Podium Success for Clydesdale Teams

After the highly competitive indoor winter league meetings, Clydesdale Harriers saw two teams qualify for The Scottish Athletics Indoor League Finals on the 24^th of February at the Emirates Stadium.  They were the under 20 Women and under 17 men’s team.

Before the two teams battled it out against the toughest of opposition in a thoroughly enjoyable day of athletics, it was the turn of the relay teams, and for the first time in many years Clydesdale was fielding multiple teams. There were some exceptional runs and some of the teams narrowly missed out on a place in the final while every team gained valuable experience.  New athletes were introduced to the atmosphere and excitement of competition, which will stand them in good stead, as the club prepares for the up coming summer outdoor leagues.

The relay teams were –

Under 13 Girls- Cara Jordan, Natasha Shaw, Chloe Allan and Sarah Goggins.

Under 15 Girls- Iona Allan (missing from the picture), Rachel Campbell, Rachel Meehan and Anna Haddock.

Under 17 girls- Erin Ball, Heather McEwan, Emily Paxton, and Abbie Warrington.

 Under 11 boys- Zak Shannon, Stuart Aird, Andrew Donohue and Arran Boyle.

Under 13 boys were Aiden Fegie, Aaron Belkevitz, Ronan Ross and Nathan Kerr

Under 15 boys-David Daly, Brian Aird, Lewis McLeod and Lewis Hay.

A  wide range of events were contested in the S.A.I.L Final which followed the relays. On the track there was 60m sprint, 60nhurdles, 200m, 400m and 800m races.  The field events were long jump, high jump, triple jump and shot put.

The under 20 women’s team were Claire Reid, Victoria McHugh, Rachel Liddell and Kirsty Kelly.  The four girls knew they had their work cut out for them and worked hard against quality teams from Giffnock, Central, Whitemoss and Lasswade.  Despite tough competition they were determined to show what they were made of and they demonstrated their desire to succeed with determination and enthusiasm. The hard work paid off as the points accumulated and they laid claim to their silver medal podium place.

Well done girls-everyone is very proud of your well deserved achievement.

The under 17 Men’s team were Tobi Akinkunmi, Darren Dolan, David Campbell and Andrew Hunter.  Two of the boys, Andrew and David had been finalists together as under 15’s.  They were   eager to repeat their success in this more competitive age group and were undaunted by the strong opposition in the form of Central, Edinburgh, Giffnock and Victoria Park.  As the day rolled the pressure intensified as each team fought hard for points  in every event.  The Clydesdale boys showed off their athletic skill and determination, scoring significant points and finishing in the top three, in six out of the nine events.

They achieved many individual successes over the course of the day and they were delighted with the  team’s success as they finished in second place to claim the silver medal. Everyone in the club is very proud of their success.  Well done boys! 

SAIL positions

The team positions in the league on Sunday were as follows.
Under 11 Boys: 5th; Under 13 Boys: 8th; Under 15 Girls: 16th (27 teams in the league); Under 15 Boys: 11th; Under 17 Men: 9th; Under 17 Women: 11th; Under 20 Men: 2nd. The points for the U20 Men were 160 for the first team, 145 for Clydesdale and then a drop to 96 for the third placed team.

Indoor League Match

The results for the SAIL meeting on Sunday came in last night and there are several excellent performances, many good ones and others that hold out promise of good things to come. The Under 11's made a good start to their career in indoor athletics with Lewis Halpin and Craig Butler, James Grant and Steven Kane all making the debut. Andrew Hunter's run in the Under 13 Boys 60 metres was outstanding when he won from 15 others in a time of 8.67 seconds and also did well to be second in the shot putt with an effort of 6.86 metre. Backed up by Tony Gallagher in the 200, Darren Halpin in the 800, and Lewis Hay in the Long Jump the team did well but with more events covered could have done even better. The Under 15 Boys with David Newton in the 60, David Campbell running in the dificult lane 4 in the 400, starting a career as a hurdler and also doing the long jump, were a solid enough team but again they will have to cover more events to get into the top three. The Under 17 Men were represented by Lewis Wood in the 60 metres and shot putt and Tony Dolan in the 400, 800 and long jump. The Under 20 men were mentioned in an earlier post but it should be noted that they had four seconds, a third and four fourth places. In other words they covered all events with just three men present and finished second in their group.
With no Under 11 Girls taking part, the Under 13's were well represented by Rachel Campbell in the 60 metres and long jump, Rachel Busby who was fourth of 22 runners in the 800 and also took part in the high jump, and Ciara Devanney in the long jump. Up at Under 15, Lauren Butler did the 60 metres and Long Jump, Roisin McShea stepped down a distance or two to run the 800 metres and gained points in the shot putt, Georgia Cameron ran in the 200 metres and Kirsty Alexander took part in the 300 metres. Among the Under 17 women, Claire Reid was working on her speed for the cross country season when she tackled the 300 metres for the first time as well as doing the 800 and Diane Nicholson competed in the 200 metres and long jump.
I have all the results available and if any parent or athlete would like a copy just send me an email.

12th and 13th December

There was a lot of action over the weekend - on the track and over the country, from Under 11's to Veterans and involving boys and girls, men and women. On Saturday the Hannah Cup Cross Country Race was held over the golf course at Dalmuir on a cold and misty afternoon. I don't know where they came from but Yvonne managed to get 35 pics up on the blog - see below! First to finish and win the handicap was Gary Dick with Michael Diver having fastest time and getting his name on the historic trophy donated to the club by five times cross country champion of Scotland, Andrew Hannah. Gary had a hard run against Iain Robertson for most of the way until he got away at the stairs on the second lap. It must be the best run that Gary has had for some time. The first three times were by Michael, Gary and scratch man Paul Carroll. The first veteran went to John Foley who was fifth finisher.
With six women racing, Marina won the women's race - just 12 seconds up on Pamela McCrossan. The three quickest were Marina, Pamela and Kath Scott who was a mere eleven seconds down on Pamela. Pamels won the handicap. Rumour has it that Yvonne tried to outsprint Pamela and only just failed - a wee word to Yvonne, in a sprint shoot out, advantage can be gained by judicious use of the elbow!
On Sunday it was the first indoor league match of the winter and the club had teams forward in the Under 11 Boys and Girls, Under 13 Boys and Girls, Under 15 Boys and Girls, Under 18 Men and Women and Under 20 Men. There were lots of good performances and I'll come back to them in detail when the results become available. Meanwhile the best team result was by the Under 20 Men who were second of the 20+ teams in the League. Johnathan Farrell had his best start to the winter for some time with 7.46 seconds for the 60 metres where he was second. He was also second in the Shot and third in the Long Jump; Peter Bowman was second in the 800 in 2:05.1 and third in the 400 and Cameron McLeod was second in the sprint hurdles, third in the 200 and fourth in the High Jump. There were also good performances from Roisin McShea, Claire Reid, David Campbell and Rachel Busby among others. Once I have all the results there will be further comment and results. Thanks are due to Donald, Phil and all the parents who helped out on the day and made it such a success for the club.