NEWS

The Masters were held in Helsinki from Thursday 22 till Sunday 25th of March.

Claire Cameron was 2nd in the 20lb weight W45 category with a height of 11.03m, 3rd in the Discus with a distance of 35.15m and 3rd in the Shot Put with a distance of 10.23m.

BMAF Cross Country Championships

The Masters Cross Country was held at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield on Saturday 24th of March.

Susan Finch was our only competitor over the 6km course.  She won the Bronze medal in the Women over 40 category in a time of 22:54.

She was also the 7th woman home from a field of 100.

Great result Susan, well done.

The Championships were held at Bells Sports Centre, North Inch, Perth on Sunday 25th of March.  Sadly most of the races were over before the sun came out.

For the U13 girls, Joanna Brady was 69th in a time of 10:24 and Rebecca Nicholson was just behind in 71st place in a time of 10:27.

Max Aitchison came closest to a medal for the U13 boys when he finished 4th in a time of 7:56.  He was well supported by his team-mates Paul MacFarlane who finished in 23rd place in a time of 8:39 and Lewis Wilson who was 50th in a time of 9:19.

Hollie Young was our only individual medal winner on the day when she finished 2nd for the U15 girls in a time of 16:49.  She was however joined on the podium by her team-mates who finished 2nd overall.  Michaela Stephen was 10th in a time of 18:18 and Rachael McLellan was 27th in a time of 19:57.

For the U15 boys, Stuart Ross was the first home in 35th place with a time of 17:38, Michael Gray was 38th in a time of 17:46 and Gavin Murty (who forgot to put his clock forward) was 67th in a time of 20:15.

Abbey McGhee was the best placed VP-Glasgow athlete among the U17 ladies, finishing in 14th place in a time of 18:59 ahead of Katie Wylie who was 20th in a time of 20:44.

Both Max Ralston and Gregor Innes were removing their tracksuits, 100m from the start line when the gun was fired to start the U17 mens race.  Max still had a considerable advantage as he at least had a vest on.  He did produce an excellent run to catch and pass most of the field when finishing 16th in a time of 16:09.  Gregor was 39th in a time of 18:50.

Martin Hayes just finished out of the medals in 4th place among the U20 men in a time of 23:24.

Well done to everyone who turned out.

In October 2006, Suzanne Benyon a great young runner and a member of City Of Glasgow AC tragically died.

Suzanne won many track, road and cross country races and competed regularly for Scotland at a wide range of distances and disciplines.

Instead of flowers at the funeral, her husband and family asked for donations to be made to the Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary.  The £1240 which has been raised is going to be put towards the field shelter appeal.   A plaque in memory of Suzanne will be set in place on the shelter later this year.

For further information please visit this link.

A pair of spikes were left behind at Scotstoun on Thursday evening.  Ricky Miell has taken possession meantime.  If you know who they belong to, contact Ricky by e-mail.

The Road Race Championships are being held at Bells Sports Centre, North Inch, Perth on Sunday 25th of March.

Transport had previously been arranged for the Victoria Park Athletes entered although there may be a couple of seats available.

If you haven't arranged transport through Charlie Murray, you should give Gordon a call to see if there are spare seats.

The minibus will leave Scotstoun at 9.15 am on Sunday.  Remember the clocks go forward at 1am.  Don't be an hour late for the bus.

Six athletes took part in the Clydesdale Harriers 5K from the Playdrome in Clydebank on Saturday 17th of March.

Sandra Branney was the first one home in 29th place (1st Female Veteran) in a time of 17:43, just ahead of her team-mate Susan Finch who was 31st (2nd Female Veteran) in a time of 17:48.

Ken Brown finished in 57th place in a time of 18:58 (5th Male 50). 

Donna Findlayson finished in 83rd place in a time of 20:42 (12th Female).

Rab Daly was 91st over the line in a time of 22:21 (7th Male 60) and Bill Parker finished in 108th place in a time of 25:04 (9th Male 60).

Mark Ashby chose to sample the delights of the 25th Alloa Half Marathon.  Over 1000 athletes took part in atrocious conditions.  High winds and frequent snow showers failed to dampen the spirits of the runners.

Mark finished in 69th place in a time of 1:25.27.

The final of the indoor league took place on Sunday 18th March at the Kelvin Hall.  Victoria Park City Of Glasgow had four teams finishing among the medals.

City Of Glasgow's U20 ladies won the final of the Indoor League and also won the Indoor relay final.  A fantastic effort from the team that excelled on both the track and field.

Victoria Park's U20 ladies finished in 3rd place in the Indoor League and finished in 2nd place in the final of the Indoor relay final behind their club mates.  Yvonne MacFarlane  sacrificed herself for the team by running an excellent 800m and secured the team a medal.

Victoria Park's U17 men won the final of the Indoor League and also won the Indoor relay title.  One piece of bad news for the men came after it was announced that they had broken the U17 Scottish Indoor record.  Sadly, they had beaten the written recorded record but not the one set by City Of Edinburgh in January.

City Of Glasgow's U17 ladies finished in 3rd place in the Indoor Relay final.  Possibly the best performance of the day came from Suzanne Begg who made up at least 30m to snatch a medal place.

There was a great turnout for the club from the U11's and U13's who gained much needed experience and seemed to thoroughly enjoy their day.

Well done to everyone who took part in all of the league meetings over the winter.

I'll post the results when I have them.

New Kit

The first samples of the new kit arrived on Friday and our competition winners, Erin Leggate and Gillian Galloway turned out in freezing weather conditions at Scotstoun to model the Lycra Crop-Tops and Hot-Pants supplied by Ron Hill.

Sadly the kit turned out to be neither wind nor waterproof but our intrepid models stuck to their task.

More pictures of the kit can be seen at this link.

The following athletes have been selected for the U11 and U13 relay teams for Sunday 18th of March.

Kelvin Hall 11:00am for 11:30am

U11 B Liam, Scott, Kyle and Stephen

U11 G Caitlin, Emma, Anya, Katya

U13 B Jules, Fraser B, Robbie, Ross C, Sean, Kurt, Matthew, Jamie

U13 G Eilidh, Iona W, Eve D, Chloe, Hope, Sarah J, Emily, Antonia

If you have any questions, contact Kenny or Gordon.

There was a great turnout in freezing conditions at Scotstoun for the last in the series of winter Road Races.  38 athletes of all ages took part and many set personal best times for the various distances.

Well done to everyone that took part. 

Katharine Crichton (track and field secretary) has created a spreadsheet and e-mailed it to our athletes.  If you have not received this, you should send an email to John Innes (membership secretary) and have him add your e-mail address to the database.

You can download the spreadsheet here.  It lists the competitions in which the club is entering teams this coming season.  Katharine has listed the events (as far as we know them) that the athletes will compete in each league.

Please indicate your interest and availability by putting an X against the events for which you wish to be considered.  Showing interest doesn’t mean definitely competing! Individual team managers will select their team for each match closer to the date of competition and list the team selections on the website and by email.

You should return the completed spreadsheet to katharinepsc@yahoo.com by 31st March at the latest. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please email her or talk to your coach.

A new scottishathletics Open Graded Grand Prix Series for under-17, under-20 and seniors has been announced, with athletes set to compete against each other in meetings within Scotland, across a range of track and field events.

A total prize fund of £14,000 has been made available through Modernisation investment, broken down through six age categories.

There will be a £2 entry fee for each Grand Prix event.

There will be five meetings:

1. Grangemouth (2nd May) 2. Edinburgh (24th May) 3. Linwood (27th June) 4. Glasgow (11th July) 5. Dundee (series final, 25th August).

Grangemouth and Linwood will run with the following events:

* 100m * 800m * Long Jump * Shot Putt * Javelin.

Edinburgh (Meadowbank) and Glasgow (Scotstoun) will offer an alternative programme featuring:

* 200m * 1500m * Triple Jump * High Jump * Discus.

The Dundee final will combine all named events.

Athletes must be members of scottishathletics to score points and win prizes in the Grand Prix Series.

Visit the scottishathletics web site for more information.

Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon

Three VP-Glasgow athletes took part in the Balloch to Clydebank on Sunday 11th of March. 

The race from Lomond Shores to Clydebank was made more difficult by wet and windy conditions.

Gerry Craig was 26th in a time of 1:21.23, Alan Hamilton was 45th in a time of 1:25.01 and Christine Catterson was 215th in a time of 1:44.53.

The summer will be along, any day now.

Irvine was once again the venue for the Championships on Saturday 10th of March.

Still waiting on the official results being posted by Scottish Schools but my roving reporters tell me that Beth Potter was 1st in the U17 race in a time of 16:32, just ahead of Josephine Moultrie who was 2nd in a time of 16:53.

Hollie Young was 3rd in the U15 race in a time of 12:26 with Michaela Stephen 6th in a time of 12:46.

Sean Fontana was 13th in the U17 mens race in a time of 19:23 with Max Ralston in 19th place in a time of 19:48.

For the O17 Ladies, Nicola Hood was 1st in a time of 16:49, Rebecca Finch was 5th in a time of 17:35 and Abbey McGhee was 14th in a time of 19:43.

For the O17 men, Martin Hayes was 10th in a time of 23:28.

Well done to everyone who took part.  A great achievement for the medal winners.

The full results can be viewed here.

Glasgow Schools had their Cross Country Championships at Nether Pollok on Friday the 9th of March.

VP-Glasgow had it's first winner of the weekend when Max Aitchison won the P7 Boys race. 

Among the P7 girls we had Seona Wilson in 39th place, Amy Day 41st, Iona Stanforth in 62nd place and Rosie Thoirs was 88th out of 160 athletes.

For the P7 boys, after Max we had Davis Martin in 19th place, Ross Campbell in 42nd place and Jules Desjaques was 66th out of 176 athletes.

We had some success among the P6 girls, with Iona Wilson finishing in 18th place, Eve Dunlop was 24th and Sophie Mills was 29th in a field of 177 athletes.

I think Kenny, Donald, Christine and Neil will be very proud of their group.

The full results are available here.

Lorna Young (City of Glasgow) was the outstanding performer for the Scottish team in the Cinque Mulini Cross Country in Italy at the weekend.

She finished in 2nd place in the U20 event, finishing behind a Czech athlete.

Scottish Athletics had secured an invitation to the prestigious Italian cross country event early in 2007 and selection was based solely on performances at the ScottishPower National Cross Country Championships in Falkirk in February, the first 3 eligible senior men and women along with the 2 under 20 champions being invited to compete.

I've recently added to our collection of photographs both past and present and they can be seen at this link.  I'd be delighted if some of our ex City Of Glasgow athletes could send in some photographs from their collections for the web site.

Kenny sent in the results of the Run, Jump and Throw competition and there were some great 200m times posted.

For the U11 girls, Katya was fastest with a time of 40.1s, closely followed by Emma F who finished in a time of 40.7s.  Very close.

For the U11 boys, Liam was 1st in a time of 37.3s with Finlay close behind in a time of 36.3s.

The fastest among the U13 girls was Sarah J who clocked a time of 35.0s, just ahead of Eilidh who finished in a time of 36.0s.

Ross had the best time among the U13 boys when he finished in 34.1s, just ahead of Kurt who posted a time of 37.0s.

The full times for your track cards can be viewed here.

Brian Donaldson is organising a holiday programme for athletics during the Easter break and GAA have been asked to supply coaches for the programme.

His requirements are roughly as follows Mon 2nd - Fri 6th April - 4/6 coaches - 5.5 hours per day Tues 10th - Fri 13th April - 4/6 coaches - 5.5 hours per day

Coaches would be based at Kelvin Hall ISA and we would expect them to be Level One athletics coaches working towards Level 2. They would be paid about £7/8 per hour.

It would be a good opportunity for young coaches to gain more experience and make a few bob.

Replies to Ronnie Stevenson as soon as possible.

New Club Vest

The vest competition is finally over.  The winner was vest 'F' which was designed by Gillian Galloway and Erin Leggate with 47 votes. 

The total votes cast was 96 with the breakdown as follows.

1. Vest F - 47

2. Vest E - 20

3. Vest C - 16

4. Vest H - 7

5. Vest D - 6

We'll order a couple of samples (including crop tops) over the next couple of days and if we can get the winning pair to model them I'll put the pictures on the web site as soon as possible.

Run, Jump and Throw Competition

The final results of the Run, Jump and Throw competition are now in.

It was a close run thing with a few inches making the difference in each group.

Winners were as follows:

U11 Girls: Sophie 153, Emma 132 and Anya 126

U11 Boys: Liam 202, Finlay 190 and Jarvis 139

U13 Girls: Iona W 188, Sarah J 187 and Sarah McD 182

U13 Boys: Jules 179, Ross C 172 and Ben 153

Kenny tells me they will probably run one more before May when we would hope to get the go ahead to run the Star:Track awards again over the summer.

The final points and positions can be found on this word doc.

Well done to everyone who took part.

U15 Girls

In what was the most competitive finishes in the age-group races, long-time leader Beth Potter fought off two strong challenges to strike gold.  First Beth Carter strode into the lead with about 500m to go only for Potter to pick up the pace.  Then Melissa Hawtin made an equally determined bid, but Potter found yet another gear and won the race in a time of 16:00.

For the U17's, Josephine Moultrie was part of the Scotland West team that finished in 2nd position.  Josephine finished in 10th place in a time of 20:36.  The other scoring athletes were Nicola Hood, Natalie Sharp and Christina Rankin.

This was the final race of the UK X-Challenge which has been going on over the winter season.  Josephine Moultrie came 3rd overall for the season 2006/2007 in the U17 ladies and was awarded her trophy at Nottingham.

The full results are available at this link.

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