actions, we succeed regardless of the outcome.’

Some people avoid being accountable by saying that ‘being there’ is enough or ‘being selected for my country’ is the highest honour. Although these statements may be true, some athletes use these statements as self-handicapping strategies.

Self-handicapping is a cognitive strategy in which people avoid investing effort to manage a potential failure from damaging their self-esteem.

When we cultivate personal responsibility in developing excellence and accept accountability for our actions, we succeed regardless of the outcome.

your intentions publicly and allow the public to hold you to account.

So how can we develop our responsibility and accountability? The first step is to establish what you wish to achieve and your roadmap to achieve that wish. Next, you can plan what you hope to achieve each day on this journey. After planning you can set to work. Finally, you can review each

Name: Dr Paul McCarthy CPsychol

Contact Details

Website: http://www.drpaulmccarthy.com Twitter: @drpaulmccarthy Dr Paul McCarthy has been working wth the scottishathletics National Academy

scottishathletics

39

Education

Nutrition Fruit and vegetables Fruit and veg remain an essential part of the required diet for all athletes.

They are packed full of vitamins, minerals and fibre all of which are essential for good health. The components of fruit and vegetables also protect against disease.

By Rebecca Burns Performance Nutritionist for Sport Wales Institute and Scottish Swimming Edinburgh AC Scotland international at XC

W

hat you eat and drink is important whether you are a recreational or elite athlete.

Making good food choices on a daily basis will ensure that you have enough energy to both train and recover. With so much in the media about nutrition it is not surprising that people get confused but in terms of a healthy balanced diet not much has changed!

It is important to eat well for long-term health but as food plays a massive part in our lives it should be enjoyed.

Carbohydrates Carbohydrates remain to be an important fuel source for athletic performance.

They get a lot of stick but if you want to undertake exercise at a high intensity you need carbohydrate. That does not mean however, that you need a high carbohydrate diet.

The amount of carbohydrate you require will depend on the intensity of your training program. The higher the intensity of your training program the more you will need.

Everyone should be aiming for a minimum of five portions per day and fresh, frozen, dried and tinned all count so there is no excuse! If you don’t like eating whole fruit and veg then why not try disguising in soups and sauces? Smoothies and milkshakes post training are a great time to boost your fruit intake.

Protein Protein is required for building and repairing muscles and it has now been established that protein requirements for athletes is higher than the general population.

As an athlete there are a number of factors that may negatively impact iron status such as inadequate energy intake, rapid growth, menstrual blood loss and foot strike haemolysis Iron cannot be made in the body so you need to ensure that you get everything your body needs through your diet.

Recommended intake for adult males is 9mg per day and females 15mg per day.

Meat sources are great for iron. However, you can obtain sufficient iron from non-meat sources.

For further information please see https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/iron_food_fact_ sheet.pdf Vitamin D Vitamin D plays an important role in many aspects that can impact on the health and training ability of athletes. These include:

However, what has also been established is that along with the amount of protein timing and quality is key to enhancing recovery and *Bone health and risk of stress fractures adaptions to training. *Immune A high-quality protein source such as lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk and milk products such as cottage cheese and Greek yoghurt, beans and pulses, quorn, nuts and seeds should be included at each meal and following high intensity training sessions.

If you want to gain muscle just eating protein will not make you bigger - you need a well-planned resistance training programme alongside adequate energy and carbohydrate.

Key nutrients Calcium

*Muscle function, strength and recovery Due to limited exposure to the sun in the UK, vitamin D deficiency is widespread.

Low vitamin D levels have also been reported among athletes training in the UK, particularly during winter months when sunlight exposure is reduced even further.

Therefore, during the winter months of October to March vitamin D should be supplemented at the recommended amount of 400IU. As an athlete, only batch tested vitamin supplements should be used.

With milk alternatives becoming increasingly Considerations popular it is important to ensure that if you Supplements are not consuming dairy foods that you are getting sufficient calcium.

Following a well-balanced diet, you As carbohydrate stores in the body shouldn’t need to use supplements.

The recommended amount of calcium for are limited, intakes should be spread However, if you do wish to purchase any throughout the day taking into account your the general population is 700mg. But it is thought that athlete require much more supplements it is essential that you assess training needs. Carbohydrates that are easily than this. the need, risk and consequences of anything digested such as white bread, rice, pasta that you are considering taking. and cereal can be consumed in and around Although dairy foods are rich in calcium, exercise. However, where possible, the rest there are many other sources such In order to minimise the risk of of the time you should try to choose slower as fortified foods, bony fish and some contamination of a banned substance any release varieties such as beans, pulses, vegetables. supplement that you take should have been sweet potatoes, brown rice and rye bread. batch tested through informed sport.

For further information please see https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/Calcium.pdf For further information for to PB 2019 | ISSUE 1 http://www.ukad.org.uk/athletes/100percentme Iron

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Ultra Running

Grant MacDonald

Don’t stop him now Garscube Harriers ultra runner Grant MacDonald explains, in his own words, how he recovered from a nasty aneurysm to become one of the Britain’s very best 24-hour runners.

‘Back in 2014, I had a pretty nasty health scare when I suffered a sub-arachnoid brain haemorrhage while out running.

This is caused by a blood vessel in the head rupturing due to a weakness in the vessel known as an aneurysm.

The statistics on this make pretty scary reading: about a third of people will die from this and another third will suffer some kind of permanent brain damage. I was very happy to be amongst the lucky third that go on to make a full recovery.

I would suggest if you are going to have a brain haemorrhage having one out running in the south side of Glasgow is a good a place as any.

When running in Glasgow you are never far from a friendly face who will happily pick up a confused wobbly man and put him in an ambulance. You are also never more than a few miles away from some of the best healthcare available in the country.

Three weeks earlier I had been competing in the Spine race running along the Pennine way in full-on winter conditions. I suspect a brain haemorrhage there might have resulted in a less positive outcome.

So, in many ways, I consider myself to have been very lucky. I found running to be a big help during the recovery process.

Within about a year I was getting back to my previous running levels and started to develop a bit of an obsession with the 24hour race which I used as a target to build towards.

The race format is deceptively simple. Cover the most amount of distance you can in 24

hours over a 400m track loop. No rests, no sleep and the clock never stops.

In Scotland, we seem to have a disproportionate number of runners competing well at international level. In particular, James Stewart and my Garscube Harriers club-mates Debbie and Marco Consani have been a big inspiration to me.

Seeing what these athletes have done inspired me to see if I could hit the qualification distance required for GB team selection.

My first attempt at the Barcelona 24-hour race in 2016 was heart-breaking. The then GB team qualifying standard was 240km.

With five minutes to go, I was on 239km – a seemingly easy five-minute K would see me there.

But my legs ran out of steam and finished on 239.791K! Half a track short . . .

Queen’s “Don’t stop me now” was playing over the P.A. system during that last lap and since then has brought me out cold sweat whenever I hear it. On the plus side, everyone loves a tale of a heroic near-miss and it gave me a decent story to tell instead of banging on endlessly about my Brain haemorrhage.

However, the 24-hour race had got under my skin and I wanted another crack at it after going so close. In December of 2018 I found myself back at Barcelona 24-hour race for another attempt at hitting the GB qualification standard.

A lap by lap recap of a 24-hour race does not make for thrilling reading, so let’s to the important last five minutes again. As seems to be tradition at Barcelona 24-hour race, Queen’s “Don’t stop me now” came on the P.A. system.

This time, Robbie Britton, who was doing a bit of impromptu crewing for me, informed me I had just ticked over 250K. I ran the last five minutes with a massive smile on my face finishing in a heap on 251.373K.

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*Grant duly received GB and NI selection for the World 24-Hour Champs later this year. Congratulations!

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Ultra Running

Jasmin Paris

Jasmin Paris:

. . . Or just following in a long l

Jasmin Paris made national and international headlines with her overall Record and outright win in the Montane Spine race.

Ultra expert, Adrian Stott, reports . . .

For those in the running community of Scotland where Jasmin Paris lives, and the wider fell and trail running scene in Great Britain, her achievements had already been marked out as something special.

Although her Spine Race was a truly phenomenal effort by a very humble but talented athlete, can it be set in perspective against other performances by British women? Over the last 30 years there have been several other instances of women winning races outright in ultra distance with international fields, as Paris did at the Spine. How do they compare?

Debbie Martin Consani:

Most recently, Debbie Martin Consani, a The Spine Race, although truly phenomenal, Great Britain 24-hour international runner was just a continuation of what we have from Glasgow, won the 2012 Grand Union come to expect from her!

Canal race. The 145 mile race runs the length of the GUC from Birmingham to The 35-year-old vet from Gorebridge, just London. outside Edinburgh, has been breaking course records in fell running events in Lizzy Hawker: recent years, some of which had stood for a Lizzy Hawker’s exploits in winning the long time. classic UTMB trail event in the Alps a record 5 times are legendary in their own right Helene Diamantedes: Back in 1992, the first edition of the Dragon’s Back Race took place. It was a 200-mile 5-day multi-stage off-road event, run in pairs, the whole of Wales from north to south. Helene teamed up with Martin Stone to win.

Hilary Walker: In addition the Carnethy runner has twice been British Fell Running Champion; a series made up of results from long, medium and short events over a summer season to assess the best all-round fell runner of the year. So she has been acknowledged as one of the best in Britain at short to long distance fell races for a while.

Her summer of 2016, where she set women’s records for all the 3 classic British long distance mountain rounds – The Lakeland Bob Graham; The Charlie Ramsay Round in the Scottish Highlands; ending with the Paddy Buckley Round in North Wales – has entered fell running folklore.

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Hilary Walker also achieved an outright win against the men when winning the Blackpool 48-hour track race on 5-7 November 1998, recording 366.512 km / 227.73 miles, setting a new women’s world record.

Eleanor Adams-Robinson: Her contemporary Eleanor Adams-Robinson in 1998 won what is still considered to be one of the toughest and hottest ultra marathons in the world – the Badwater Ultra 145-mile event, which involves crossing Death Valley in California.

Are there any conclusions to be drawn from all these outstanding endurance performances from women?

Jasmin’s Spine Race certainly reached out to a much wider audience with modern day social media and live tracking playing its part.

Whether you can compare such different events at different times to state one performance is better than another will just give rise to endless speculation. In their own context, they all remarkable performances.

Sport scientists have long documented theories on why women can excel at long endurance and extreme sports. Personally, having had the unique opportunity to have met and known all of these athletes over the years in some way, I would venture there is just a special, almost unseen, link between all of them.

Yes, they were all naturally athletically gifted, had realised this and worked incredibly hard to reach these pinnacles of performance.

Ultra Running

Jasmin Paris

Superwoman?

line of special female ultra runners However they were all, without exception, pretty down-to-earth people; not really motivated in any great way by fame or money, but intent on just pushing their own boundaries to achieve their own potential, while maintaining a sense of balance and fun at the same time. That, in some ways, is an inner personal quality over and above natural ability.

Something that can’t be essentially taught

but, like endurance and speed, can be nurtured and nourished in the endless hours of training.

Sean Ingle also alluded to this in his wonderful recent article, in the Guardian, when writing on Jasmin’s Spine race performance.

‘There was a purity which harked back to a bygone age of pushing at impossible boundaries for the sheer love of sport and

unfettered adventure.’

That for me, pretty much nailed it, but I would mildly disagree with it being from a bygone age! It has always been happening and continues to happen in the here and now, pretty much well under the radar in many cases.

Jasmin’s Spine performance just got caught full-on in the headlights. And rightly so.

scottishathletics

45

Masters Athletics

Scott McDonald

Back on the road again Scott savours M50 success

M

oorfoot Runners athlete Scott

Running didn’t feature until age 14 when

I set my marathon PB of 2.22.53 in the

McDonald enjoyed a stellar year

I was asked to run cross-country against

Cape Town Marathon in 1994.

as an M50 in 2018, taking three

other schools. I won the race barefoot and

Q.What brought you back to the UK and

national titles for his age-group at half-

my passion for running started then.

marathon, 10K and Mid-Trail and a silver over 1500m on the track. He also ended

Q.How did your running develop from

the year second ranked for the marathon.

there?

Born in Dumfries in 1967, Scott grew up in

A.As a schoolboy I ran track. After

Cape Town, South Africa, with his parents

finishing second U17 in the Western

having emigrated when he was a baby. He

Provence Cross Country Champs I ran more

returned to the UK in 1997 and moved to

cross-country, then later progressed to the

Peebles in 2003.

PB found out more about Scott and his

how did this impact on your running?

A.

I came back to the UK in 1997

following my passion for work in the running shoe business.

I became a rep for Saucony before starting my own agency specializing in running

shoes and apparel. I still had a few years roads which proved to be where my strength good racing in me and ran for Southampton lay as a senior.

Road Runners, then Blackheath Harriers in Kent.

return to competitive racing as a Masters

Between the ages of 18 and 27 I ran for

athlete.

three different clubs: Celtic Harriers, Atlantic I also raced for the Mizuno Racing Club, Road Running Club and Pinelands Running taking part in team relays and racing across

Q. How did you get started as a runner?

A. My schooling was at Wynberg Boys High School where I enjoyed playing cricket, rugby, squash and karate, but most of all I wanted to be a tennis player.

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Club.

I managed bronze medals at Western Provence cross-country and half-marathon champs and I represented the provence at

the UK with many fond memories of training and racing with and against some very talented runners at the time.

1999 was a good year for me, winning a

South African championships across all road Bronze medal in the Scottish Senior 5000m distances and cross-country over the years.

champs. That followed an earlier 10th

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place in the Edinburgh Bupa 10km, a half-

was to keep up with a young local runner

session and a second hard session of fartlek

marathon PB at the Great North Run of just

I started coaching Lucas Cheskin, now of

or hills depending on the time of the year.

over 64min, finishing the Great South Run

Shettleston Harriers.

Q. As an older and wiser athlete, what

in a low 49mins, as well as winning The Dartford Half Marathon in Kent.

Q.Having become 2018 M50 Scottish Champion three times in 2018 at half-

I stopped racing age 34 in 2001.

marathon, 10k and Mid-Trail, as well as

Q.You hit a rich vein of form in 2018.

2nd ranked for the marathon and a silver

What has brought about your resurgence as

favoured distance and terrain these days?

a competitive racer in the M50 age-group?

A.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with

over 1500m on the track, what is your

A.

I was always primarily a road runner

advice would you give to your younger self?

A.

Race less and be a little more

patient.

Q. Looking ahead to 2019, what are your main race targets?

A.

All being well I will be racing The

but in 2018 I really enjoyed the variety of

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) which was a life-

World Masters Trail Championships in

racing over track, road and trail. But for

changing moment being told you can’t drive

Austria in June and I intend having a go at

me the sub-74 half-marathon at Glasgow

any more due to your deteriorating eyesight

the Tiree Ultra in September.

stands out, and topping UK M50 rankings

and getting registered as partially sighted.

for a brief moment.

So I decided with the change in

Q. What does your typical non-race week

Q. And the longer-term plan?

A. Longer term I intend to concentrate

circumstances and not being able to drive,

training look like these days and how does

more on coaching others and running the

to go back to what I have always loved

this compare to 25 years ago?

local parkrun.

doing: running.

A.

Today it would be a 80K week with

I started training a little more to shift some

one hardish session due to not having a

body weight and to see how fit I could be

track in Peebles. Back in the day it would

by the time I turned 50. An added incentive

be a 100K week with one hard track

scottishathletics

47

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