A Result and some talking points

The result first. In the Open Graded Meeting at Grangemouth on Wednesday, Johnathan Farrell was first in both the 100 amd 150 metres races in his season's best times so far. In the 100 he was timed at 11.49 seconds and in the 150 he ran 17.34 seconds. The intention is to peak for the Scottish Championships which means that he will require to get faster and faster as the year goes on. So far, so good!

There are several things in this week's "Athletics Weekly" that deserve a wee look - well more than a wee look. I'll mention two of the letters this time. Bill Adcocks, one of Britain's best ever marathon runners has one responding to an earlier correspondent who said that criticism of the current crop of marathon runners was just maligning them. He refutes this and goes on to say that if runners are really doing 120 miles a week, then their times are not showing any effect from that. It may be that the content of the 120 mpw needs looking at. Even more important is that there are fewer good quality races and fewer international fixtures for those at the top. Omitting the second point becuase not all are up to it, his point is that there are more races but not of the appropriate standard. There are many rungs missing on the competitive ladder. Here in Scotland we know all about that with the loss of the District Championships this week. Read his letter and see what you think. Maybe more controversially there is a letter from a Yorkshireman lamenting race ageism. He is an Over 70 runner and complains that race prizes stop at Over 55. His request is for awards at 5 year intervals right up to the oldest competitor in the race. A wee bit over the odds I think! Ten year age groupings are maybe appropriate but when vets now start at 35 the additional expense is considerable. In the current situation when up to two thirds of a field is made up of vets of various categories and at times the first three vets are the first three finishers, should it be the case that the first vet gets the first vet prize even if he wins the race?

Finally, Doug Gillon in the "Herald" today talks about scottish athletics persuading a New Zealand athlete to compete for Scotland. Not just any NZ athlete but the best shot putter in the world! OK, so she competed in the Scottish Championships as an U15 and U17 but has since declared herself for New Zealand and although she is a bit peeved at her national association, it doesn't seem to me to be any reason to poach her. Poaching is rife nowadays in international athletics. Kenyan distance runners now run for at least five other countries as well as Kenya - I'd exempt Wilson Kipketer from the criticism because he married a Danish girl and lived there for three years before competing as a naturalised Dane. But Scotland in the past poached Alice Butler from Canada, tried to get a Cuban triple jumper and is currently trying to get Stephanie Twell from England. To try to talk another country's athlete into competing for us seems to me to be just immoral although everybody's at it! England (US 400 metre runners for a start), USA (Bernard Lagat), Qatar (anybody Kenyan) and so on. Comments on any of these welcome!