Calling all juniors, come and help raise funds for the club at a bag packing session arranged at -

Morrison's in Giffnock on Saturday 2nd August

10.00am - 4.00pm

Please come along and help even if you can only spare an hour.

Names to Jill Holinshead or your coach.

FAMILY QUIZ NIGHT

Friday 12th September - 7.30pm
£2.00 per ticket - Maximum 5 in a team

Fabulous Prizes ~ Raffle & Mini Auction
Prizes for the best team, the worst team and the best team name
Tickets available soon from coaches & committee members

Scottish 3x800m & 4x400m Relay Championships

The National 3 x 800m Relay Championships were held at Grangemouth and the club again excelled with a new Scottish record for U-15 Boys Jack Walker, Grant Muir and Max Lott with a clock busting time of 6.21.98. They were joined in the medal haul by James Gray, Fraser Walker and Chris Russell who picked up and impressive bronze.

A perfect weekend came to a close with the U-13 Boys relay, Rob Gourley, Dougie Britton and Patrick Lonergan winning silver, before the U-15 Girls Nikki Manson, Petrena Marshal and Heather Howie finished the weekend as it started with gold in the U’15 girls event.

More photographs

Scottish Schools T&F Championships ~ Scottish 3x800 / 4x400m Relays ~ Scottish u20/u23 Championships

Giffnock’s finest held their end of year exams at Grangemouth recently and propelled the club to the top Scottish Schools Athletics league table for excellence. With eight gold, five silver and six bronze along with a Championship Best, it’s easy to see why the youngsters had perfect report card.
With 211 schools taking part, the Scottish Schools are regarded as one of the toughest competitions on the calendar making their achievements even more impressive.The busy weekend kicked-off in style on Friday with no fewer than six medals for the club.

First up was the ever impressive Daniel Carlin in the (A) Shot with a winning putt of 15.77m. Drew Hollinshead continued his good run of form in the Pole Vault chalking up the clubs second gold in the (C) class with a clearing 2.40m. Not to be outdone, Caroline Adams added bronze in the (A) with a vault of 2.40m. Grant Muir got in on the act in the (C) 800m with a bronze in a time of 2.05.5 to set a new club record in the process. As the bell rang on the first day of competition there was further bronze from Nicole McLeod (A) 1500 3rd 4.55.28, and Neil Gourley 800m (D) 3rd 2.17.35.

With so many great performances on Friday from their pals it spurred the Saturday gang on to raise the bar even higher. First to take up the challenge was Emma Brown claiming gold and smashing the 25-year-old championship record of 11.44s set in 1983 on her way to winning the 75m hurdles in a blistering 11.34s. She was rewarded for her performance with the Westbourne Trophy for best female sprint hurdler over the weekend and her time takes her to the top of the UK rankings.

If that was not enough, three other club records were broken on a sunny day in Falkirk. First was Claire McAuley 3000m (B) 1st 10.17. She was followed by Emma Dowd (B) who continued her impressive first season in the triple jump with by leaping 10.56 to pick up silver and extend her own best mark in the process. Drew Hollinshead rounded off the record breaking in the 400m hurdles with a silver in a time of 67s. Joining Emma Dowd on the triple jump runway was Matthew Kerr (C) winning gold with a mighty leap of 12.43m before turning his attention to the HJ with a bronze medal for clearing 1.65m It was also double delight for the versatile Nikki Manson claiming Javelin gold to match her district medal in (D) with a rocket of 28.21. She then added silver in the 75m hurdles in a time of 12.34, which was even more impressive since the race had to be rerun after the hurdles had been set out wrongly. The club’s winning ways continued with David Smith (A) HJ 2nd = 1.85, Amy Barrows (B) HJ 2nd 1.55 Max Lott and Grant Muir had a cracking race in the 1500m (C) with Lott taking silver in a time of 4.24.41 just ahead of Muir in third who stopped the clock on 4.25.07.

Sunday saw attention turn the U23/20 Championships, and another club record feel to David Phee in the 5000m who picked up gold with a fantastic time of 14.58.77. He was joined by High Jumper Andrew Allan whose 1.95m in the U’23 was enough to claim the top spot on the rostrum.

The Sunday also saw the National 3 x 800m being held alongside the seniors and the club again excelled with a new Scottish record for U-15 Boys Jack Walker, Grant Muir and Max Lott with a clock busting time of 6.21.98. They were joined in the medal haul by James Gray, Fraser Walker and Chris Russell who picked up and impressive bronze.

A perfect weekend came to a close with the U-13 Boys relay, Rob Gourley, Dougie Britton and Patrick Lonergan winning silver, before the U-15 Girls Nikki Manson, Petrena Marshal and Heather Howie finished the weekend as it started with gold in the U’15 girls event.

Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon - Glenfinnan

Congratulations to Derren Thomson and Mark Roper who finished 59th out of 135 in the "C" Race at the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon which took place this year in Glenfinnan. Their time was 14 hours 25 minutes.

The LAMM is a two day competition for pairs with an overnight camp and is described as the "Connoisseurs Mountain Marathon".

Check out the LAMM website.

Running Festival

Thursday 12th June Rouken Glen Park Giffnock

Click here for details

Click here for 10k online entry (no entries on the night)

Click here for entry form (pdf)

5k entries taken on the night up until 6.15pm

West District Championships & Senior Closed Championships - Medal winners

U11's to the fore

At the Scottish Primary Schools XC Champs on Saturday at Kirkcaldy , Giffnock athletes representing their schools excelled.

P6 Girls from OLM Primary took silver in their race with Jacqueline Tappin, Jessica and her twin sister Jennifer Brew making up the medal winning team and Caitlin Kennedy in support.

P6 Boys then took bronze in their race with Philip Lee, Declan Farren and Liam McColgan being the counters and just missing the silverware and second place by one point. John Michael McFarlane and Mark Williams in support. Congratulations to them and all the other Giffnock athletes taking part in this national event.

Alexandra Pope was in the Hutchesons Team which took 1st place in the first P6 race and there was a top 20 place for Robyn Belch. Linnea Hay, Nicola Wilde,Hannah Little, Lyndsey Greenshields, Kirsten Crooks, Adam Kidd,Adam Divers and Fraser O'Rourke also competed over the traditional Fife course. Dewi Gould was 8th in his race and then followed this up with a front running win in the 800 metres at the CSSL League Match on Sunday.Connor Wheeler took 2nd place just behind him maximising the points for the middle distance boys.

In the Long Jump Lewis Grant was first A and David Lambie 1st B before David and Gregor Munro both took first places in their 80 metres events and joined up with John Michael McFarlane and Stuart Thomson for a 4x100 relay win.

Under 11 girls had a good day out too with maximum points in the Long jump from Robyn Belch and Rachel Alexander who also won her 80metre race. Holly Still and Robin Belch turned in solid performances in the 800m and the 4x100 relay quartet of Rachel, Marie Louise Kolasinski , Amy Martin and Heather Scott took 3rd Place in the relay.

All in all a great effort from these young athletes who inspire with their talent, determination and enthusiasm when risking that start line-- especially when it's their first time.They know what "putting your foot on the start line really means "!

London Marathon- how did they fair ?

George Taylor
2.43.15

National 4/6 Stage Relay Championships

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National Cross Country Championships

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Scottish Athletics Indoor League Final & Relays

The curtain came down on a fantastic indoor season at the Kelvin Hall with the Indoor League finals.

The Giffnock youngsters more than deserved their repeat curtain calls and standing ovations for their fantastic contribution to athletics. With teams in 8 of the 10 finals the Southside troupe won Oscars in the following U11 Boys Gold and Silver. The U15 Girls along with the U17 Women also won gold. Not to be outdone the U11 Girls, U13 Boys and the U15 Boys received Bronze for their tremendous endeavours.

Also there were plenty of box office record breaking performances throughout the day’s competition. Starting with U13B's 60m Calum Firth, smashing the club record with a clock stopping 8.39.

In the U15 Girls 60m Emma Brown lowered her own record by breaking the tape in 8.07. She followed that by clearing the magical 5m mark with a leap of 5.03m in the long jump.

Not to be outdone by their co-stars U15B’s Grant Muir ran 2.06.59 in the 800m. Mathew Kerr rounded off a great indoor season by clearing an impressive 1.81m in the U15B High jump.

The finale was the ever popular relay competition that saw no fewer than seven Giffnock sides line up to contest the medals after coming through their competitive heats. The girls showed how is should be done with the U11G joining their older pals in the U15 by picking up silver. Then the U’17 team consisting of Roisin Howat, Emma Dowd, Ruth Wallace & Katie McKnight trounced the club record with a clock stopping time of time of 1.47.67 to claim gold. The boys weren’t about to be outshone by their female counterparts and added to the ever increasing medal haul with the fine performances from U11 who nabbed first and second spot on the podium. The U13B team of Calum Firth, Adam Divers, Callum McWilliam & S. Woodhouse then set a new club record with a fantastic time of 1.56.80. Spurred on by the performances that preceded them the U15 also claimed gold before the U17 team of Daniel Chapman, Matthew Cumming, Kenneth Love & Fraser Graham rewrote the club record in the heats with a breathtaking time of 1.35.63s.

Like all good blockbusters, its takes more than the main acts to carry it off.

So thanks to the coaches, helpers and parents throughout the indoor season, without them we would never have achieved the level of success that we did.

Photographs

National Junior Road Race Championships - Aberdeen

BLIZZARD conditions could not stop Giffnock North AAC's squads from running up six national team medals and three individual awards at the Scottish National Junior Road Race Championships last Aberdeen.

First of all, whatever you’re doing, stand up and salute the Under 17 Girls team of Claire McAuley, Catriona Lockie and Rachel McDowall, who took the national crown after 4.4k of flat-out effort against not just top-quality opposition but also a bitter wind and an all-engulfing snowstorm. Despite the dramatic turn for the worse in the weather, Claire took it out with the lead group for most of the race, with Catriona in strong contention just off the back of the bunch. Under a darkening sky and blinding sheets of snow, a surge by Dundee Hawkhill's Eilish McColgan with 1200m to go proved decisive, blowing the group apart. Claire found herself on a solo mission for a medal and she earned it with a truly determined effort. Every bit as impressive were Catriona and Rachel, who stuck to their guns as the elements threw everything at them.

The trio, more than ably backed by Caroline Adams on the day, now add the national road crown to their West District cross-country title. Caroline deserves special mention for a gritty battle to the line with a rival runner – every place matters and her effort could have been crucial on countback* (see the Boys U15 and U13 races).

As an indication of the severity of that burst of weather (and her own never-give-in perseverance), Catriona ended up in the First Aid Room, wrapped in blankets and the fretful gaze of her clubmates. Though chilled to the bone, she made a good recovery and was soon herself again, so here’s a major round of applause to Catriona and the U17 Girls for having pushed to the limit in circumstances that saw some of the opposition running in trackie bottoms, woollie hats, thermal tops and gloves – check the photo gallery, it’s unbelievable. In fact it’s so grim you should wear gloves and hats when looking at the pictures. Pleeeeeeease, next time we’re racing in winter, pack lots of warm stuff.

Unbelievably, just moments after the girls completed their race, the sun came out to shine on Matthew Ritchie (10th), Jamie McGregor (11th) and Miles Hollinshead (16th) who won U17 Boys team bronze behind Central AC and Ron Hill Cambuslang. Greg Turner and Euan McCallum put in excellent shifts in support of their team mates.

Claire McAuley's individual bronze was matched by Grant Muir in the U15 Boys and Neil Gourley in the Under 13s. Grant, a year younger than the opposition, shifted up into silver medal position with 200 to go, but was eventually edged by Cambuslang’s Stewart Orr. With Max Lott in fifth and Alistair McCallum ninth, the team had 17 points, but so did Cambuslang, who took the title on countback*, which is something we’ve done to them in the past. Sandy Nimmo and James Gray also delivered excellent performances for the team.

Team silver also went to a very determined U13 Girls team of Stephanie Fairfield (5th), Petrena Marshall (6th) and Nikki Manson (21st). Team bronzes were won by the Boys U13 and Girls U15 teams, respectively Neil Gourley, Johnnie Tweedie (12th) and Rob Gourley (21st); and Heather Howie (10th), and the flying Patrick sisters Rebecca (13th) and Lucy (16th).

For the fanatics amongst you, the U13 Boys were shaded into third by our nemesis on the day, Cambuslang, who had the same points tally as us – see note below, then file it under “Ouch!”.

The very elderly Rory Cartwright (he’s an Under 20: practically pensionable) also graced the snow-blown wastes of the Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre car park, with a highly respectable 8th place finish. The perishing, windy, dank conditions never let up for a moment, but then neither did Rory, so full marks to him, as well as all the parents, relatives and coaches who made the journey a memorable one.

Final special mention goes to the Gourley brothers, Neil and Rob, racing together for the first time (well, officially) in the amber and royal blue. Rob was one of the youngest competitors on the day, not long after his eleventh birthday, I believe, but it didn’t stop him delivering a great race to help put his team on the podium. To celebrate, the officials even spelled his name correctly.

Truly it was brrrilliant stuff from every single athlete and you are to be commended for your talent, pluck, courage and sheer stubborn resolve in the face of … och, never mind, come awa’ in oot the cauld, yous daft loons an’ quines an’ hae some broth, fit like’s this weather, jings, furryboots are ye fae, Giffnock, whaur’s yon, dinna say it’s beyond Stonehaven? (Sorry, this always happens when I travel too far north.)

* “Countback” in road and cross country races comes into play when teams finish level on points total at the end of a race. The sting, as they say, is in the tail, so read carefully. In the U15 Boys race Giffnock North came home third, fifth and ninth. That’s good enough to win many a title, lads, but not when Cambuslang take second, seventh and eighth, which equals our points tally of 17. A draw is not allowed, so there has to be a tie-breaker and that is the last counter for the team - and Cambuslang's eighth beats our ninth (no disgrace there: it's up to everyone in the team to finish as high as possible). Had another team claimed first, sixth and tenth (hey, what do you know, that’s 17points!), they would been third on countback. I’ve never known three teams tie on points, but it’s best to be ready, because now I’ve mentioned this ridiculous possibility, it will happen. To us.

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Masters Athletics

GIFFNOCK NORTH AAC's athletes delivered superb performances at the recent Scottish Veterans Championships at Kelvin Hall and in the British Masters Championships in London.

John Birkett won a silver medal in the M50 category with a club record shot putt of 9.65m. Not content with that, he went on to the British Championships at Lee Valley, Enfield north London, and won a bronze with a throw of 9.77m. Birkett claimed another bronze in the discus with a throw of 20.78m - another club record. Angela Kelly won her first ever British Masters medal with a silver in the W45 200m in a time of 30.04 seconds. Both now intend competing in the World Masters Championships in France later this month.

Hugh Gallagher also competed in the Scottish Masters and was fourth in the M50 1500M with a time of 5.14.95 - a club record - as well as winning silver in the M50 3000m with a time of 10. 36.89 - also a new club record.

Scottish Senior Indoor Championships and Junior Relays

U15 Boys Record Breakers

The Scottish National Indoor Championships at Kelvin Hall saw Giffnock North AAC’s senior and junior athletes proving their mettle, or metal, with several medals and new records.

Under 15 Boys Till Loehr, Grant Muir, Matthew Kerr and Alistair Brown weren’t content with simply winning gold in their 4X 200 metre relay final, they did it in a new British record time of 1.39.21.

Their U13 clubmates Adam Divers, Callum Firth, Fraser O’Rourke and Callum McWilliam claimed another excellent 4X200 title in 1.57.48 , which was just four hundredths of a second slower than the new club record they set in the qualifying round.

Not to be outshone, Paula Houston, Emma Brown, Heather Howie and Petrena Marshall brought home silver for the girls’ squad in their U15 4X200, posting a fine 1.47.03.



Brown has enjoyed a fruitful few days, having recently won bronze in the English AAA Championships 60m hurdles, where she found herself lining up against seven National and English Regional Champions in the final eight.

In the senior events at Kelvin Hall, Lauren Baird claimed silver in the 800m, her two minutes 15 seconds effort bested only by Fife’s Jennifer Tan. The southsiders’ ever-consistent young thrower Dan Carlin reached a new club record 14.81m in the shot putt, having claimed a superb silver at the English AAAs a week previously. Andrew Allan took fourth in the high jump and Peter Dunn was sixth in the final of the 60m hurdles.

Also catching the eye was Under 17 Claire McAulay, competing in the senior 3000m and coming home in 10. 30.10 to set a new club record for U17s, U20s and Seniors.

Full Results

Chid Protection Survey

Hi Everybody

There is currently a survey about Child Protection being organised by SportScotland.

You can access the survey by clicking on the following link -

http://sircspss.hwb.shu.ac.uk/sportscotlandchildren1st/

Sorry about the delay in getting this survey to you and therefore the short period of time you have for filling it in. It only takes about 5 minutes so I hope you will feel able to fill in the survey.

Any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch. Feel free to pass it on to anyone currently associated with club or who has been associated with club who is not on the distribution list.

Ronnie Stevenson.
Child Protection Officer
GNAAC

AAA Age Group Indoor Championships

Congratulations to both Emma Brown (u15) and Daniel Carlin (u20) who both won medals at the AAA indoor championships at the NIA in Birmingham.

Emma claimed a bronze medal in a new club record time of 9.15 in the 60m hurdles and Daniel also better his own club record in the shot putt throwing 16.24 in taking a silver medal.

Scottish Athletics Indoor League - Final Qualifiers - 16/03/08

Hill Running - Devils Burden Relays

A hilly relay race over 31 km consisting of 4 legs for teams of 6 (2 legs run in pairs). Giffnocks merry band of hill runners successfully managed to improve on last year's 25th place by coming 18th from 90 teams.

Team was - Derren Thomson and Stewart Walker (first leg), Gerry MacNamee, Norman and Jim Galbraith on 3rd leg and the superb David Phee on last leg.

Total time was 2hrs 55 mins

Full Results

Photographs

Scottish Age Group Indoor T&F Championships

The club had one of its finest weekends at the Scottish age group championships at the Kelvin Hall.

No fewer than six national titles were won by the Southside’s finest.

The U/13 and U15 were first up with Heather Howie leading the way by winning the first title of the day in the 800m in a time of 2.21.43s.

Emma Brown had a busy day with no fewer than six races in a couple of hours. She won bronze in the 60m in 8.15s before sprinting off to compete in the 60m hurdles final. And she left the best ‘till last as she blasted over the obstacles to pick up the title and reduce her own club record to 9.19s and move to No.2 in the UK rankings.

Not to be outdone, her training partner Paula Houston continued her dominance of the 200m with a fine win, lowering her own club record in a blistering time of 26.02s which also secured the sprinter the No.2 slot in the UK.

Grant Muir made it a quick hat-trick for Giffnock by adding the 1500m in a clock stopping time of 4.30.16s, before Mathew Kerr launched himself to the Scottish High Jump title with a winning jump of 1.69m

Drew Hollinshead was next up and was crowned king of the Pole Vault with a winning height of 2.50m also setting a new club record in his favoured event.

That left Sandy Nimmo to bring the curtain down on a fantastic day first day for the club with a bronze in the U15B 1500m in a time of 4.45.44s.

Sunday saw the U/17 and U20 take centre stage and the ever impressive Daniel Carlin picked up silver behind the Britain’s No.1 shot putter with a new club record of 15.98m

800m star Catriona Lockie fresh from her Scottish schools victory which saw her move up to No.5 in the UK rankings added silver to her ever growing medal haul over the same distance in a time of in 2.18.03s.

The last medal of the day went to David Smith in the U20 HJ with a fantastic leap of 1.85m.

It wasn’t only the above who deserve special mention, as there were some other impressive performances throughout the weekend by other young Giffnock stars.

One example was Emma Dowd who in her first year at Triple Jump, matched Amy Barrows’s club record with a leap of 9.82m.

The experience gained against some top quality opposition from around the UK and Ireland can only stand them in good stead for the up and coming outdoor season.

Scottish Schools Indoor T&F Championships

Giffnock North pupils went on a field trip in search of some precious metal at the Scottish School Championships at the Kelvin Hall.

And they unearthed plenty of shiny nuggets to keep the teachers from dishing out some homework.

Daniel Carlin continued his winning ways in the O/16M Shot with a winning putt of 17.41m

Catronia Lockie held off some stiff competition in the U16 girls 800m to cross the line in an impressive 2.19.28s.

That was followed by the in-form Mathew Cumming who blasted home in the U16 60m to break the tape in 7.37s. He became the teacher’s pet when he broke the club record in the 200m picking up silver with a time 23.66s.

They pupils also discovered a rich seam of silver with Emma Dowd in U/16G 300m 43.2, David Smith in O/16B HJ 1.85m Matthew Kerr U/16B HJ 1.75 and Drew Hollinshead U/16B PV 2.40m

Not to be outdone Max Lott U/16B ran a fantastic 1500m in a time of 4.22.31 and set a new club record along with his silver medal.

Five Giffnock youngsters rounded a fantastic day by digging deep to unearth some vintage bronze.

Russell Lawson O/16M LJ 6.25, Kenneth Love O16M 400m 52.8, Katie McKnight U/16G 300m 43.37, Paula Houston U/16G 60mh 9.41 Grant Muir U/16 1500m 4.23.79.

There were also plenty of impressive performances from other young athletes who just failed to finish inside the top three but a special mention must go Heather Howie in U/16G 800m as she broke the club record with a time of 2.20s

Burns Supper - a fantastic time was had by all .......

West District Indoor T&F Championships - Team Challenge

Giffnock teams had further sucess at the West District Indoor Championships picking up three age group team prizes. u13 boys, u15 girls and u15 boys taking the honours.

Clubs were asked to nominate four athletes in four different events for a chance to battle it out for the £100 first prize, £75 second prize and £50 third prize for club funds.

Team details -