LASSWADE ATHLETIC CLUB

Report by John McOmish

Another weekend at the Emirates Arena and another championships for Lasswade athletes – 8 athletes entered themselves across the events taking place.

U18W

Emma, Morven and Aoife S all entered in the HJ; Emma clearing 1.34m for 7^th place, Morven clearing 1.39m for 6^th place and Aoife picking up a bronze medal with a clearance of 1.54m.

Aoife also competed in the 200m, qualifying from her heat in 2^nd place with 26.30, before running faster in her semi final with a time of 26.20

Morven once again demonstrated her skills across multiple events and competed in the PV and 400m alongside the HJ.  Picking up a bronze medal with a first time clearance at 2.29m before then winning her heat in the 400m with a PB of 61.28 to qualify for the final; running another PB of 60.53 for 4^th place.

U18M

The U18M age group saw Ruairidh taking on the 400m, running the 2 laps indoors in a time of 56.10 for 4^th in his heat.

Jake was contesting the 1500m.  Tough qualifying conditions of only the top 5 in each heat, Jake sadly missed out by a tenth of a second in his heat, finishing 6^th in 4:28.62.  It’s worth noting that the speed of the race, with the top 6 finishers all separated by less than 1 second!

Senior Men

Andrew Brown was back at the Emirates once again to run many laps of the 200m track – running in the 1500m as a straight final, Andrew ran 4:12.91 to come across the line 7^th.

Petter Tye, not wanting to run as many laps as Andrew, entered into the shorter distances of 60m and 200m.  In the 60m, Petter navigated his heat coming 2^nd in 7.34, behind the eventual winner.  In the semi final, Petter came through in a time of 7.37 for 7^th place.  For his 3^rd race of the day, the 200m the tough qualifying of top 2 and next two best, Petter finished 3^rd in his heat with a time of 23.75

Finally, Alec Miller was through for the HJ.  Surviving a scare at 1.84m, Alec jumped 1.94m at the first time, claiming the silver medal and 1cm below the PB set the previous competition at the Open.

Lasswade came away with 3 medals – 1 silver and 2 bronze.  A massive thanks goes out to everyone involved in helping ALL Lasswade athletes compete at competitions – family, coaches and officials.

Photos courtesy of Bobby Gavin (http://www.thatonemoment.co.uk)

Our annual road race takes place on Sunday 1st March at 12pm. We are looking for volunteers to help on the day with course marshalling, buffet preparation, course set up and clear-up.

Funds raised for the club help to keep our training fees low and to pay for entry into the leagues throughout the year so any help at all is welcome, even if you’re only available for part of the day.
If you are available to help, please complete this form.

If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Thanks!

January 11^th saw the start of the 4J Studios Indoor season with the National Open and many Lasswade athletes competing.

The event format is open graded, with athletes seeded into their events with those of similar abilities as opposed to age groups.  Lasswade had 6 athletes competing.

In the U14 age group, Lara competed in the 60mH, finishing 3^rd in her race improving on her PB once again with 10.11; following this up just over an hour later with 4^th place in her 60m race with 9.09 seconds, just shy of her PB.

Archie, in the U16 age group, won his 300m race with a new PB of 39.21 seconds before following this up with a 5.43m leap in his long jump pool.

In the U18 age group, Aoife entered in the 200m and the High Jump.  Finishing 1^st in her 200m race with a new PB of 26.37 and shortly after this finished 2^nd in her high Jump pool, leaping over 1.57m for another PB!

Morven opted to compete in the Pole Vault, jumping a new PB of 2.38m and, with the new age groups this year, debuted over the 400m indoors with a time of 62.42 seconds.

Stepping up officially to the senior ranks, Alec Miller went in his speciality event of High Jump, finishing 2^nd in his pool with 1.95m, a PB by 4cm showing winter training is going well!

Finally, Andrew Brown was competing in the fastest seeded heat of the 1500m.  7.5 laps of the indoor track later, crossing the line in 4m 15.16 seconds, a good showing having ran in the 3k at the GAA meeting the previous week.

Thanks to John McOmish for compiling the results.

10th January 2026

There were 7 Lasswade athletes competing yesterday for the East District Team at Alexandra Park, Glasgow in cold and icy conditions.

First off over the hilly course was Gregor in the u13 boys race where he came 11th and helped the East to silver medals.

Imogen and Isla both had strong runs in the gold medal winning u15 girls team, finishing 4th and 6th respectively. In the u15 boys Francis was part of a very strong East team and came 19th.

In the u17 women Cerys was 2nd in the interdistrict competition, the East winning silver medals.

Lastly in the u20/ senior races Amy was a strong 14th (7th East) in a highly competitive women’s race and Innes was 28th (9th East) in the men’s race.

Well done to all athletes. Photos courtesy of Neil Renton and Bobby Gavin.

Full results here: https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2026/GBR/saintdis/event

Sub-zero temperatures greeted the athletes taking part in the historic New Year’s Sprint which took place at Grangemouth Stadium on Sunday. The big race, the 110m handicap sprint with a whopping £6000 prize for the winner was well supported by Lasswade athletes with seven seniors making it to the start line.

Ruaridh, Alec and Scott who were running in their first Senior Sprint ran well but didn’t progress beyond the first round. Charlie, Ramsay and Murray made it to the cross-ties (semi finals) repeating their exploits from last year but unfortunately didn’t progress to the final.

Surprise finalist in the 110m was Keith Kong who finished in 7th place.

In the supporting events, Alec took bragging rights over Ruiridh and Scott by winning Group B of the Grangemouth Dash – a newly created event contested over 60m. Scott also made the final of the Veterans 90m race finishing 5th.

Charlie who was 2nd backmarker in the 400m with a mark of 20m, battled hard down the home straight to pick up 6th place.

In the Youth’s 200m, Aoife S (No 3) impressed with a strong run to win her heat and qualify for the final where she finished 2nd.

In the Senior 200m, Murray running off a mark of just 2m, Ramsay off 11m and Eloise off 26m ran well but failed to make the final.

Well done to all the athletes who took part.

All photos thanks to Bobby Gavin (https://www.thatonemoment.co.uk/)

Full Results: http://www.liveresults.org.uk

Sunday 7th December

Just 18 athletes turned out for the 2nd Indoor League competition on Sunday but there was an abundance of PBs and athletes who were extremely close to their PBs making it a good day of athletics for those who took part.

In the Under 12s, there was a PB for Katie H in the Long Jump, our only Under 12 girl who also ran in the 60m and 600m.   Finlay and Roddy both won the A & B events in the 600m.  Roddy took over 3 seconds off his PB which he ran in the first match.  Finlay “only” managed to take just under 2 seconds off his PB, but his time of 1:45.94 puts him as the 3rd fastest Under 11 in the UK this year!  Despite a slight stumble in the 60m, Finlay also set a new PB in the 60m too.

Lara had a busy afternoon taking on three events. First was the Under 14s long jump where she finished 2nd with a new PB of 4.20m.  That was followed by two PBs in the High Jump with a final clearance of 1.45m for 1st place, and in between jumps, squeezed in a victory in the 60m Hurdles despite clipping the penultimate hurdle.  Isla H ran well in both the 200m and 800m  just shy of her PBs in both races and also in the Under 14 girls, Cara threw a PB of 5.09m in the Shot Putt.

Matthew competing in the Under 14 Boys scored a double PB in the 60m and Long Jump showing that he’s recovered from the broken toe he suffered recently.  Angus smashed his 800m PB which he set in the Forth Valley League back in August taking 11 seconds off his time.  Magnus M also improved on his Shot Putt PB and ran a solid race in his 200m.

Archie was the sole representative for the Under 16 boys.  A PB in his 200m was followed up with a great victory in the 300m just 45 minutes later where he was the only runner to dip under 40s with a time of 39.95s.

The under 16 girls were better represented with Katie T running well in the 200m and recording a new PB in the long jump – her first time jumping over 4 metres with a best jump of 4.10m.  Isla M, having a great weekend which started off on Saturday with a bronze in the East District Cross Country Championships, also ran a great race in the 800m to record a new PB.  Flo was Lasswade’s representative in the High Jump, equalling her PB of 1.30m.

In the Under 18s Men’s category, we again only had one athlete turn out.  Ruairidh took on the 60m where he was just 0.01 seconds off his PB.  After a 3 hour wait for his next race, he then ran his first race over 400m where he ran an encouraging  time of 55.52s.

Our Under 18 ladies were Lasswade’s Team of the Day – the only one of our 8 teams that were able to field a full team.  Aoife, like Ruiridh,  took on both the 60m and 400m.  She recorded a PB in the 60m and followed that up with a time of 64.10s for a 3rd place overall for the 400m.  Emma recorded a PB in the 60m hurdles for 4th place and a great 2nd place in the high jump.  Beth had a strong run in the 800m for 3rd place, just outside her PB and was also 3rd in the long jump.  Finally, Morven who returned to the Emirates for a 2nd day having represented Scotland in the School’s Pentathlon International on Satuday, took part in the shot putt and 200m (her 7th event in 2 days!) and still recorded a new PB!  The under 18 girls team finished 2nd overall and in contention to qualify for the final in March.

Thanks to the Lasswade officials, Susan, Harry and Stephen who helped on the day.

Full Results: https://tinyurl.com/mutfhe4p

The next Indoor League competition takes place on Sunday 25th January. To sign-up, please complete this form. Male athletes especially!

Pleased to announce that our popular road race takes place on Sunday 1st March, 2026

Our Early Bird Offer is better than any Black Friday deal going on at the moment as it’s available until the end of the year! Runners entering the race by 31 December 2025 will pay the same entry fee as last year’s race, which is £16 for affiliated members, £18 for non-affiliated. Entry fees from 1 January 2026 will be £20 and £22. Entries close on 28th February, 2026. Free post-race buffet for all runners.

Our bonus prizes are up for grabs again: £100 bonus prize for a winning time under 52 minutes (Males) or under 59 minutes (Females). Last years winner, James Donald from Dundee Harriers came within 22 seconds of the bonus and in the ladies race, our own Amy Frankland clocked 60:34s.

Entries: https://www.entrycentral.com/lasswade-road-race

For more race information, please see our website.

Despite being an alleged 10°c during training tonight, it definitely felt much, much colder. As always with the barmy Scottish weather it’s important that athletes are dressed appropriately for training. Athletes who are not suitably clothed for a session maybe asked to sit out the session. We are hoping that this would be a last resort and that we can offer athletes some additional layers to enable to take part in the session.

An important thing to remember is that the temperature can drop quite quickly at Dalkeith, so whilst the weather at the start of the session maybe “OK”, by the end of the session, the temperatures can easily drop below zero. Children also lose heat much faster than adults so they can develop hypothermia much quicker.

Please look at the chart below for recommendations on what to wear.

We are now asking athletes to declare for SAIL on Nov 2nd.

Please visit the link below for more info and how to declare.

IMPORTANT NOTES.
1. Timetable not yet available but we compete in the afternoon session.
2. This is the first event to use the new even age groups U12, U14, U16 and U18
Please use the calculator to work out age groups.
The correct age group will be under “In competition year 2025-26 (TF)….”

3. You can import events on the calendar to your own.