Central and South Scotland League – 2024 Match 1 Grangemouth
This interview by Frank Dick, former National Scottish Coach, has been around a while but for those who haven’t seen it please do take a couple of minutes to watch it before reading on….
The first track and field league competition of the summer took place on Saturday at Grangemouth. Now competing in Division 2, it was important to get a good team out to build on the success from last season. Not going to lie, it was disappointing to see quite a few blanks on our team sheet when we know we have athletes training hard and running well but not representing the club. That said, the team that we did manage to put out were absolutely fantastic!
Some performances worthy of mention:
Joella took a staggering 24 seconds off her 600m time from last season and running confidently to take 3rd place.
Alec Miller smashed his high jump PB twice and joined the “6 foot” club, by clearing 1.80m and then 1.85m.
A great series of races in the 800m – Beth and then Bethan ran almost identical races in the U15 and U17 races; both sitting just off the lead for the first 500m and then picking up the pace down the back straight to make their bid for glory. Beth’s turn of pace gave her a 4 second victory and a PB by nearly 3 seconds. Bethan had to work a little harder for her victory but her strong kick with 120m to go will be a great confidence booster for the East Districts championships in a fortnight.
Not to be outdone by his daughter Beth, Ken’s gun to tape victory in the Master’s 800m earned him a 16 second victory and a 5 second pb. Pocket money negotiations in light of the two PBs in the McWilliam household will be interesting conversations although Beth also won the javelin with an impressive 18m throw so should be the happier of the two.
Aaden continued his great form in the 800m from last season, finishing fast for 2nd place in the U17s age group. His time of 2m10.28s takes nearly 5 seconds off his PB. Aaden also ran his first 400m race earlier in the day running a great time of 55.34s which would have been good enough for 2nd in the Senior’s race.
Our under 11 mixed relay team of Corrie, Lachlan, Lara and Antek showed the future is bright by winning their race with some great baton changes.
Thanks to the officials, coaches and parents for bringing our athletes to the competition. Thanks also to one of our younger athletes who also convinced their parent to compete – they have reluctantly admitted they enjoyed it too!
Going back to Frank Dick’s interview: Nineteen athletes recorded PBs in various events; three athletes competing for the first time (Eva, Elsa and Kyle) and many athletes competing in new events that they can improve on for next time… That’s definitely winning!
Provisionally, Lasswade finished in 2nd place with Shettleston taking the win by over 100 points. 3rd place Dunfermline were just 2 points behind so those blanks spaces on the team sheet really do make a difference.
For those wanting to compete at the next CSSAL fixture on the Sunday 9th June, please complete this form. The timetable and list of events is here.
We are convening at this competition so if you’re able to help, please get in touch. Anyone fancy being the stadium announcer?
