Issuu

Issue 2

PB £2.50

2018

www.scottishathletics.org.uk

INSIDE

Jake’s big break Seb Coe

Gold Coast 2018 20 page Review

The ofﬁcial magazine for members of scottishathletics

Issue 2

PB2018 05 Chief Executive Mark Munro

06 News 07 News 08 Loughborough International 2018 10 Joma Sport - new kit deal 11 Gold Coast 2018 Review 12 Gold Coast: Allison Curbishley 14 Gold Coast: Eilidh Doyle 16 Gold Coast: Mark Dry 17 Gold Coast: Maria Lyle 18 Gold Coast: Seb Coe on Jake Wightman 20 Gold Coast: Five for 2018 22 Gold Coast: Memories 24 Gold Coast: Robbie Simpson 26 Gold Coast: Picture Special 30 Gold Coast: Women’s 4 x 400m National Record-breakers!

31 Track & Field Records 32 #peoplemakeathletics: Diane Ramsay 34 Lindsays Trophy: Garscube Harriers 36 Grassroots Athletics: Maryhill Harriers 37 Grassroots Athletics: Corstorphine AAC 38 Masters Athletics: Chris Upson 39 Hill Running: Ross Gollan

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

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04 Contacts

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llan Dawn A perations fO Head o 2 rg.uk letics.o 080 92 07983 n@scottishath a ll dawn.a itjer ime) Fran Sn Officer (part-t ve .uk Executi 3 tics.org 2 76 73 ishathle 0131 4 .snitjer@scott a francesc fin ic Sport Ian Mir d – Paralymp ea Event L 0 1 rg.uk 4 3 34 letics.o 07827 @scottishath fin ian.mir cDonald – East Jamie M lub Manager lC .org.uk Nationa 0 199 thletics 37 ottisha 07776 nald@sc o cd .m jamie

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Chief Executive Mark Munro

elcome to the latest edition of PB Magazine.

Mark Munro Chief Executive

The period since March appears to have passed in an instant and there’s been much to celebrate during that period. Our starting point must be the success of Scottish athletes as part of Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast. Despite the quota restrictions set by the Commonwealth Games Federation, this was without doubt the strongest overseas contingent assembled in over 20 years. The ﬁrst and last days of competition provided the greatest drama in what was a week of rollercoaster emotions for our athletes, as you will see in our 20-page review section of the magazine. On the ﬁrst day of competition the highlytouted Chris Bennett (Shettleston Harriers) failed to deliver but it was his club teammate and Glasgow 2014 talisman, Mark Dry, who despite the odds stacked against him, provided a stunning medal winning hammer throw.

Scottish Athletics

@SALMarkMunro

Why we salute our history-makers (Doyle, Zoey Clark, Kirsten McAslan and Lynsey Sharp) plus sixth places for Eilish McColgan (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers) in the 1500m and 5,000m events. These athletes also bucked the trend of every other major championship when the host Games team always produces a weaker championship four years later. We certainly

The final day of the Games will be talked about for a very long time – searing heat, wrongly-placed water stations, screw top bottles and the collapse of race leader Callum Hawkins (Kilbarchan AAC) was a sight we will never forget. However, that should not take away from the wonderful performance from Robbie Simpson (Deeside Runners), as the world-renowned mountain runner moved through for a brilliant bronze medal and the fifth medal of the Games for the athletics team. This matched the best away haul since Auckland in 1990 and in a Games that had more than 50 nations competing in athletics. Our other medal winners deserve great credit as well: Eilidh Doyle (Pitreavie AAC) produced her third individual silver medal in a row at the Commonwealth Games in the 400m Hurdles. She was also bestowed the honour of Opening Ceremony Flag Bearer by her Team Scotland teammates. Maria Lyle (Team East Lothian) also won a silver medal in the T35 100m, a great performance from the teenager. Jake Wightman (Edinburgh AC) won a brilliant bronze in the 1500m after coming so close in the 800m final (fourth) a couple of days before. To back up the medals there were also two further fourth places for Sammi Kinghorn (Red Star AC) in the wheelchair 1500m and marathon; a fifth place for the women’s 4x400m team in a new national record

Scotland between 2012 and 2014. This is a significant move by the organisation and we are keen to ensure that our talent and performance system is transparent and robust with strong expertise and leadership. I am confident that we have shown that commitment by recruiting Stephen who is widely acclaimed for driving the success of the British sprints and relay programme that resulted in four medals at last year’s World Championships, as well as winning Coach of the Year at last year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Stephen will commence in September following the European Championships and has assured me that he is here for the long-term and his reason for returning is the fact that he truly believes that there is significant talent in Scotland with a real opportunity to progress to world level.

upset that trend by increasing the medal count, and with one or two signiﬁcant athletes absent. I would personally like to recognise role of all the coaches, support teams and clubs that have supported this ﬁne crop of athletes during their development – a wonderful achievement. Keeping with a performance focus just now, it is great to have seen the recordbreaking performances by up-and-coming athletes with the likes of Beth Dobbin (200m), Alisha Rees (U20 100m) and Joel McFarlance (U20 Combined Events) all improving records recently. We must also thank Rodger Harkins, Performance Director for three and a half years, who has now retired from scottishathletics following the Games. However, we were delighted to announce Stephen Maguire is to return to Scotland as our new Director of Performance and Coaching. Stephen is currently Head of Power at British Athletics but had a major impact in

Meanwhile, domestic athletics is as busy as ever and clubs continue to play the key role in delivery. Supporting clubs remains, and will always remain, a central focal point to our work at scottishathletics. Our aim is to support and develop a strong, modern and sustainable club system that recruits and retains skilled coaches, ofﬁcials and club leaders. Investing in people in clubs and the support to, retention and recruitment of, and deployment of good people, is the single most important factor and enabler in delivering success for athletics in Scotland. Another important development in recent months has been the re-introduction of the ‘Thistle Awards’, now using an online platform in which to support members. Lastly, it remains important that we continue to encourage as many of our club athletes to compete at the appropriate level: ‘Competition – It’s What You Train For.’ Mark Munro CEO, scottishathletics

scottishathletics

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

NEWS ‘Since his time in Scotland, Stephen and I have maintained a strong working relationship over the last four years and his return to Scotland was a prospect we spoke about often as having potential to happen in the future. ‘For this to then become a reality so soon, given his signiﬁcant successes at the London 2017 World Champs and the Rio Olympics a year earlier, is a real coup for scottishathletics and indeed athletics in Scotland.’ For his part, Maguire is thrilled to pick up the threads of work he started a few years ago and maintained in recent times – including that ﬁve-medal haul at Gold Coast 2018.

Stephen set to return

tephen Maguire will return to Scotland as the new Director of Performance & Coaching for scottishathletics.

The man who is currently Head of Power at British Athletics will ﬁll the vacancy created by the departure of Rodger Harkins, who left just after the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

return to Scotland will be viewed by many observers as a very signiﬁcant recruit. Stephen also won Coach of the Year at last year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards along with Benke Blomkvist and Christian Malcolm following the London 2017 relay success.

Northern Irishman Maguire was Director of Coaching with scottishathletics between 2012 and 2014 and made a signiﬁcant impact during that time.

‘It is fantastic news that Stephen will join us as the new Director of Performance & Coaching on a full time basis,’ said Mark Munro, chief executive of scottishathletics.

Now widely acclaimed for driving the success of the British sprints and relay programme that resulted in four medals at last year’s World Championships, his

‘He is certainly recognised as having played a major part in the current success in Scotland given his impact with coaches and athletes between 2012 and 2014.

accustomed to handing out cross country medals than receiving one. To make it even more special for this huge stalwart for athletics in Scotland, we believe Alex to be the ﬁrst in the sport to be recognised for his contribution to cross country (rather than other disciplines). Many congratulations to Alex from all at scottishathletics after almost 35 years lex Jackson landed a richly-deserved in roles as a cross country ofﬁcial and honour in the Queen’s Birthday list administrator, notably with the East League with the award of Membership of the from 1988 and with SAL from 2008 to 2015 and including a role as Competition British Empire. manager for the World Cross in Edinburgh 2018 | ISSUE It is aPB wonderful moment1 for a man far more 10 years ago.

A 6

‘I am delighted to be returning to Scotland and have committed for the long term,’ said Stephen. ‘I thoroughly enjoyed my time before; I love the country and the people. But the real reason for returning is the fact that I believe that there is signiﬁcant talent in Scotland with a real opportunity to progress to world level. ‘I do feel I have unﬁnished business here and know that we can make a real impact through supporting coaches, athletes and clubs to deliver on that stage.’ Stephen may maintain a high level strategic role at British Athletics overseeing the relay programme. *PB went to press shortly before the British Championships and Euro Trials and ahead of the selections for Berlin 2018.

‘I am hugely thrilled and honoured to receive an MBE for services to cross country,’ Alex told us. ‘My thanks to the many people I have worked with on cross country over the years: they know who they are . . .’ Congratulations also to Para athletics coach, Gordon Robertson. The long-time Red Star AC coach is a past Paralympic medallist and world 400m champion. Gordon was similarly delighted with the news and tweeted his thanks to both scottishathletics and the Paralympic community in Britain for all their support.

town in 2019 is a dream come true,’ said Laura, who turned 25 in May. ‘Racing in front of a home-crowd just provides an extra level of excitement, I have never felt support like I do when I am competing in Scotland. ‘If I could win a gold medal in front of a Scottish crowd on my home track that will be a highlight of my career and a moment for me to remember for the rest of my life.’ Returning to Glasgow after 29 years, the European Athletics Indoor Championships will once again put Glasgow and Scotland on the map as a world-class destination for international sporting events. Sport Minister Aileen Campbell said: ‘Laura is the perfect ambassador for next year’s Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow.

‘I love a home Games’ – Laura

aura Muir has been confirmed as the first official ambassador for the European Athletics Indoor Championships, which will take place in Glasgow in March 2019. The championships will take place at the Emirates Arena between 1-3 March 2019 with more than 650 athletes from over 45 countries competing. Over the three days of competition, the event also hopes to attract over 18,000 spectators. Laura has become a household name since running into the history books in 2016 when she broke the British 1500m Record held by double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes with an outstanding time of 3:55.22. She was also selected to represent Team GB in Rio the same year, where she finished seventh.

‘She has established herself as a real star on the track, and her recent performances at the World Indoor Championships proved her a force to be reckoned with, and a true inspiration and role model to encourage other girls to take up sport.

In 2017 at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade, Laura once again stole the limelight when she became European Indoor Champion in both the 1500m and 3000m.

‘With Glasgow 2018 just around the corner, Scotland’s reputation for great sporting events is growing stronger, and I look forward to seeing what Laura – and her competitors – will bring to the field next And Laura’s medal-winning streak continued year.’ earlier this year when she went on to Billy Garrett, Director of Sport and Events at win silver in the 1500m and bronze in Glasgow Life and Co-Chair of the Glasgow the 3000m at the IAAF World Indoor 2019 Steering Committee, said: ‘We are Championships in Birmingham. delighted that Laura has come on board as Having just completed her finals at the an ambassador for the European Athletics University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Indoor Championships in 2019. Medicine, Laura has set her sights back ‘Laura is a fantastic athlete and ambassador on training and hopes to retain her title not only for her sport but also for Scotland. in at least one discipline at next year’s We are confident that her support will give championships in Glasgow. the event a huge boost.’ ‘I had the most amazing time at the event in Belgrade in 2017 so for the European The Emirates Arena was built for the Indoor Championships to come to my home Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

ames Stewart had a tremendous performance in the IAU European 24hour championships – landing a team silver medal.

Para star Jo Butterﬁeld joined us for the scottishathletics kit deal launch with Joma Sport – and it was good to hear the thrower will soon be back in action.

The VP-Glasgow athlete ﬁnished 11th with a distance of 244.35K (151.83 miles) and helped GB and NI men’s team to those team silvers. This year’s event was held in Timisoara, Romania, on a 1.22 km loop and started at 10am on the Saturday in warm conditions.

Jo actually ﬁrst sustained a shoulder injury almost two years ago while in Rio for the Paralympics but now hopes to compete in the WPA Europeans this summer.

‘That was a tough old race out there but the last 10 hours was some of the best I’ve ever run,’ said James, who is coached by Paul Giblin.

‘I have just been signed off to start training so that is quite a nice feeling,’ said Jo. ‘‘I had a labral tear, and it was operated on in October. The whole shoulder was loose so it all got tightened up. I hate rehab, but a bit of it is always going to be in my programme from now on. ‘

*************************************

As part of our ongoing work to uphold the principles and values of equality across our sport, scottishathletics have established an Equality and Diversity Advisory Group to assist us in leading the way. And we are delighted to conﬁrm we have now recruited three members from a variety of backgrounds, experienced and perspectives who are committed and passionate about equality - Noanie Heffron, Xabier Cid and John Owens.

scottishathletics

Loughborough International

e n ﬁ e b l l i w e Nin

Kirsty Law

Mark Dry

Allan Smith

omentum can sometimes be hard to deﬁne or identify in sport.

A bit like conﬁdence – and the two are often connected – it’s impossible to measure in actual terms. But few who witnessed a number of performances by Scottish athletes at the 2018 Loughborough International would dispute the impact. It certainly felt like momentum as no fewer than nine Scots left the Paula Radcliffe stadium as event winners in the 60th edition of the annual early-season match.

PB 2018 | ISSUE 2

Kirsten McAslan

Sol Sweeney

Beth Dobbin Seven of those were wearing the new Joma Sport Scotland kit and two more represented host team, Loughborough University, as Kirsten McAslan and Jamie Williamson posted track wins. Thanks to the good offices of Arnold Black, the scottishathletics Official Historian, we can confirm the seven event wins in Scotland vests by Mark Dry, Grant Plenderleith, Kirsty Law, Beth Dobbin, Allan Smith, Jemma Reekie and Sol Sweeney matches the best ever tally of seven achieved by Scotland back in 2000 at Loughborough.

Grant Plenderleith

Jemma Reekie

Jamie Williamson

That’s quite an achievement given the number of visits to the event down the years, albeit that the overall match score placed Scotland ﬁfth once 4 x 100m Relay team results were added (with the 4 x 400m races not within the match). As it happened, McAslan and Dobbin savoured a 4 x 400m Relay win, too, for Loughborough as did Plenderleith for a GB select quartet on an excellent day for those three track athletes. In fact, Dobbin’s 23.14 PB in the 200m was the second equal best run all-time by a Scottish woman (non-windy performances)

Loughborough International

- and a testament to the determination of the 23-year-old who missed the Gold Coast 2018 qualifying time by one hundredth of a second last summer. Dry threw 72.35 in his fifth round to win the competition from Loughborough Uni’s Taylor Campbell, a GB U23 international, by just 4cm. ‘I really wanted to get the win as Scotland captain and lead by example for the team,’ said Mark, who had addressed the full team at the hotel the night before the match. ‘It was a tough comp and I wasn’t throwing too well initially. The hip hurt and I am sore now but I came up with a 72.35m and that was enough with Taylor Campbell, throwing for Loughborough, at 72.31m. I will see how it feels later next week with a GB appearance coming up in Germany. ‘In terms of today, I’m so proud to be captain. I’ve been on teams here before and people like Eilidh Doyle have been the captain. And other years I was selected for Loughborough rather than for Scotland. ‘I told the other athletes on Saturday night to take real pride in the vest. It is an individual sport, yes, but I think there’s a real team spirit with Scotland at the moment and I think it means more to us than to other teams. ‘I and others won’t be around forever in the sport so it is up to the younger ones – and there were a number of athletes here competing at Loughborough for Scotland for the first time – to carry the baton. We have a lot of talent around at the moment but, of course, it is small talent pool in Scotland in population terms.’ Plenderleith pulled off a superb win in the Men’s 400m as he stormed home in a PB of 46.60 in a race that featured the likes of fellow GB internationals Lee Thompson and Owen Smith. ‘I wanted to run under 47 seconds here today with the conditions good but to get a PB of 46.60 (from 46.65) and win the race wearing the Scotland vest is just a brilliant feeling,’ said Grant. ‘It’s my first win in six visits to Loughborough and I just kept working hard and tried to keep my form over the last few strides. ‘I wasn’t too aware of what else was happening and ran my own race. I’m trying to get in the mix for the European Championship selections this summer and we will see what happens.’

‘The experienced athletes, Mark Dry, Allan Smith and Kirsty Law all triumphed; Kirsty winning her event for the ﬁrst time in a record 11th appearance. It was pleasing to see them backed up by a new generation of winners in Sol Sweeney, Jemma Reekie, Grant Plenderleith and Beth Dobbin.’ Arnold Black scottishathletics Historian

‘My dad, Jim, is from Dunfermline and he is always so proud to see me race in a Scotland vest so the win means a lot. He’s always keen for me to beat the English!’ Reekie clocked a new PB of 4.11.96 to win the 1500m race in ﬁne style, with Megan Davies sixth for BUCS in 4.22.18. ‘I like to run hard and run from the front if I can but it was tough today as it is pretty warm,’ said Jemma. ‘But I’ve managed a PB to add to one last week for the 800m and that’s decent for early-season.’

McAslan took the win, as well, in the Women’s 400m Hurdles as she recorded 59.01 to win from England’s Georgina Rogers with Mhairi Patience seventh in 60.39.

There was also a Guest race 200m win for Chloe Lambert, who had raced for Scotland in the 4 x 100m. Lambert won in 24.69. Adam Clayton was sixth in the men’s 200m match race with 21.83.

‘It was a bit of a scrappy race but it was nice to win it and I’ve not yet raced the 400m Hurdles event all that often - I just fancied a change so we will see how I get on,’ said Kirsten.

Mhairi Hendry took second in the 800m race with a SB performance at the time of 2.03.61 with Edinburgh AC U20 athlete, Sam Brown, close to a PB with 1.51.70 for seventh in the men’s race. Williamson’s 1500m win came in a race which also saw a PB for Ben Potrykus at 3.49.03.

Smith won the high jump in 2.23m from rival Chris Baker.

Zara Asante took third in the Women’s triple jump with 12.45m while Kelsey Stewart was ﬁfth in the Women’s 400m with 54.70. Alisha Rees, who raced for GB and NI in a 4 x 100m relay, was third in ‘After Mark and Grant posted wins early the Women’s 100m in a Loughborough Uni in the day I did feel a wee bit of extra vest in 11.72 with Scotland’s Katy Wyper in responsibility to try and do my bit for the sixth at 12.05. Michael Olsen was seventh team,’ said Allan. ‘I’ve had two competitions in the 100m in 10.76 on a day when the since Gold Coast at BUCS and then here Edinburgh AC athlete also represented GB and won them both - and this one was a and NI in the 4 x 100m relay. step-up in standard from BUCS.’ Scott Huggins was third in the men’s Pole And Kirsty Law was an individual Vault with 4.95m, Ciaran Wright ﬁfth in the event winner, as well, on the day her shot at 15.36 and Jack Lawrie was fourth 11th appearance for Scotland at the in the 400m Hurdles in 51.26 in a race Loughborough International gave her a where Declan Gall took seventh in 53.03. record after last year joining Eilidh Doyle Andrew Murphy was sixth in the 110m and Kathryn Evans on 10 appearances. Hurdles in 15.18. ‘Scotland equalled its best ever return of seven event wins at the Loughborough International, a feat last achieved in 2000.

‘I surprised myself there with a decent throw in the opening round,’ said Kirsty. ‘I will take that for this stage in the year and it was really ﬁtting to win the match event on the day of that appearance Record after sharing it last year with Eilidh and Kath.’ Dobbin’s excitement at a 200m victory in a new PB of 23.14 was clear for all the see in the Paula Radcliffe Stadium - as she smashed her previous best of 23.31 and the opposition. ‘I’m so excited by that because I want to get under 23 seconds this season and now I really do believe that is achievable,’ said Beth, who actually works at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium in Loughborough on reception at the high performance centre.

Paul Ogun was fifth in the men’s long jump with 7.21m, with Alessandro Schenini competing for GB at seventh and Aidan Quinn was seventh in the triple jump in 14.42m. Mhairi Porterfield was sixth in the shot with 12.27m; Heather Paton was fifth in the 100m Hurdles in 15.84; Greg Millar fourth in the javelin in 67.40m; Natalie Robbins was sixth in the hammer with 54.83m. Sweeney topped the day off for Scotland with that 3000m win in 8.06.91 – well inside his outdoor PB for the event.

scottishathletics

Joma Sport scottishathletics were delighted to confirm a new national team partnership deal with Joma Sport, the Spanish sportswear giants, earlier this summer. The partnership follows on from strong performances and medal success at both the IAAF World Indoors in Birmingham and the Commonwealth Games in Australia. Now a new arrangement, which is for an initial two years, will see Joma Sport providing all national team and team management kit for all Scotland representative teams heading towards the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. Joma Sport will also give support to emerging athletes through the scottishathletics National Academy, individual athlete arrangements, as well as offering the benefit of exclusive deals to Scottish affiliated clubs and individual members. Currently technical kit sponsors of Swansea City FC, Partick Thistle FC and St Mirren FC, Joma Sport will produce bespoke competition kit designs for scottishathletics teams across all disciplines and age groups. A special edition kit was worn at the Loughborough International match on Sunday 20 May. ‘We’re absolutely delighted to be working with Joma Sport on what is a fantastic partnership for athletics in Scotland,’ said scottishathletics chief executive, Mark Munro, who has worked closely with Joma Sports to deliver the deal. ‘They are probably better known as a football kit supplier in the UK, but they are actually a major athletics and leisurewear supplier throughout Europe and South America. ‘Through their long-standing partnership with athletics in Spain, they have shown Joma Sport kit launch (L-R): Jo Butterfield, Chris Bennett, Holly McArthur, Allan Smith, Mhairi Hendry, Mark Dry

PB 2018 | ISSUE 2

‘The new kit feels really good and everything was the right ﬁt. It’s good Joma Sport have experience of athletics with other countries and I think Scottish athletes are going to really like and enjoy their new Scotland kit.’ Mhairi Hendry, GB and Scotland international. a real quality in the development of performance sportswear, and I’m sure our Scottish athletes will be excited about the new designs. ‘We have over 300 international ‘vest’ opportunities available to Scottish athletes every year across all disciplines and the partnership offers an exciting opportunity for both Joma Sport and scottishathletics to deliver great value, both to the national team athletes, the National Academy and the wider athletics and running community in Scotland.’ Andrew Barrowman, Joma Sport Brand Manager for Scotland, said: ‘Athletics in Scotland is at an all-time high, you just need to look at the results from last year’s World Championships in London, the World Indoors in March or the recent Commonwealth Games.

‘We at Joma Sport are delighted to partner with scottishathletics and athletics in Scotland as a whole. ‘We look forward to supporting the international athletes, aspiring youngsters through the National Academy as well as providing beneﬁts to anyone involved in athletics or running in clubs or other programmes.’ More information on the partnership will follow shortly, including updates on beneﬁts to clubs and individual members *Joma Sport is a 100% Spanish company dedicated to manufacturing and selling sports equipment. Joma Sport is the most important Spanish Brand, with the highest sales volume around the world and within the top ten sports brands worldwide.

Gold Coast 2018 PB Review

Flying the ďŹ‚ag for Scotland

scottishathletics

Gold Coast 2018 PB Review

Miles better Now we’re ﬁve alive says sole ‘98 medallist Allison Curbishley ‘I think young athletes at, say, Fife AC can look at some of those performances and feel that is something they must be aspiring to achieve.’ By Peter Jardine

llison Curbishley is now a familiar name on BBC coverage of athletics and as partner to Steve Cram.

She remains prominent in the athletics archive in Scotland with her achievements including a 1998 Commonwealth Games medal in the 400m as well as some fast times. But, through no fault of her own, Curbishley’s podium place in Kuala Lumpur that year also effectively sticks out as a marker for lean years for athletics in Scotland.

Small wonder, then, that Curbishley was doing cartwheels in the Carrara Stadium – where she was working for BBC Radio Five Live – when five medals became the best haul since 1990. Now she believes Gold Coast 2018 success can breed success, with athletes and coaches stepping up in years to come and the role models our Team Scotland athletes have become helping inspire the next generation if good development work at clubs is maintained. ‘I was in Kuala Lumpur with Team Scotland back in 1998 and I was the only medallist in track and field unfortunately,’ reflected Curbishley, now 41.

Allison was the single track and ﬁeld medallist at that Commonwealth Games in what represents the nadir in recent decades. ‘We only had a team of seven or eight athletes as I recall. It was hard times and looking at the Commonwealths around that period, then two medals in athletics was pretty much about it every time.

‘I think to get four in Glasgow and another ﬁve in Australia shows real signs of progress – there is no doubt there’s something really positive happening.’ Allison was at our Annual Awards Dinner late in 2016 when Steve Cram was Guest of Honour and we celebrated big involvement in the Rio Olympics and Paralympics. That night, she was able to see for herself the vibrant club community in Scotland. ‘For me, what Gold Coast 2018 does is give youngsters in Scotland something to relate to and aim for in the future,’ she told PB.

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‘I think young athletes at, say, Fife AC can

Best medal tally since 1990 Five medals. One more than Glasgow 2014. Three more than Delhi 2010. And well above the ‘par’ for athletics within Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games which sits at about 3.5 medals with 70 achieved (prior to Gold Coast 2018) across 19 Games. Two silvers. Three bronzes. The gold medal remains elusive. One in throws, one in Para sport, one in hurdles, one in endurance on the track and one in marathon. It is a decent spread given signiﬁcant gaps in the team, most obviously in sprints in particular and also across throws and jumps. Nine medals have been won in the past two Games to match the tally from the previous ﬁve – a positive sign on growth, surely - although of course there have been changes to the number of events, the number of athletes in teams, the number of countries entered and so on. Here’s the recent record on athletics medals: Auckland 1990: Five Victoria 1994: Two Kuala Lumpur 1998: One Manchester 2002: Two Melbourne 2006: Two Delhi 2010: Two Glasgow 2014: Four Gold Coast 2018: Five

Allison Curbishley

look at some of those performances and feel that is something they must be aspiring to. ‘When I came through in athletics, people kept telling me about Linsey Macdonald’s times. They would say ‘yes, it’s great you did this or ran that, but are you going to beat Linsey Macdonald’s Records?’ I didn’t know her or meet her but it deﬁnitely inspired me and gave me something to chase. ‘I think you have got that now in Scottish athletics and we’ve seen the progress of younger ones. ‘Jake Wightman has made a big step forward in Australia and it is exciting to

think what he can do from here. He was so impressive over four races in a matter of days and that was really impressive.

‘The other aspect is that these Scots are

‘Eilidh Doyle has been magniﬁcent and to think in 2017 she has individual medals at the World indoors on the ﬂat and now over hurdles at the Commonwealths. And part of a National Record in the Relays. Wow. That is quite a performance already for 2018.

only time a team really came together was

‘Yes, there were disappointments and Lynsey Sharp will be kicking herself for not at least making the ﬁnal. She told me she was watching that ﬁnal feeling so angry and disappointed not be there. She will come back and you have Laura Muir and Andy Butchart not there, obviously.

now forming a big part of the GB team. So it is totally different from years ago when the at a Commonwealths. There were athletes in the Gold Coast who were at Glasgow, Rio and London 2017 and they should learn and grow from that. There is clear evident of that. ‘So I think it is exciting times. People in clubs will be excited and so will young athletes and that’s what you need to happen to keep a pathway open for those who can make it to the top.’

scottishathletics

Gold Coast 2018 PB Review

Trust When it comes to big Janieve Russell soon established a winning advantage (eventually taking it in 54.33) but Eilidh, trusting her stride pattern, had to surge off the ﬁnal bend to get beyond Nel and move from the bronze medal position to the silver.

ilidh Doyle once climbed up to the top of the roof of Hampden to ﬂy the ﬂag for Scotland.

Five years on from that iconic photo shoot at the start of the countdown to Glasgow 2014, the 400m hurdles expert remains very much the track and ﬁeld standardbearer for Team Scotland. Dusk was falling that night in September 2013 for that memorable promotional shot but, right now, there’s no real sign of the sun setting on Doyle’s formidable record of athletics achievement.

‘It was deﬁnitely the hardest to achieve looking at the strength of the three ﬁnals I’ve been involved in at Delhi 2010, Hampden and then Australia. ‘Glasgow meant a lot to me because I was at home. But, to me, the silver was always what was expected of me in 2014. It was always going to be a tall order to win the gold and, if I hadn’t won silver, it would probably have been a bad champs for me. ‘At Gold Coast 2018, I could have run the best race possible and still not come away with a medal. So to be able to leave it all on the track and get a medal means the world to me.’

When she sank to the track in the Carrara Stadium after completing a hat-trick of silver medals at the Commonwealths, tears of Doyle had breezed through her heat earlier relief and satisfaction flowed. in the week, picking up the form she had shown at the World Indoors even though it Barely a week earlier, Eilidh had led out was a first hurdles race since the previous Team Scotland at the Opening Ceremony September. as the official flag-bearer this time and that simply added to the tension and expectation In the final, the threat from three Jamaicans the 31-year-old puts on herself to perform and South African Wenda Nel was – every time she pulls on a vest at a major obvious. champs. ‘I am thrilled to win a medal for the third time in a row at the Commonwealths and this one means the most to me, I’m sure,’ said Eilidh, with her roll of honour at major championships now at a remarkable 15 medals.

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The Scottish Record holder’s time of 54.80 was quicker than her runs in both Delhi eight years before and in Glasgow in 2014. ‘That was hard work, I’m not going to lie,’ she added. ‘I was actually really happy with how the race went. I said after the heat that I was just looking to execute my race and not make any mistakes – and I would be happy with the outcome. ‘That’s what I did. But obviously there was a lot more going on in the race. ‘I knew, coming down the home straight, that there was a line of us and I had to make sure I got that last hurdle right. Thankfully I did. And thankfully I just managed to hang on and get a silver medal. ‘I was just so thrilled. It’s been a long day, it’s been a long build-up to this competition as well. ‘Coming round that ﬁnal bend, you are just trying to execute your right race.

Eilidh Doyle

Eilidh stage, Doyle delivers You’re not worrying about everything that goes on around you, just focusing on that next hurdle and trying not to do anything silly. Don’t add any extra strides. ‘Thankfully I did it ﬁne, all well enough to win a medal.’ A student of the sport, and having been around so long, Eilidh knows exactly what it takes to make the podium. Perhaps that why she keeps on delivering . . . ‘People always think that the Commonwealth Games are a little bit easier

Throw in the additional burden as the undoubted ‘team leader’ for athletics and arguably the silver lining was even more special. ‘Was there added pressure as flag-bearer, oh yes definitely! ‘Then (Stadium announcer) Geoff Wightman mentioned the flag-bearer bit right at the start, when he announced the line-up. I was thinking: “Oh, cheers for that, Geoff …” ‘You forget about that when you run the race, you go on to autopilot. But it was a real special moment. ‘And there were so many Scotland flags out there, as well. That made the lap of honour even more special.

the Games and then of course there was all the media about the ﬂag-bearing and the Opening Ceremony itself,’ said Eilidh. ‘It was tiring and I was watching a lot of the other sports and supporting people. In Glasgow, I was in and out of the Athletes Village but that wasn’t the case at Gold Coast. ‘I just wanted to do my bit for Team Scotland – and I’m glad to have done that.’ From Eilidh Doyle, once again, there was no ﬂagging whatsoever once she stepped onto the track.

‘I was really focused at the start. You have to be. I was trying to focus on the job in hand, you can get caught up in everything else that’s going on around you. ‘But you have to remember that it’s still 400 metres, it’s still ten hurdles. That’s what I’m always thinking. I just had to switch on and

Eilidh’s 400m Hurdles Commonwealths Hat-trick Delhi 2010 2nd in 55.62 Glasgow 2014 2nd in 55.02 Gold Coast 2018 2nd in 54.80

‘I just wanted to do my bit for Team Scotland – and I’m glad to have done that.’ than other championships,’ she went on. ‘But, when you see the calibre of athletes out there, it’s a strong event. It’s probably the strongest ﬁeld I’ve ever raced against at a Commonwealth Games. ‘So I knew this would be the toughest shot at winning a medal. I was just so chuffed to get one. I know it’s a silver but I’m so proud of it. It means so much to me.’

focus.’ Already 2018 has offered up major success with a bronze in the ﬂat 400m at Birmingham at the World Indoors preceding Gold Coast 2018. The European Championships in Berlin are the next target and, further down the line, a Euro 2019 appearance at the Emirates Arena next March could be another moment to savour. ‘I was out in Australia for a while before

‘If ever an athlete looked prepared for competition, Eilidh Doyle is that athlete. Yet again, she performed superbly to gain a third silver medal becoming only the second Scot to gain a medal at three consecutive games (Yvonne Murray was the other). In a more competitive hurdles event than in Glasgow, she was the only one of the medallists to match her qualifying time in the Gold Coast 2018 ﬁnal.‘ Arnold Black, scottishathletics Historian

scottishathletics

Gold Coast 2018 PB Review

Not a Dry eye in the house By Stewart Fisher

T was the best throw of his life. And his last throw of the dice ...

Injury-ravaged hammer thrower Mark Dry was “in bits” after he landed his second Commonwealth Games bronze medal in a row with a desperate last-round effort at the Carrara Stadium.

Since the Rio Olympics, he has undergone two hip reconstructions, missed out on UK Athletics funding, and questioned as to whether he would ever be the athlete he used to be. A few weeks ago, the strain even told with a disc injury. Yet judging by the courage he showed in Australia, there is nothing wrong with his heart. Fourth going into his ﬁnal throw, he nailed a season’s best of 73.12 metres to take third behind England’s Nick Miller and Australia’s Matthew Denny, regardless of the toll the exertions would almost certainly take on his body.

There was hardly a dry eye in the house either, when you considered the litany of setbacks this 30-year-old has had to endure since becoming the only home male track and ﬁeld medal winner at Glasgow 2014. Dry, donned his kilt to walk out to the circle in the Carrara Stadium – almost as if he wanted to replicate his Hampden heroics.

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Mark’s compatriot, Chris Bennett, had unfortunately failed to even make the second three throws after a poor performance that was unexpected after throws of 74m and 75m just before the Games. ‘I know it’s not the best distance of my career but it’s by far the best throw of my career,’ said Dry afterwards. ‘I was either going to medal or I was going to bomb out and put it in the cage. You can’t go half measures with stuff like that. I was willing to leave my leg in there, fall over, whatever. But I’m a ﬁghter.

Mark Dry & Maria Lyle

‘All the guys on the team they know about the surgery. They know my back blew up the other week. I’ve got discs popping out. My back’s a mess, my hip’s a mess. I was on crutches for eight weeks. I couldn’t throw until December/January. ‘Both surgeries were the same. They took the ligament out in the ﬁrst surgery, I’ve got no cartilage left, my movement was all over the place. I had to modify all my training and my movements. I can’t squat, I knew I wasn’t able to anchor in my throws. ‘I’ve been practising a certain way but we were outside yesterday, changed everything and gambled on it. I knew I wouldn’t medal that way so I had to commit to hammering into my left side. But now my hip’s in bits. I’ve been smashing pain killers for the last three weeks but I just can’t believe I’ve pulled it off. ‘I came out wearing the kilt and I’m not saying that made me think I would medal or anything like that but it was just that I am so proud to be here and represent Scotland. ‘You have to try and be competitive. And,

Lyle’s silver lining Maria Lyle landed a second athletics medal for Team Scotland as she claimed silver in the T35 100m sprint final – in her first Commonwealth Games appearance. The 18-year-old from Dunbar held her nerve after a delayed start to the race in the Carrara Stadium won by Australian Isis Holt, who had very much been the prerace favourite. It took the medal count to two for athletics at the time, following on from the bronze for Mark Dry in the hammer on the opening afternoon in Australia, and Lyle savoured the moment on the podium Down Under. Maria already has a clutch of European, World and Paralympic medals and can now add Commonwealth to that list after a run of 15.14 in the T35 classification final over 100m. ‘It’s a silver medal for Team Scotland and I am really pleased to have played my part for the team, ‘ said modest Maria.

when it came down to it, it was just about performing under pressure. That’s what this game is all about when you are out there.’ Dry ﬁnished sixth in Delhi in 2010 and then

‘I was nervous on the start-line standing up there and then there was a bit of a delay – I don’t even know why that happened. It was the biggest crowd I have raced in front

who is a two-time World champion in the event. Maria had taken silver and bronze behind Holt on both those previous occasions.

took that memorable bronze at Glasgow 2014. ‘I loved it at Hampden and Glasgow will always be special for me – I had lived in the city and I was surrounded by happy Scots,’ he said. ‘It was a different stadium in Australia but still pretty special, too. That throw was better than I threw in Glasgow, for sure, but I am just happy with medals at consecutive Commonwealth Games. I will take that happily.’ Even hard men cry sometimes, and not just Dry’s countryman Bennett, inconsolable after his 10th-place ﬁnish. ‘There were a few tears,’ said Dry. ‘I greet all the time.’ *Stewart Fisher was the Herald’s correspondent at Gold Coast 2018.

‘It’s a silver medal for Team Scotland and I am really pleased to have played my part for the team, ‘ of even though I have been lucky enough to compete at a few championship events already over the past few years. ‘‘I deﬁnitely could have run better and I don’t feel like it was anything close to my best, but it was second place at the end of the day. ‘I saw a lot of Scottish ﬂags and heard the shouts – my mum, Susan, is over here and we will get together now and have some time. It’s been fun being with Team Scotland and the training camp was good.’ In truth, the event had seemed hand-picked for Holt, the 16-year-old from Canberra

Now it seems there could be a reclassification which will alter the look of an event, with the last-placed finisher in the T35 final at Gold Coast almost 13 seconds behind the winner, and perhaps create a more level playing field. ‘We are all getting classified and the sport is changing,’ added Maria, who returned home from the Games for exams. ‘The IPC are taking steps to make it fairer and I am doing my bit myself getting re-classified.’

scottishathletics

Gold Coast 2018 PB Review

This can be Jake’s

Breakthrough moment A

smile as wide as the Forth at Silverknowes split across the features of Jake Wightman as he once again passed through the media zone in the Carrara Stadium at Gold Coast 2018. ‘Yeah, it has been good and I am loving it – but the hardest bit is still to come tomorrow!’ It was Friday around noon at that stage when we put to him that he had to feel good at having delivered three superb middle distance races over just four days – his 800m semi-final, fourth place in the 800m final and then, only 12 hours after that agonising denouement in the twolap distance, an assured progress to the 1500m final. The 1500m final loomed up barely 25 hours later back at the Carrara in what was undoubtedly a huge ask in endurance terms, even though no lesser a figure than Lord Sebastian Coe had declared his faith in Wightman’s ability to deliver. We need not have worried. The sun-kissed Australian arena was to become Jake’s field of dreams as he summoned up the best performance of that four-in-five-days sequence to seize Team Scotland’s first medal in the men’s 1500m at the Commonwealth Games for fully 40 years (since John Robson won bronze in

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Edmonton, Canada). And he did so against the backdrop of commentary in the stadium from his delighted dad and coach, Geoff, the former scottishathletics chief executive . . . With Geoff still on the microphone, Jake bounded through that same media zone at the Carrara and indulged in high ﬁves and embraces for the likes of Team Scotland staff Mike Johnston and Mark Pollard in appreciation of diligent support over many years since his formative moments in the sport Later, after the return home, members of the Scottish Schools AA spoke in glowing terms of the way he conducted himself as a teenager on teams. In that memorable ﬁnal Jake clocked 3.35.97 to come home in a secure third behind Kenyans Timothy Cheruiyot and gold medallist Elijah Manangoi. Who else but Lord Coe himself would duly present the 1500m medals? ‘Some time ago, I was at an event with Geoff and he started picking my brains about what was required to double up in middle distance at a championships,’ Seb told PB magazine. ‘Immediately I thought ‘Hello, this isn’t happening by accident’. Geoff wanted to know what it might take and I said I felt Jake could handle it. He is well-conditioned

says Seb Coe and not coming from a background where he thinks a two-mile warm-up is a distance run. ‘I also felt that a couple of 800s could race himself fitter for the 1500m. And, without being wise after the event, I did suggest that it might not be the five races in six days that it looked initially on the Commonwealth Games schedule and that’s what happened when one of the 800s came out of the programme. ‘Of course, it is not just physical. It’s mentally tough and you have to get out of your bed in the morning and have the attitude that you are off to the office to do a day’s work. He had to get out there on the Friday morning only a few hours after finishing fourth in the 800 final. ‘So, in Gold Coast, when that 1500m final came around and I knew I was scheduled to present the medals, I think I was even more nervous than Jake’s mum and dad. I really wanted him to do well having been had some involvement with him, albeit in a small way and I’d stress I am not his mentor or anything like that. ‘When he came off the bend into the home straight he was looking good for the

Jake Wightman

COE on WIGHTMAN: ‘I felt Jake could handle the 800-1500 double. He’s well-conditioned and not from a background where he thinks a two-mile warm-up is a distance run. I also felt that a couple of 800s could race himself fitter for the 1500.’ bronze, it has to be said. He held his form really well. ‘I’m absolutely delighted because I go back a long way with the family. In fact, my daughter’s first PE teach was Jake’s mum, Susan. I am sure he has taken great selfbelief and confidence from it. ‘You need that breakthrough moment. You need that medal. And now Jake has won his, maybe this can be his breakthrough moment.’ Jake, for his part, savoured that podium moment.

reception from legends in the sport. ‘My dad’s voice maybe caught just a little bit during the announcements but I think if he was ever going to crack then that was the moment! I hope he is ecstatic inside because he’s been great for me as a coach as well as a father. ‘We had talked about things that might happen in the race and, of course, we worked on the plan for doubling up events. I am keen to maybe do it again at another champs – I just need to get my 800 a bit quicker!’

‘It is a slice of athletics history in Scotland with 40 years since a 1500m men’s medal in the Commonwealths,’ said Jake.

Chris O’Hare battled for eighth place and then spoke warmly of his friendship with his fellow Edinburgh AC club-mate in a classy gesture under the circumstances.

‘That’s great to hear and means a lot. Seb Coe presented the medal and he had a few really nice words for me – then Steve Cram gave me a hug. It’s great to get that kind of

Less than 48 hours previously, the 800m bronze medal had slipped through Jake’s grasp in a tight ﬁnish and he didn’t hide his anguish at that stage. The Scot was right in

the medal mix until the ﬁnal few metres as he clocked 1.45.82 - close to a PB - with England’s Kyle Langford second. ‘I just managed to get beyond the Aussie, Luke Mathews, and I thought I had timed it perfectly,’ said Jake afterwards. ‘But when he came back at me I didn’t quite have it in me to respond. It is so hard to take.’ Jake actually spoke at that point of his only option being to make amends in the 1500m. It looked a tall order given the energy already expended, the tight schedule and the quality of opposition. But the man who went to school in Edinburgh when his dad was in situ at scottishathletics was able to dig deep and deliver.

scottishathletics

Five for 2018: Scotl 20

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andâ€™s Gold Coast medallists Photos by Bobby Gavin in Australia

scottishathletics

Gold Coast 2018 PB Review

Opinion

‘I would like to apologise profusely on behalf of the Australian nation for how long it took for medical people to come to the aid of your athlete. I’m so sorry.’ Gold Coast 2018 volunteer at the Men’s Marathon finish Peter Jardine was at the Commonwealth Games for scottishathletics and Team Scotland. Here are his thoughts on a turbulent eight days of action Down Under. Callum Hawkins was back on home soil, conducting a series of interviews at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow. There was just the hint of twinkle in his eye when he confided to Jane Lewis of BBC Scotland on his first words when he came to after that awful collapse in the final stages of the Gold Coast 2018 marathon. ‘I asked ‘Did I Win?’ I thought by some chance I might just have been on auto-pilot and managed to finish. I didn’t really think so. I don’t think there was even an answer coming back to me – I knew by the looks and thought ‘That’s a “No”, then’. Callum was laughing when he told the story and, my goodness, that was good to see. Those awful images of him stumbling and then lying motionless of Sundale Bridge are hard to shift. And right at the top of the ‘things you never thought you would see’ would be the photo of Steph Twell offering roadside assistance to her stricken fellow Team Scotland athlete during that epic marathon. Steph and Lynsey Sharp were closer than any staff member when Callum collapsed for the second time and sprinted to try and offer their assistance.

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Later that day, with Callum ﬁrmly on the road to recovery as he underwent checks at Grifﬁths Hospital, Steph didn’t feel the

need to elaborate on her role for her friend – but the concern is writ-large across her features in that photo. It was an extraordinary denouement on a truly bizarre day at the conclusion of a roller-coaster championships. At the marathon start-ﬁnish, the TV screen images of Callum brought down an eerie silence around the temporary stands and waiting ofﬁcials and volunteers. To wear any clothing distinctive to Scotland was then to draw questions and comments concerned about his well-being. One volunteer, her voice cracked with emotion, pulled me aside and said: ‘I would like to apologise profusely on behalf of the Australian nation for how long it took for medical people to come to the aid of your athlete. I’m so sorry.’ Moments later the venue crowd, who had watched Michael Shelley by-pass Hawkins, were told that Team Scotland’s Robbie Simpson was in third. It was met with an enormous roar of approval. Eight days earlier and we had already dusted down the ‘mixed emotions’ label for the men’s hammer and highs of Mark Dry and the lows of Chris Bennett. So here are a few personal memories:

*Wednesday 11 April - More tears, this time from Maria Lyle, with the relief at winning an expected silver medal obvious despite the 18-year-old being upset with her time *Thursday 12 April - Watching Eilidh Doyle land a third successive 400m Hurdles silver medals with husband and coach Brian looking on. Again, big relief there that Eilidh had delivered as Brian, after months of build-up and preparation, watched the lap of honour and told me ‘I could really do with a pint . . .’ *Friday 13 April - Holly McArthur’s 800m heat win was a strong finish to her heptathlon and didn’t the 18-year-old enjoy herself? ‘We were doing high fives with fans around the stadium and I kept thinking ‘It used to be me asking the athlete for high fives . .’ ‘ *Saturday 14 April - The moment Jake Wightman came off the top bend with a bronze medal already looking secure in the 1500m final to top off a quite superb sequence of endurance races over five days. And a classy performance from Chris O’Hare when addressing the media on his Edinburgh AC team-mate, despite his own disapppointment. *Sunday 15 April - Robbie Simpson’s bronze will live in the memory for many reasons and great to hear him mention how a message from marathon runner now journalist Fraser Clyne urged him to run his own race. That, and the look on his face when we told him: ‘You have just proved yourself one of the fittest men in Britain right there.’

*Sunday 8 April – tears streaming down Chris Bennett’s face as he admitted ‘It’s all my fault’ after throwing 10m less than his Season Best. The contrast as Mark Dry gave voice to an almighty roar with his final throw and then spoke about his injuries that Also, like Chris O’Hare, Robbie spoke had the Scottish media anticipating ‘Hip Hip superbly about Callum Hawkins under all Hooray’ headlines after two hip operations. the circumstances. *Monday 9 April – Allan Smith, David Smith, Zoey Clark, Eilish McColgan and Twell all savouring qualification through to finals (or semi-finals, in the case of Clark). *Tuesday 10 April - Watching Sammi Kinghorn sharpen her elbows and grit her teeth one lap into a T54 1500m final as an opponent’s chair battered into her from the side in what may have been Australian athletes ganging up on the Scot

In fact, three or more hours after the ﬁnish, he conducted a word perfect video interview with scottishathletics at Scotland House when only one of the two individuals involved betrayed the signs of exhaustion to be expected after running for more than two hours and then talking to the media for another two thereafter. It wasn’t Robbie! Robbie Simpson pages 24 & 25 >>>

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Gold Coast 2018 PB Review Few people know Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Robbie Simpson better than Fraser Clyne, the Aberdeen-based athletics journalist who has known the hill and marathon runner for more than 10 years.

Robbie Simpson is a man in demand at the moment. Within days of returning from Australia with a hard-earned but richly-deserved marathon bronze medal, Scotland’s ﬁrst in this event for 48 years, everyone wanted to know how he did it.

And few people know the marathon better than Fraser, who has a PB of 2.11.50 and once ﬁnished second in the United States marathon champs.

The Deeside-based runner was quickly whisked away to his old school, Banchory Academy, where eager pupils listened intently to everything he said.

So we asked Fraser to catch-up with Robbie on his return to Scotland after that magic medal moment in Australia . . .

A few days later he captivated a large audience at Jogscotland Kintore Running Club, answering a barrage of questions for close to two hours. It could have run on all night. And then he thrilled hundreds of youngsters taking part in the INEOS ‘Go Run For Fun’ 2km events at Aden country park in Aberdeenshire and at Robroyston park in Glasgow. Invitations to appear and speak at other events also began to flood in. Everything has changed - but nothing has changed for the 26-year-old northeast athlete. Simpson is still the modest, intelligent, quiet-spoken, pizza-baking young man he was before setting off for Gold Coast in midMarch. But before he left, and despite his world class status on the mountain running scene over a number of years, his public profile remained relatively low. Now, after running 26.2 sweat-soaked miles in the blistering heat on the smouldering roads of Gold Coast, it seems everyone wants to talk with him, grab a selfie and touch the precious medal.

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Simpson soon discovered how his new-found celebrity status even extended to

Unforg being given free tea and scones when he made a casual visit to his local garden centre coffee shop! He happily accommodates all these aspects to life as a successful full-time athlete without ever letting any of it go to his head. ‘I really don’t mind going along and speaking in schools or at events as you never know what it might lead to - hopefully some of the youngsters will be encouraged to give running a go as a result,’ said Robbie. ‘It’s good fun as well. A lot of the questions I’ve been asked by school kids have been really good. They don’t have any inhibitions, they just ask good honest questions.’ Simpson has had time to reﬂect on his Gold Coast achievement and has clearly set out his future targets now that the dust has

Robbie Simpson

ettable How medal man Robbie Simpson’s life has changed – with free tea and scones!

settled on the Commonwealth Games. ‘Getting the bronze medal was unbelievable because nobody expected me to do it, including myself. That makes it all the more satisfying. ‘My initial aim was to ﬁnish in the top 10, but as the race unfolded I began to realise that if I ran it the right way I might be able to do even better than that.

‘It was always in my mind that I hadn’t put in all the hard work in training just to be there. I wanted to do my very best. There’s no point in being there if you aren’t prepared to give it a real go.’

high up and the excitement in their voices was obvious. I was overwhelmed. ‘I thought about all the months of hard training, because there was a huge amount that went into it, and all the people who had helped get me there. It was an unforgettable moment.’ Simpson will now return to his ﬁrst love of mountain running over the summer months, spending much of his time in Switzerland.

‘I’m doing the Zermatt alpine mountain marathon in July and the Jungfrau alpine marathon in September,’ said Robbie. ‘These will be my priorities for the moment.’

‘But, given the conditions, there was no point in going out fast. I was determined to stick to my own pace and ignore what everyone else was doing. That certainly paid off.

He will also have another attempt at winning the classic Sierre-Zinal 31km race in August. He has twice ﬁnished second and also taken third and ﬁfth positions over the past six years.

‘The longer it went on I could see the guys ahead of me were struggling and I was able to pick them off. I had been 12th at halfway, then I was into sixth but I could see others ahead of me. Someone then shouted that I was fourth, then I caught another guy. The support from the crowd was fantastic as well with lots of people shouting for me and waving Scotland ﬂags.

Another road marathon later in the year is also in Simpson’s thinking, with a longerterm aim of making a bid for Olympic selection at Tokyo in 2020.

‘It was really distressing to see Callum (Hawkins) lying by the side of the road but he was receiving attention and there was nothing I could do for him. ‘It made me realise that even although I was so close to the finish it wasn’t over yet; so I had to keep concentrating. ‘But the feeling when I saw the finish line was amazing. I could see people I knew, people who didn’t expect me to finish so

scottishathletics

Gold Coast 2018 PB Review

1 Guy Learmonth 800m 2 Nikki Manson High Jump 3 Chris Oâ€™Hare 1500m 4 Chris Bennett Hammer 5 Allan Smith High Jump 6 David Smith High Jump 7 Amy Carr Long Jump 8 Sammi Kinghorn 1500m/Marathon

PB 2018 | ISSUE 2

Picture Special by Bobby Gavin

scottishathletics

Gold Coast 2018 PB Review 1 Eilish McColgan 1500m/5000m 1

2 Holly McArthur Heptathlon 3 Steph Twell 1500m/5000m 4 Beth Potter 10,000m 5 Kirsten McAslan 4 x 400m Relay 6 Zoey Clark 400m/4 x 400m Relay 7 Lynsey Sharp 800m/4 x 400m Relay 8 Lennie Waite 3000m Steeplechase

3 4

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Picture Special by Bobby Gavin

7 6

scottishathletics

National 4 x 400m Women’s Relay Record

f the podium is missed, then a National Record isn’t too bad by way of a consolation.

That pretty much sums up the feelings of the Team Scotland quartet in the Women’s 4 x 400m final as they finished sixth in the race but became the first team to ever break 3 minutes 30. The selection of Zoey Clark, Kirsten McAslan, Lynsey Sharp and Eilidh Doyle clocked 3.29.18 to break a mark of 3.30.91 set in Delhi back in 2010. Doyle, then Eilidh Child, was actually part of that team eight years earlier when she raced alongside Gemma Nicol, Kathryn Evans and Lee McConnell. This time, the Record run wasn’t quite enough to get in contention for the medals on the day with third place and the bronze looking tough even early on in the race. Favourites Jamaica duly won the gold with Nigeria and Botswana the other medallists as England took fourth place in 3.27.21. The Scottish splits have been given as Clark 52.1; McAslan 52.6; Sharp 53.35; Doyle 51.03.

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D R O C E R

For Clark and Sharp it made up in some part the disappointment of dropping out of their individual events at the semi-ﬁnal stage. McAslan, for her part, won the nod over Kelsey Stewart with Kirsten simply pleased to be back in action after a couple of difﬁcult years with illness and injury.

was achievable.

Lynsey Sharp: ‘It was good to get back out there again after the disappointment of the 800m. We felt we could get the National Record and that was one of the goals – although we would have loved to be more in the mix.

Eilidh Doyle: ‘We didn’t realise Jake had won a medal until after our race! We were getting a ﬂag to celebrate a National Record and Kirsten looked up and noticed Jake had his tracksuit and was headed for his ceremony.

‘It was probably a couple of seconds away from us and that was too much to ask.’

‘I am thrilled for him because he’s had an amazing week here. Actually, I am pleased I didn’t realise about that while I was waiting to run because I would have been a wee bit emotional. We’re pleased with the time but we couldn’t quite get close enough to the teams chasing bronze.

‘I am still reﬂecting on the individual 400m semi. I didn’t get the race quite right but, even in those awful conditions, I have run quite close to a PB. Looking at the photos just reminds me that the rain really was horrendous only for the duration of our heat Here’s the reaction of the Scotland team . . . – it does feel a bit unlucky.’

Kirsten McAslan: ‘I have been waiting all week to get out there and then the heat went out of the programme, too. It is hard but if felt good to back on the track and I’m back to stay now. ‘That the season up and running for me now so I want to take it on from here and see what I can do.’ Zoey Clark: ‘It is good to be part of a National Record-breaking team. We did look at it in the preparations and we all felt it

‘I was always keen for us to have a 4 x 400m Women’s team because I felt we could maybe get in the mix for the medals. There were a lot of variables because we didn’t know if there would be a heat or a straight ﬁnal, as happened, but at the end of the day we can take some satisfaction from the fastest ever run by a Scottish four.’

Track and Field Records Header

Beth leads rush of new marks

10 March 2018. Scottish U13 f it feels like Scottish Records have been tumbling constantly throughout 2018 – so Championships. Previous record: far- then the assumption is backed up by 4:44.40, Jack Patton, 2017 hard facts. 4) U13 Girls 200 Metres – 27.21, Erin Ramsay (Ayr Seaforth AC), And scottishathletics are grateful to our Emirates Arena, 10 March 2018. Records Committee, which works closely Scottish U13 Championships (semiwith the Track and Field Commission, final) for keeping up with the flow of top performances by athletes of all ages. 5) U13 Girls 200 Metres – 26.83, Erin Ramsay (Ayr Seaforth AC), A whole host of those have now been Emirates Arena, 10 March 2018. Scottish through the verification process and were U13 Championships (final). Previous record: duly ratified by the scottishathletics Board 27.26, Alyson Bell, 2016 on Monday 11 June, which followed a previous list announced in March. 6) U13 Girls 60 Metres Hurdles – 9.65, Jenna Hilditch (VP-Glasgow), Emirates Beth Dobbin rightly commanded headlines Arena, 10 March 2018. Scottish U13 when she broke Sandra Whittaker’s Women’s National 200m Record with a run Championships. Previous record: 9.66, Katie Purves, 2009 of 22.84 for Edinburgh AC in the British Women’s League – some 34 years after 7) U13 Girls High Jump – 1.56, Mya Sandra’s run at the 1984 Olympics. McMahon (Dunfermline T&F), Emirates Arena, 10 March 2018. Scottish U13 That’s just one of almost 20 new Records Championships. Previous record: 1.56, now rubber-stamped and confirmed on the McMahon, 2017 and 2018 scottishathletics ‘books’ (with a second run of 22.83 by Beth in Stockholm now ‘in the 8) U15 Boys 300 Metres – 38.38, Dean pipeline’ in terms of official ratification). Springett (Whitemoss AC), Emirates Arena, 11 March 2018. Scottish U15 The National Women’s 4 x 400m Relay Championships. Previous record: 38.40, Record is the other main Senior mark to be Max Leslie, 2016 achieved over the past few months. Alisha Rees, the GB Junior international, broke her own National U20 Record for 100m on the same day as club-mate Dobbin in that UK Women’s League match at Eton. At age group level, the likes of Meghan Porterfield, Scott Brindley, Keira Waddell and Ellie O’Hara have all impressed in throws, CE and jumps. INDOOR 1) U13 Girls Shot – 12.04 metres, Meghan Porterfield (VP-Glasgow), Emirates Arena, 10 March 2018. Scottish U13 Championships. Previous record: 11.91, Porterfield, 2017. 2) U13 Boys 800 Metres – 2:15.33, Lachlan Buchanan (Inverness H), Emirates Arena, 10 March 2018. Scottish U13 Championships. Previous record: 2:19.89, Finlay Ross, 2017. 3) U13 Boys 1500 Metres – 4:43.23, Finlay Ross (Harmeny AC), Emirates Arena,

Alisha Rees (left) and Beth Dobbin celebrate at Eton after both breaking National Records which have now been ratiﬁed (photo via Twitter)

Australia, 14 April 2018. Commonwealth Games. Previous record: 3:30.91, Scotland (Nicol, Child, Evans, McConnell), 2010 13) U13 Girls Shot – 12.19, Meghan Porterﬁeld (VP-Glasgow), Grangemouth, 22 April 2018. UK Youth Development League. Previous record: 11.91, Porterﬁeld, 2017 14) U17 Women Javelin (500g) – 44.84, Keira Waddell (Edinburgh AC), Carlisle, 29 April 2018. UK Youth Development League. Previous record: 43.67, Lisa O’Neill, 2015 15) U17 Women Triple Jump – 11.86 (+1.3), Ellie O’Hara (Edinburgh AC), Grangemouth, 13 March 2018, East District Championships. Previous record: 11.81, Fiona Hunter, 1995

16) U17 Women’s Triple Jump – 12.14 (+1.6) (and 11.99/+0.0), Ellie O’Hara (Edinburgh AC), Bedford, 28 May 2018, 9) U17 Women Triple Jump – 12.00 metres Bedford International Games. Previous (and 11.52, 11.70, 11.87 during event), record: 11.81, Fiona Hunter, 1995. Ellie O’Hara (Edinburgh AC), Emirates Arena, 10 March 2018. Scottish U20 17) U20 Men’s Decathlon (Junior Championships. Previous record: 11.34, implements) – 6,625 points, Joel McFarlane Rachel Hogg, 1998 (Arbroath & District AC), Bedford, 26-27 May 2018, England Athletics 10) U17 Men Pole Vault – 4.46 metres, Championships Scott Brindley (North Ayrshire AC), Shefﬁeld, 11 March 2018. England 18) Senior Women National 200 metres Athletics Combined Events Championships. – 22.84 seconds (+0.6), Beth Dobbin Previous record: 4.45, Gregor Maclean, (Edinburgh AC), Eton, 2 June 2018. UK 2008 Women’s League Premiership. Previous 11) U17 Men Heptathlon – 5,086 points, Scott Brindley, Shefﬁeld, 10-11 March 2018. England Athletics Combined Events Championships. (7.34, 6.69, 11.52, 1.83, 8.49, 4.46, 2:52.50). Previous record: 4988, Brindley, 2018.

OUTDOOR 12) Senior Women National 4x400 Metres Relay – 3:29.18, Scotland (Zoey Clark 52.1, Kirsten McAslan 52.6, Lynsey Sharp 53.35, Eilidh Doyle 51.03), Gold Coast,

record: 22.98, Sandra Whittaker, 1984. 19) U20 Women 100 metres – 11.59 seconds (+1.0), Alisha Rees (Edinburgh AC), Eton, 2 June 2018. UK Women’s League Premiership. Previous record: 11.62, Rees, 2017. With thanks to Arnold Black and the scottishathletics Records Committee

scottishathletics

Ofﬁcials

iane Ramsay takes up career as Ofﬁcial, Jog Leader and team manager.

Diane Ramsay’s athletics career includes a clutch of medals and achievements which culminated in representing Scotland at Hampden at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. The 25-year-old duly ‘hung up her spikes’ early in 2017 with her time as a 400m runner consigned to the past. But that is only half the story. It would be utterly wrong to describe Ramsay as having ‘retired from the sport’ or to suggest she has ‘fallen out of love with the sport’, as such announcements sometimes do in the media. Nothing could be further from the truth. Diane, in the interim, has forged ahead with potential new interests within athletics as a scottishathletics Ofﬁcial, a jogscotland Jog Leader, and as a track and ﬁeld team manager.

have a look at seedings. ‘It’s another part of the job for the officiating and the admin and I suppose I was able to give a bit of an athlete’s perspective on it. The computer does the seeding itself but you can still cast your eye through it and maybe help a bit. I did it at the FPSG Age Groups at the Emirates Arena in the winter and it was actually a bit weird because I knew a lot of the athletes we were seeding. ‘I’m seriously thinking now about becoming more involved as an Official and will probably look to take one of the courses to get qualified. ‘I will do a track Officials course I think because field doesn’t appeal and I don’t want to be a time-keeper either – I will leave that one to my dad (Peter). He’s getting more into that now and moving up the levels, which is great.’ With her brother, Allan, currently involved in Laura Muir’s training group, the Ramsays continue to make a big contribution – like a

Diane Ramsay at Glasgow 2014

Talk about giving something back! ‘I stopped training as a 400m runner last March and took up a bit of road running – doing the Kirkintilloch 10K in June because Kirky Olympians were actually my ﬁrst club,’ Diane told PB magazine.

#peoplemakea

‘A few months later I was asked to help out as a volunteer at the Age Groups because it was at Scotstoun and VP-Glasgow were the host club.

Diane Ramsay takes up career as Ofﬁcial, Jog Lea number of families in athletics in Scotland.

‘My mum and dad are already ‘I guess, as a family, athletics is just what scottishathletics Ofﬁcials, so I went and helped out on Declarations that day. While I we always seem to have done and I’m was there, Liz Wilder asked me to come and happy to keep that going,’ she added. Diane and dad Peter wih VP-Glasgow jog group.

‘This summer I am team manager for Glasgow in the UK Women’s League and that is a big admin job. We’ve events in Bedford, Liverpool and Shefﬁeld so I have to book the trips and the hotels and sort out a lot of stuff for the whole team. ‘What it has all made me realise that in many ways the easy bit is being the athlete. All you have to do is run fast! Coaches, clubs and Ofﬁcials do everything else!’ As if that isn’t enough, Diane has also taken a coaching course with jogscotland after her club, VP-Glasgow, took the decision to create midweek running groups to try and stimulate more Senior presence in road running and cross country. ‘I’ve taken a Jog Leaders course because VP-Glasgow are starting up a group and I enjoyed it,’ she said.

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‘I’m really pleased to be involved in that and I hope it will feed people into the sport and the club.

Ofﬁcials ‘I work for investment bankers JPMorgan and I started a running group there with two guys a couple of years ago – and we had 60 new starts racing in the Great Scottish Run.

‘Why I love being an Ofﬁcial’

‘It is great to see people get the running bug – or really confident individuals in work situations finding it really difficult when running. It’s interesting seeing how folk react and how you see the difference in can bring in mood and outlook.’ We might just as easily add that it’s great to see those who never lose the running bug . . . and keep making a contribution to the sport. ‘I did have a lot of memories of Glasgow 2014 when the Gold Coast Games were on. I found it harder to watch than I thought I might, to be honest. ‘I look back now and 2014 was hectic. I turned 21 that February, I graduated in June, had the Games in July/early August and then in September I was starting work full-time.

athletics der and team manager ‘Hampden was an amazing experience for those in Team Scotland and there’s no doubt there were athletes feeling ‘what comes after this – what can top this?’. I still wanted to do athletics, though, and I adjusted my work schedule by going parttime (even though it was a new job!) to try and make it happen. ‘But I don’t really have regrets. Lot of places I go people think of me as an athlete and that is amazing I represented Scotland at a Commonwealth Games so I’m happy with that. It wasn’t easy – we ran the qualifying time as a team the year before at Loughborough but that doesn’t qualify you as individuals. ‘Rodger Harkins was my individual coach but also involved with the team for scottishathletics and Team Scotland so in many ways I felt I had extra to prove I merited the selection.’

Janice McFarlane - Ofﬁcial of the Year

lison Mathieson has been involved as encourage young people to participate, an Official in athletics in Scotland for develop life skills and to be the best they the past 42 years since she returned can be. to live in Aberdeen. ‘I have officiated all over Scotland and at At the FPSG Awards Dinner last a number of meetings in England. The Novemberr, that service and contribution meetings I have attended range from was recognised when Alison was presented primary schools to National Championships, with the Raymond Hutcheson Trophy Grand Prix, Small Island Games and the for Services to Officiating by former Commonwealth Games in Scotland. scottisthathletics President, Alan Potts. ‘I still get a lot of pleasure from the sport Janice McFarlane was named as Official of and a real buzz watching youngsters giving the Year and we offer both these dedicated their all. volunteers our warmest congratulations and ‘I think I still have a role to play encouraging thanks for all their hard work. more people to become officials; it In one our newsletters to our is difficult but hopefully more will be scottishathletics Officials, Alison told us encouraged because it is a great way to be about her experiences in the sport. part of the sport.’ ‘I returned to Aberdeen in 1975, having left in 1963, with three children. The first local paper we bought had a picture of lots of young people doing a fun run for AAAC and that decided us to take our children to the club. ‘That winter I helped out at cross country meetings and from then on I was hooked. It became a way of life involving my whole family. ‘My youngest child, Duncan, was too young to compete but he was happy being a ‘runner’. I sat my first exams in 1978 and got the equivalent of Level 4 in 1982. ‘Although my children’s active involvement ended in the late 1990s, I continued officiating in athletics as I wanted to

scottishathletics

Grassroots Athletics

Lindsays Trophy Iain Beattie, chairman of scottishathletics and Chief Operating Officer of Lindsays, said: ‘I would like to congratulate Garscube Harriers on winning the Lindsays Trophy this year, in the face of stronger competition than ever. ‘We saw a significant increase in the number of clubs featuring across the three events that make up the Lindsays Cross Country series, from 75 last year up to 103 in 2017-18. I was also delighted to see the growth in finishing runners per club, with 13 clubs recording 100 or more athletes participating in the events which qualify for the trophy.

Garscube growth brings glory

allum Hawkins has hailed club development work as vital for athletics in Scotland after helping out at a special night for Garscube Harriers. The 2016 Olympian and FPSG Athlete of the Year, now returning to full training after his Gold Cost 2018 marathon collapse, helped us present the Lindsays Trophy for cross country partication at three national championship events over the winter. Garscube went from fifth the year before to winners this time with 106 finishers at the Lindsays National XC at Falkirk to top a table comprised a remarkable 103 clubs having fielded at least one runner across the three events. ‘What’s happening at Garscube is a great example of club development in Scotland,’ said Callum, who has won the Senior gold twice at the Lindsays National XC but missed out this year as he prepared for Australia. ‘I presented the Lindsays Trophy last year to Giffnock North and was more than happy to get involved again this year because I think cross country is really important to the sport in Scotland. ‘Garscube have gone from fifth last year in the Lindsays Trophy table for finishers to go and win it this year and for any club to manage to find 106 people to race the Lindsays National XC at Callendar Park really is a great effort. It’s credit to them as a and the coaches and team managers because that’s a huge representation for a single championship event.

the Commonwealth Games coming up but, having been at Falkirk so many times in the past, I think there’s no doubt it’s an occasion where you can really feel the growth of the sport and sheer number of different club vests on show is always good to see. ‘It looks like the overall Lindsays Cross Country Season is growing year on year, too, with over 100 clubs featured in at least one of the three events at Cumbernauld, Kirkcaldy and Falkirk this time. I think what is happening is people are losing any fear of competing. Clubs are getting better numbers out and then they compete with each other.’ Trophy holders Giffnock, who won this award in 2016 and 2017, held an advantage heading into the Lindsays National XC at Falkirk but Garscube galvanised no fewer than 106 ﬁnishers at Callendar Park to conclude the season with 230 runners and top the table by 16 athletes. At one stage, so keen were the club in Glasgow’s north-west to contest the Trophy that they created a special #bethe97 hashtag – believing that was how many club members they needed to run at Falkirk to win. What’s clear is a ‘fear factor’ is being removed. As one member told us that evening: ‘When I joined in 2010, there’s absolutely no way I’d have envisaged running in a National Championship at XC. But more and more we are realising there’s nothing to stop you competing with those of a similar standard and helping the team.’

‘I wasn’t able to race there this year with

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As we often put it: ‘Competition – It’s What You Train For’.

‘This level of engagement reflects the great work taking place in athletics clubs across Scotland and we at Lindsays are pleased to support this work through our sponsorship of the series..’ Garscube Harriers President Jill O’Neil said: ‘We are absolutely delighted. Every year we make a huge effort to encourage all of our athletes out to the cross country to compete, spectate and support and it’s fantastic to be recognised in this way. ‘I think the National Championship events across the season encapsulate all that is good about athletics in Scotland right now and we thoroughly enjoy being part of them.’ In a hugely positive aspect for the sport, the 2017-18 table reveals that no fewer than 103 different clubs from the length and breadth of Scotland had at least one finisher over the three XC events. Last year’s tally was 75 different clubs so the growth in terms of reach is obvious. Edinburgh AC won the Lindsays Trophy in the first year of the agreement with the legal firm, in 2015, and finished third this time around with Central AC and Cambuslang Harriers completing the top five. Making up the top ten were: Corstorphine AAC, Fife AC, Falkirk Victoria Harriers, Aberdeen AAC and Kilbarchan AAC. LINDSAYS TROPHY TOP 10: Garscube Harriers 230 Giffnock North AC 214 Edinburgh AC 175 Central AC 167 Cambuslang Harriers 162 Corstorphine AAC 152 Fife AC 137 Falkirk Victoria Harriers 120 Aberdeen AAC 117 Kilbarchan AAC 116

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6FRWWLVKathletics FOXE RIIHU If you use our services, we will give 15% of our ﬁnal fee for any work undertaken by us back to your club. Our offer applies to the following services: • • • • •

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Please quote Athletics15 when you get in touch

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Grassroots Athletics

Maryhill Harriers

Maryhill look to the past and the future By Craig Perrie and Scott Coulter ovember this year sees one of Scotland’s oldest running clubs celebrate their 130th Anniversary – Maryhill Harriers.

Founded on 2 November 1888 by a group of four, including local blacksmith Gilbert Thomson, the club would go on to become the dominant force in Scottish athletics and cross country for many of their early years. Maryhill’s ﬁrst National title was achieved in 1897 by high jumper James McFarlane. Following this, athletics, road and cross country titles were racked-up by illustrious

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names such as George Dallas, Dunky Wright, Donald Robertson and Gordon Porteous to name but a few. Some of these athletes in their later years were proliﬁc in the veteran Harriers movement, boasting victories and records (still standing) at National, European and World level as recently as 2004. By 1937, all Scottish middle and long distance records were held by Maryhill Harriers, not to mention Olympic honours and Empire Games (later Commonwealth Games) titles. Some of these names live on in races and trophies today, as well as honours such as the George Dallas Memorial Trophy awarded annually by scottishahletics. Maryhill’s own Nigel Barge race celebrates its 75th anniversary this year – it commemorates Nigel Barge who was killed in action in Dunkirk during World War II, the race being proposed by his father Kenneth Barge who was a Maryhill Harriers Committee member. The Club’s involvement in and commitment to the local community is as important now as it was 130 years ago. The Harriers maintain close links with local schools in the west of Glasgow, highlighted by its burgeoning junior section, led by very dedicated volunteer coaches including Margaret Peebles who was recently commended by scottishathletics (and featured in PB in 2017).

The club’s place in the local culture is proudly acknowledged with a stained glass window in Maryhill Burgh Halls commemorating its long history in the area (image courtesy of Maryhill Burgh Halls Trust plus the creative artists Alec Galloway & Margo Winning). Maryhill Harriers in the current era are clearly a friendly and sociable club, yet are still driven by the same passion and enthusiasm instilled by their champions. Blue vests can be seen competing at races up and down the country, ranging from parkruns to Ultras, with members vying for intra-club silverware dating back to the 19th century! Leading up to November the Club will be both reﬂecting on their proud history but primarily looking positively to their future. Watch out for Club website updates featuring extra depth on club history and champions, local-afﬁliated parkrun ‘take-overs’, media exposure and, most importantly, blue vests at races giving their all! http://maryhillharriers.com/ https://www.facebook.com/maryhillharriers/ @runmaryhill

Grassroots Athletics

Corstorphine AAC

Historic year at CAAC By Rob Eyton-Jones

hether you call it a breakthrough or even an historic few months, Corstorphine AAC’s president Bryan Clark has been reflecting on a ‘breath-taking year’, which tested the committee’s skills at picking 12 annual awards winners. So frequent have been the medals, so free flowing has been the pipeline of PBs over the past year, the capital-based club seems to be flourishing in every area from its youngest juniors to its ultra distance competitors. Meanwhile, membership and coach numbers are on the rise too.

Stuart Livingston, Douglas Selman, James Harrison and Euan Brown all ran well and it was left to Calum McKenzie to bring it home for Corstorphine on the final leg. Their time of 2.18.48 was over a minute ahead of Central. ‘Ever the bridesmaids about covers it but not this time,’ smiled CAAC coach and team manager, Moray Anderson. ‘It’s great to win it and we’ve a strong group of guys coming through the club at the moment.’ The following month the men followed up with a 16th place (and first Scottish club) from a total of 63 teams at the English RRA 12 Stage Road Relays at Birmingham in April. It was a continuation of a strong team event theme for the club which has stretched right through the season. Back in October at Glamis Castle, CAAC’s men won the East District Cross Country Relays for the first time, ending Central’s 11 year winning streak.

Just days before the awards night in March, CAAC’s Senior men achieved a high point for the club by winning the National 6 Stage Road Relays, the ﬁrst ever national team title at Senior level in the club’s 32 year history. The club over-turned a healthy lead by defending champions Central AC early in the race and were in front by the end of the fourth leg following a good run by Dermot Cummins.

Then the club’s Masters men won a clean sweep of national and district team titles on both road and cross country. You could be excused for thinking CAAC is solely for distance and cross country runners, but its sprinters have made big strides this year with multiple PBs across the squad. Four of the men have run sub 11.5 seconds for the 100m this season. Those same four, the fast improving quartet of Cole Milne, Tom Hunt, Ryan Kyle and Euan Stewart, won the club’s ﬁrst national relay sprint

medal, a bronze in the men’s 4x200m relay at the national indoor championships. Few were more thrilled than CAAC’s senior sprint coach, Lewis Innes: ‘Every year I feel like I get luckier and luckier with both the quality of my athletes and the additions to the group. I have never enjoyed a year so much as this one and having coached for 16 years, that’s quite a feat.’ At the same time juniors are developing well in both numbers and ability at Corstorphine. The club’s U15 girls middle distance team of Georgia Ledingham, Katherine Macleod and Mhairi Arnott won bronze in November’s National Short Course X-Country Championships at Kirkcaldy. At this April’s National Relay Championships, Ledingham, Arnott and Anna Lewis won bronze in the U17 girls 3 x 800m relay and the U13 girls team of Eva Cameron, Olivia Clark and Ailsa Bagnall won silver. ‘You get to a point in time when it’s a tricky task trying to ﬁnd the words to properly do our club’s success justice,’ admitted Bryan Clark. With a further eight medals won at May’s East District Championships, few would disagree that CAAC has reached that point.

scottishathletics

Chris Upson

1,000 Not Out

You name it, he’s run it Masters athlete Chris Upson of Cambuslang Harriers is one of the best-known figures in athletics in Scotland. He couldn’t be anything otherwise, really, after competing in over 1000 races in the past 18 years. From hills to ultra to cross country, trail and track, Chris has been there, run it and got the T-shirt. ‘It all started 18 years ago on the Isle of Arran. ‘Standing on the start line for Glen Rosa Horseshoe, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. I’d never done a hill race before, and this is one of the toughest on the Scottish calendar. I survived, and didn’t quite finish last, despite getting lost near the end. ‘Some seven weeks later I completed Borrowdale Fell Race – in the days when you could turn up and enter on the day – and was delighted to squeeze into the top half of the field in 4 hours 13 mins. ‘By the end of 2000, I’d completed a sum total of three hill races, so felt duly qualified to approach and join the prestigious Westerlands hill running club in Glasgow. I now felt part of a team. ‘Unfortunately, 2001 was largely written off by Foot and Mouth – livestock, not me, with many races cancelled - so it wasn’t until 2002 that I really hit the ground running with 30 hill races, including many of the Scottish long classics - Jura, Two Breweries, Pentland Skyline - and my first ultra at the Speyside Way. ‘As the years rolled by, I was notching up around 70 races a year. It was predominantly hill races at that stage, with a few overseas ventures including Inter-Lacs on Corsica, Defi de l’Oisans in the French Alps, Everest Sky Race in Nepal, and the Slovenian Alpine 50km. ‘One of the more memorable foreign excursions came in September 2007 when I took part in a five-day stage race along the spectacular GR20 in Corsica.

PB 2018 | ISSUE 2

‘Although the race was advertised as being supported, it quickly became apparent that self-survival was the order of the day. The race organiser clearly had no permission for the race, so we were instructed to remove our race numbers after Day One. And, on the final day, I arrived at Conca several hours before the support crew, so there was no finish line or time keepers! But to me it was still a fantastic adventure. ‘I can’t remember exactly how the transition came about. One minute I was doing stage races in Nepal and battling round the Mull of Kintyre in the Scottish Island Peaks Race, and the next I was lining up at the European Masters Indoor Championships in Madrid, hoping not to finish last in the 3000m M50 ‘A’ race - for my 1000th race in 18 years, earlier this year. ‘I guess my first taste of track was at the tail end of 2011, when it was too cold and icy to run on the streets of Glasgow, so I entered an indoor 3000m at the old Kelvin Hall and battled round with Denis Williams of Shettleston and trying not to finish last. Since then I’ve enjoyed some success on the track as an M50, winning medals at every distance from 800m to 10,000m. ‘Masters Athletics is also something that’s grown on me over time, and it was running

at the British Masters Cross Country at Tollcross in March 2014 that made me decide to jump ship from Westerlands to Cambuslang Harriers – a club that specialises in masters and international events. ‘I ﬁgured that by switching to Cambuslang, I’d have to raise my game to even make the M50 team and would have a great chance to run in competitive relay teams. ‘Competing in relays adds a whole new dynamic. With so many more elements of uncertainty, when the team performance does occasionally come good, it feels that much more satisfying. ‘Winning M45 team gold with Cambuslang at the 2018 BMAF Road Relays is deﬁnitely a career highlight, and something that would be impossible to repeat. ‘Looking back, some of my best performances came off the lowest expectation, when all pre-race planning went out the window. That’s the thing with running, you never know how you’re going to perform until you get out there. ‘I guess that’s what keeps us runners coming back for more. The search for the perfect performance, or the best performance you can muster for your age category. ‘You see it even more at Masters events: athletes refusing to grow old gracefully and each new age group sparking off a new set of rivalries. ‘So even though my hill running days are largely behind me now, I’m looking forward to moving into the M55 age category in August by targeting the World Masters track races in Malaga and Toru’. ‘As Woody Allen once said ’80 percent of success is turning up’.

Hill Running

Ross Gollan

Hill running is a great way to get out and explore Scotland and the friendly atmosphere at races makes it a great alternative to track and road running!’

Ross Gollan is a Scotland XC International making his name in hill and mountain running and we asked him to tell us why he loves different running disciplines . . .

‘

I ﬁrst started running up north with a local training group run by John Davies and now formally known as East Sutherland AC. Both my parents were active at a national and international level across both running and cycling and so my siblings and I grew up in an active household, running, climbing, and cycling from a young age. I focused on track and XC as a junior with varying degrees of success although I tended to focus on XC and ran the local highland games hill races in the summer. Hill and Mountain running became a big part of my running at U20 level with my ﬁrst selection for Scotland at the British and Irish Mountain Running Championships in 2015. I have thoroughly enjoyed racing a variety of races through my transition from junior to senior. I grew up racing what most would class as hill races or fell races in England whereby race routes usually require planning and possibly a recce with the ability to navigate over rough terrain.

Mountain running is a European concept that involves steep technical climbs but usually on a fast well marked trail although this can vary. The hill and mountain running scene in Scotland is currently very strong with a number of athletes competing on the international stage not only in the hills but over a variety of disciplines including Robbie Simpson, Georgia Tindley, Andy Douglas, Tom Owens and Charlotte Morgan. I am currently racing a mixture of hill/fell races as part of the British and Scottish Championships for Shettleston Harriers and a number of European mountain and trail races for Scotland as well as the odd XC race early season.

or even just running amongst Scotland or Europe’s stunning landscape where your running has to be very much in tune with your surroundings in order to navigate the course successfully. A couple of months ago I raced the Vesuvio Sky Marathon trail half, a stunning race up and around the crater of Mount Vesuvius in Italy. My hill running background certainly played to my advantage on the descent of over a thousand metres where my technical ability allowed me to maintain the gap I had opened up on the ascent.

The European passion for mountain and trail racing is unrivalled and I can only recommend that you go out and take part The variety of terrain and the need to train in a mountain race for yourself, it really your body to adapt to running a strong is a great experience. Hill and mountain uphill before hitting a fast technical downhill running is going from strength to strength in certainly helps in building an endurance Scotland at the moment with a promising base for XC, especially when many runners group of young athletes coming through to are coming off a track season and may not support more established senior athletes. be quite as well prepared for the mud and hills of XC. Hill running also prepares you Hill running is a great way to get out mentally with XC conditions usually tame in and explore Scotland and the friendly comparison to hill races such as Crifﬂe or atmosphere at races makes it a great even Dumyat on a wet day! alternative to track and road running! I do enjoy the competitive aspect of XC and always having someone to race but there is something special and unique about racing

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