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Scotstoun Closed

The U11's, U13's and U15's are all training at the Kelvin Hall on Thursday the 8th of August as Scotstoun is closed ahead of hosting the Championships this weekend.

Kenny, Donald, Sheila and Colin will be at the Kelvin Hall and will train as normal.

Open Graded - Scotstoun - 8th August

Not a great turnout for this meeting, but it was worth the journey to see our latest Pole Vaulter clear 3.20m in his first competition.  Jax Thoirs (U15) has been training with Brian Donaldson for a few weeks and it was pleasing to see his progress.

David Martin updated his PB over 200m with an impressive time of 21.94s ahead of the Senior Championships this weekend.

Gregor Innes achieved a PB of 23.44s over 200m.

Jamie Sinclair achieved a height of 4.10m in the Pole Vault, ahead of his club-mate Thomas Campbell who achieved a height of 4m.

Helensburgh Half Marathon

Only two VP-Glasgow athletes took part in the Helensburgh Half Marathon on Sunday 5th of August.

Martin Hayes finished in 13th place in his first half marathon with a time of 1:18.29 and Gerry Craig was 18th over the line with a time of 1:20.21.

244 athletes completed the race in dreadful conditions.

UK League Match 3 – Grangemouth Saturday 4^th August

Following the 7^th place finishes at the first two matches of the three match UK Women’s League series, Victoria Park Glasgow had to finish two places ahead of Woodford Green & Essex Ladies to avoid relegation from the top division of this competition. It was hoped that a ‘home’ match at Grangemouth would give us the best chance of survival.

Things started well, as star of the season, Eilidh Child, got Glasgow off to a winning start, taking the 400m hurdles in emphatic style, finishing almost 2 seconds clear of the field. Unfortunately, although she managed to win the B string sprint hurdles as well, Eilidh was the only Glasgow winner on the day.

The club has struggled this season in the UK League, through illnesses, injuries, holidays and even a clash with T in the Park (!) and the final match was no exception.

All the girls gave the best performances they could and no-one can fault the efforts put in, everyone fought hard for every point – right up to the last event of the day, where Glasgow’s 4x400 team of Alison Reid, Aileen Connelly, Eilidh Child and Claire Gibson ran an excellent race to finish 3^rd – and most importantly, ahead of Edinburgh! A small victory in an otherwise disappointing day, as we finished 7^th again and were relegated to Division 2.

I have no doubt that we will come back next year stronger and with more depth as a number of talented athletes move up to the senior ranks, and gaining promotion back to Division 1 will be a formality.

Lisa Doyle.

Nine VP-Glasgow athletes returned from the Celtic Games in Antrim laden down with medals following a day of intense competition on Saturday the 4th of August.

Scotland finished in 2nd place with 174 points behind Ireland with 189 points.

Nicola Hood was the star of the show, winning the 1500m Steeplechase in a new Celtic Games record of 5:08.46.

Gregor Innes won the 400m Hurdles with a time of 55.73s and along with Mathew Hester was  part of the winning 4x400m relay team that finished 1st in a time of 3:19.45.

Stuart Ross was 2nd in the U16 800m with a time of 2:02.2.

Josephine Moultrie was 2nd in the 1500m with a time of 4:41.85.

John Craig was 3rd in the 100m with a time of 11.53s.

Calum Innes was 3rd in the 100m Hurdles with a time of 14.21s.

Suzanne Begg was 3rd in the 100m with a time of 12.7 and 3rd in the 200m with a time of 26.26s.  Suzanne was also part of the 4x100m relay team that included Rebecca Riches and finished in 2nd place with a time of 48.00s.

Congratulations to all our medal winners.  The full results can be found at this link.

CSSAL - Wishaw

The 3rd meeting of the CSSAL will take place at Wishaw on Sunday 5th of August.

Two minibuses will be leaving Scotstoun Car Park at 9.30am.  There are plenty of seats available.

Kenny and Donald will be the drivers.  The cost is £2 per head.

Ian's Funeral will take place on Monday 6th of August at Corrie Church, Isle of Arran at 2pm.

The Ferry leaves Ardrossan Harbour at 9.45am.  A Bus will pick up mourners at Brodick to convey them to Corrie Hotel prior to the service at Corrie Church.  After the burial, returning to Corrie Hotel.

Anyone planning on attending from the Club should inform Graham Smith as it would help Ian's family to have prior notice of numbers.

Celtic Cup - Grangemouth

VP-Glasgow athletes were once again heavily involved in the very successful Celtic Cup at Grangemouth on Tuesday the 31st of July.

Many of our U17's were included in the West, Fast-Track Team which claimed victory over teams from Tayside & Fife, Central, Grampian & Highland and East.

Those who were invited to compete in the full glare of the Sky TV cameras made everyone in attendance from the Club very proud.  A large and noisy group from VP-Glasgow were camped out on the back straight and roared encouragement to their competing club-mates.

David Martin was 2nd in the 400m Hurdles with a time of 52.38s, Liam McDermid was 3rd with a time of 54.74s and Gregor Innes was 6th with a time of 55.85s.

In the 200m, Suzanne Begg was 7th with a time of 24.85s.

In the 100m, Rebecca Riches was 8th with a time of 12.89s.

Abbey McGhee was 7th in the 1000m with a time of 2:57.61.

In the 3000m, Beth Potter was 5th with a time of 9:35.94, just behind Sonia O'Sullivan and Pam Nicholson was 8th with a time of 9:54.72.  What a race that was.

Erin Leggate was 4th in the High Jump with a height of 1.65m.

Holly Young was 11th in the combined 1000m in a time of 2:54.89.

Rebecca Riches, Danielle Osborne and Aisling McGhee were all in the winning 4x100m West relay team that finished in a time of 49.49.

Calum Innes was part of the West 4x100m relay team that finished 2nd with a time of 43.95s.

It was a great evening once again. Scottish Athletics and Falkirk District Council should be congratulated.  The attendance was higher than last year and with Scottish Athletics picking up the cost of the transport, a cheap night out.

Click on the picture on the right to see the VP-Glasgow crowd on the big screen.

Just a reminder that a large contingent from the Club will be attending the televised Celtic Cup event at Grangemouth on Tuesday.

Many of the coaches, including Charlie Murray, Donald Wilson, Kenny Gray and Sheila Atkinson will be attending and therefore not available at Scotstoun.

Colin Sinclair will be at Scotstoun to assist anyone who wishes to train.

Seats are still available on the bus if you would like to attend the event at Grangemouth.  Details are below on this page.

VP-Glasgow will be well represented at the Celtic Games on Saturday the 4th of August.  Ten athletes have confirmed their availability from the eleven selected.

The venue for the annual Games between teams from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Northern Ireland is the Antrim Stadium, Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The ten VP-Glasgow athletes representing Scotland are:

John Craig - 100m | Calum Innes - 100m Hurdles | Gregor Innes - 400m Hurdles | Stuart Ross - 800m | Mathew Hester - 400m Relay | Suzanne Begg - 200m | Lara Davidson - 80m Hurdles | Josephine Moultrie - 1500m | Nicola Hood - 1500m S/C | Rebecca Riches - 100m Relay.

Good luck to all of our athletes this weekend.

Ian Binnie              1931-2007

Sad News appeared in the pages of the Herald Newspaper on Saturday 28th of July.  Ian Binnie it was reported, died last Thursday.  Doug Gillon of the Herald will write a full obituary over the coming days.

Hugh Barrow (Past President) had this to say last night.

Ian Binnie who lost his battle with cancer last Thursday was one of the first Scottish athletes to adopt the training methods of the great Czech Emil Zatopek which took him to a level of training hitherto unheard of in Scotland, sometimes absorbing three sessions a day.

On the back of this he set out to rewrite the record book, which he did.  During the 1950s, Ian won the Scottish 3 and 6 mile title double on three successive seasons - was a member of the famous Victoria Park team that won the English National Cross Country title in 1952 - set 21 Scottish Native records - in 1952 took Gordon Pirie to a World 6 mile record at the White City in London - set a UK and Empire record for the 1 Hour Run at Cowal also in 1952 - was a member of the Victoria Park team that won the Edinburgh - Glasgow Relay on 7 occasions - represented Scotland at the Empire Games 1954 in Vancouver and again in 1958 in Cardiff.  He simply was ahead of his time and set standards for others to follow.

Tales of Ian are legion and far too numerous to mention.  Controversy followed him everywhere,  even to the incident when he asked a cyclist to carry his baton for him in the Edinburgh-Glasgow and a rival from a club south of the Clyde took offence and threw the bike and rider into a field.

A full appreciation by Doug Gillon will appear in the Herald this week.

The final of the 2007 Young Athletes League took place on Saturday 28th of July at Grangemouth.  Edinburgh AC and Giffnock North were the worthy winners and runners up who will represent Scotland at the UK Final in August.

We had plenty to celebrate though with an enormous medal haul.  This might be the longest medal list I've had to type.  Whatever you do, don't try to read this in one breath.

Hannah Campbell was 1st in the U17 300m Hurdles with a time of 48.24s and Gregor Innes was 1st in the U17 400m Hurdles with a time of 59.42s.

Suzanne Begg was 1st in the U17 100m with a time of 12.55s, John Craig was 1st in the U17 100m with a time of 11.27s and Carlo Paloni was 1st B with a time of 12.19s.

Mairi Bowie was 3rd in the U15 100m with a time of 13.34s, Jonathan Byrne-Leitch was 3rd in the U15 100m with a time of 12.35s and Chris Marshall was 1st B with a time of 12.58s.

Max Aitchison was 1st in the U13 1500m with a time of 4:43.06 (Athlete of the Match Award).  Rhian Dawes was 1st in the U17 1500m with a time of 4:47.97, Max Ralston was 2nd in the U17 1500m with a time of 4:17.32 and Sean Fontana was 1st B with a time of 4:19.98.  Michaela Stephen was 2nd in the U15 1500m with a time of 4:58.04 and Sarah Potter was 1st B with a time of 4:59.25.

Hannah Campbell was 2nd in the U17 300m with a time of 42.79s, Gregor Innes was 1st in the 400m with a time of 52.12s and Mathew Hester was 1st B with a time of 53.06s.

Beth Potter was 1st in the U17 3000m with a time of 10.55.45.  Sean Fontana was 3rd in the U17 3000m with a time of 9:24.93 and Max Ralston was 1st B with a time of 9:45.19.

Andrew McFarlane was 1st in the U15 Long Jump with a distance of 5.18m.

Sarah Gray was 1st in the U15 High Jump with a height of 1.50m (Athlete of the Match Award).  Max Aitchison was 3rd in the U13 High Jump with a height of 1.20m.

Andrew McFarlane was 2nd in the U15 80m Hurdles with a time of 12.87s, Calum Innes was 1st in the U17 100m Hurdles with a time of 13.77s (Athlete of the Match Award) and Gregor Innes was 1st B with a time of 14.64s.

Rebecca Kay was 3rd in the U17 Shot with a distance of 8.01m.

Fraser Barbour was 1st in the U13 800m with a time of 2:34.69 and Sam Adams was 1st B with a time of 2:42.10.  Holly Young was 2nd in the U15 800m with a time of 2:21.44 and Stuart Ross was 1st in the U17 800m with a time of 2:01.38.

Suzanne Begg was 1st in the U17 200m with a time of 25.89s and Calum Innes was 3rd in the U17 200m with a time of 23.15s.

The U17 Mens relay team of John Craig, Carlo Paloni, Mathew Hester and Calum Innes finished 1st in the 4x100m with a time of 46.26.

The U17 Womens relay team of  Emma Crichton, Hannah Campbell, Caitlin Tullett and Suzanne Begg finished 2nd in the 4x100m with a time of 52.67s.

The U15 Boys relay team of Chris Marshall, Andrew McFarlane, Chris Barnes and Jonathan Byrne-Leitch finished 2nd in the 4x100m with a time of 51.03s.

The U15 Girls relay team of Lindsey Waddell, Jane Connelly, Alison Innes and Mairi Bowie finished 3rd in the 4x100m with a time of 54.17s.

The U17 Womens relay team of Gillian MacFarlane, Amy Mackenzie, Emma Crichton and Rhian Dawes finished 3rd in the 4x300m with a time of 3:05.79.

The U17 Mens relay team of Michael Gray, Gregor Innes, Max Ralston and Sean Fontana finished 2nd in the 4x400m with a time of 3:42.39.

It was a great day for the Club with some great performances rewarded with medals and just as many brave attempts at unfamiliar events.  It was great to see Chris Barnes helping the U15 boys to their relay medals, Carlo Paloni's great effort in the Long Jump, Corrine McConnachie battling to the end of her 3000m and Sam Adams great finish in his 800m to win 9 points as 1st B.

Katharine Crichton pointed out that VP-Glasgow won more track events than any other Club.  Great effort.

The full results can be viewed here.  Pictures from the Final can be found on the Club / Photographs Section.  They are better viewed by clicking HTML in the bottom left of the screen when you see the albums.

The third match of the Mens League was held at Meadowbank on Sunday 22nd of July.

VP-Glasgow finished in second place on the day with 323 points behind Whitemoss who had 351 points.  The current standings with one match to go have VP-Glasgow leading with 23 points ahead of Whitemoss who have 22 points.

Thomas Campbell had the best results on the day when winning the High Jump with a height of 1.90m and the Long Jump with a distance of 5.80m.

Neale Kelly was 1st in the 110m Hurdles with a time of 15.96s.

The 4th and final meeting is on Sunday 26th of August at Wishaw.  A good turnout should ensure a return to Division 1 for the 2008 season.

The 3000m Championships were held at Grangemouth on Sunday 15th of July.

VP-Glasgow athletes were among the medals with a fine win for Nicola Hood in the U20 category with a time of 10:29.20, just ahead of her team-mate Rebecca Finch who collected silver when finishing in a time of 10:35.60.

Jo Moultrie had a tremendous race and finished 2nd in the U17 category with a time of 10:11.65.

Max Ralston finished in 9th place among the U17 men with a time of 9:29.07.

Once again, all were a credit to the Club.

Our U13's, U15's and U17's will be competing in the Scottish Final of the Young Athletes League at Grangemouth Stadium on Saturday 28th of July.

Only one minibus is available for this event which will leave the Car Park at Scotstoun at 9am.

As space is limited, we would ask everyone to accept any alternative offers of transport and the few seats on the bus will be available for those who have no other travel options.

The cost of the bus will be £3 per head.

Donald Wilson will be your driver and he should be contacted at the trackside or by e-mail to reserve your seat.

The very successful Celtic Cup is being held once again at Grangemouth on Tuesday 31st of July.  The International event includes teams from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, a Bank Of Scotland development team and guest athletes from around the world.

The Club have acquired 60 tickets for the event and have booked a bus to provide the transport to the Stadium.

The bus will leave Scotstoun Car Park at 3pm on Tuesday 31st of July.  We will initially attend at Inchyra Park to participate in the Youth Festival and our younger athletes can take part in the Relay Races.  Entries through the Scottish Athletics Web Site.

The main event within the Stadium will be shown live on Sky TV between 7pm and 9pm.  We anticipate returning to Scotstoun no later than 10.30pm.

The trip is free to any of our members who would like to attend.  Please inform Donald Wilson or Kenny Gray at the trackside or by e-mail if you would like to attend.

This was a very successful evening last year and a great spectacle.

Scottish Athletics Grand Prix series came to Scotstoun on Wednesday 11th of July.

VP-Glasgow athletes achieved a number of PB's at this meeting including John Craig and Lorn Menzies who recorded times of 23.39s and 24.00s respectively over 200m.  Sabina Astarita completed the same race in a time of 25.78s.

In the 100m event, Catherine Clark recorded a time of 13.57s, Iona Wilson 15.83s, Liam Turner 15.16s and Erin Crichton made her debut in a VP-Glasgow vest and set a PB time of 16.50s.

In the 80m event, Liam Turner recorded a time of 12.3s, Sarah MacDonald 12.4s, Emma Ferrie 13.00s, Kyle Wilson 13.91s and Erin Crichton picked up her second PB of the night with a time of 13.38s.

In the 800m, Max Aitchison recorded a time of 2:24.26, Paul MacFarlane 2:27.14, Lewis Wilson 2:38.25, Iona Wilson 2:57.13 and Eilidh McEvilly 2:59.32.

Well done to everyone who took part, some excellent performances.

The full results can be viewed at this link.

World Island Games

Eve Carrington was our only representative at the two yearly World Island Games which were held in Rhodes.

Competing for her native Western Isles team she won Silver in the Triple Jump with a distance of 11.44m and Bronze in the High Jump with a height of 1.60m.

Congratulations Eve.

New Scottish Record

Nicola Hood was 4th in the 2000m Steeplechase at the North Of England Championships at Stretford on Tuesday the 10th of July.

Although she finished 4th overall, she was the 1st U20 to finish and take the North Of England U20's title in a new Scottish U20 record time of 7:03.74.

In June of this year she won the Scottish U20's Steeplechase title over 1500m in a record time of 5.07.9. Over the past two seasons since she has moved to Steeplechase, Nicola has never failed to improve her times over the 1500m & 2000m Steeplechase, taking more than 36 seconds from her 2000m time from last year.

Well done Nicola.

The third and final Match of the YAL took place at Grangemouth on Sunday 8th of July.  VP-Glasgow finished in either 3rd or 4th place.  Appeal pending.

We are however through to the Scottish Final at Grangemouth on Saturday 28th of July where the top eight teams from around Scotland will compete for the privilege of representing Scotland at the UK Final in Birmingham.

Like ourselves, most teams were considerably weakened by the date falling within the popular holiday period but we gave a good account of ourselves and more importantly introduced several new athletes to the competition.

The winners on the day were all familiar faces, Sarah Potter (1500m), Max Aitchison (1500m), Gregor Innes (400m Hurdles+400m+100m Hurdles), John Craig (100m), Lara Davidson (75m Hurdles+Long Jump), Sean Fontana (1500m), Calum Innes (100m Hurdles+Long Jump), Lorn Menzies (400m), Mathew Hester (200m), Catherine Clark (Long Jump+High Jump) and Davis Martin (Long Jump).

While the 9 points for each victory is most welcome, the difference between ourselves and Pitreavie will be less than 10 points overall.  Every point is a prisoner in this league and no more so than in the Final in 3 weeks time.

Of the new faces that caught the eye, Andrew McFarlane had an impressive debut, 3rd in the U15 Boys 400m with a time of 56.77, 3rd in the 80m Hurdles with a time of 12.97 and 4th in the High Jump with a height of 1.60m.

Of the new U15 throwers, Andrew Tighe and Fraser Hastie threw the Javelin 30.05m and 24.59m respectively for a combined total of 12 points.

Among the U15 Girls, Abbey Marshall caught the eye while winning the B 800m with a time of 2:40.76 and 5th in the 200m with a time of 29.31s.

Of the U13 Girls, Mhairi Patience was 4th in the 150m with a time of 21.67s, 4th in the 75m Hurdles with a time of 11.10s and 3rd in the Shot Putt with a distance of 6.18m.  Eve Dunlop also caught the eye while finishing 5th in the 800m with a personal best time of 2:52.34.

For the U13 Boys, Robbie Pollok caught the eye while finishing 4th in the 800m with a time of 2:43.96 and 3rd in the 75m Hurdles with a time of 15.87s. Kurt Kilgour showed great determination to finish 2nd in the 1500m with a time of 6:01.99, 2nd in the 75m Hurdles with a time of 16.40s and 5th in the Shot with a distance of 4.78m.  The star turn however was Davis Martin who was 1st in the Long Jump with a distance of 3.96m and 3rd in the 200m with a time of 29.21s.

Well done to everyone who turned out for the Club.  A great effort.  Good luck in the Final.

The full results can be viewed here.