The Awards Disco & Xmas night for Junior Athletes
(U11 & 1st year u13) will be held at:

The Braidholm Suite, GHA Rugby Ground
Braidholm, Braidholm Rd,
Giffnock, Glasgow, G46 6EB

Friday 7th December 2018

 7.00pm – 9.45pm

Disco, Pizza & Nibbles

Tickets £7.00   (+ admin. fee)

BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE

Our annual Junior (2nd year u13 upwards) and Senior awards night to be held at –

Carmichael Hall, Eastwood Park
Saturday 8^th  December,
7.30pm – 11.00pm.

A fun filled night is planned with live music from ceilidh band Clamjafrie, a hot buffet and bar service will also be provided.Tickets are available via Entry Central  priced just £15.00  (+ admin. Fee).

Don’t delay as ticket numbers are limited.

 

BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE

Several club juniors featuring in medal winning teams at the Scottish Secondary School Road Races held in Grangemouth on Wednesday 3rd October.
Well done to Alex Robin and Jack Wallace who were part if the Hutchie Team taking the Gold Medal and to Mathew Murphy and Craig Shennan who took the Bronze medals for Williamwood HS.
Ben Shaw was 4th for Eastwood HS and many other of our athletes turned in good performances representing their schools.

Link to the full results

Congratulations to the following medalists at the Club Track and Field Chanpionships.  Full results avalable on the links below.

u11 Girls	Athlete	Points	u11 Boys	Athlete	Points
1	Madeleine Mackenzie	998	1	Lewis Davidson	662
2	Emily Williams	911	2	Logan Johnston	580
3	Leilani Spelman Ikedashi	822	3	Alfie Bradley	556
u13 Girls	Athlete	Points	u13 Boys	Athlete	Points
1	Emily Watson	936	1	Daniel Martin	1009
2	Angelica Mayer	920	2	Matthew Knak	825
3	Amber Wade	899	3	Scott McMillan	804
u15 Girls	Athlete	Points	u15 Boys	Athlete	Points
1	Caroline MacConnell	992	1	Jacob Luc	1362
2	Ella McGregor	949	2	Harris Paterson	1174
3	Valencia Wright	934	3	Jackson McCawley	940
u17 Girls	Athlete	Points	u17 Boys	Athlete	Points
1	Rachel Callan	1126	1	Murray Fotheringham	1844
2	Orla Lang	1073	2	Sam Young	1514
3	Miriam Gilbride	1056	3	Lewis Mitchell	1226
Sen. Women	Athlete	Points	Sen. Men	Athlete	Points
1	Erin Wallace	1145	1	Kyle McLean	1597
2	Rhona Mowat	806	2	Ben Shaw	1413
			3	Neil Hutchison	859
Masters Women	Athlete	Points	Masters Men	Athlete	Points
1	Allie Chong	653	1	Michael Cross	1195
2	Jill Smylie	579	2	Ewan Wallace	1083
3	Stephanie Lillie	508	3	John Shedden	1080

FEMALE EVENT RESULTS  

Download (PDF, Unknown)

FEMALE POINTS TOTALS 

Download (PDF, Unknown)

MALE EVENT RESULTS 

Download (PDF, Unknown)

MALE POINTS TOTALS 

Download (PDF, Unknown)

The club Track & Field Championships took place at the Ayrshire Arena in KIlmarnock at the weekend.  The sun shone and a good time was had by all. Many thanks to the organising committee, the athletes, the officials and the army of helpers who all contributed in making the day a success.

Full results will be posted soon, once they have been scutinised.  In the meantime here are some great photos taken by Alan Stewart on the day.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ALBUM OF PHOTOS (224)

On Sunday 21st October 2018 the club will be hosting the Renfrewshire AAA XC Relay Championships at Nether Pollok, 49 Haggs Road, Glasgow G41 4AR.

We urgently now need to identify and confirm volunteers from the club, athletes, parents and family etc to make the event a success.

So we need people

1) to make sure the catering is up to our normal high standard

2) to assist with laying out the course and of course clearing up afterwards

3) to steward the parking and the course during the races

4) to provide a professional results service

Please spread the word and seek people committed to helping?  It doesn’t need to be for the full day although that would be helpful. As many hours as people can give would be appreciated.

If you are able to assist, please email Ronnie Stevenson

Hello,

Thurs night sessions Oct to Dec 2018 now on website.

Oct-Dec2018 (1)

Cheers,

Billy

Club Championships Arrangements
207 Athletes from Age U11 to Masters have entered the Club Championships and we are all looking forward to a great day of competition. It is always aided by good weather but the location at the Ayrshire Athletics Arena at Kilmarnock offers Indoor Cover if needed as well as a covered stand .We hope many parents, relatives and friends will come to support this event, enjoy the relaxed competition and get a chance to talk to coaches and other parents. You can bring your own folding chairs, small tents and/or umbrellas. We just need to ask that Athletes have clothing for any weather.

AYRSHIRE ATHLETICS ARENA
Address: Queen’s Dr, Kilmarnock KA1 3XF
Phone: 01563 555227

Can parents and athletes please note
Registration from 9.00am to collect your Numbers [Front& back] The Timetable will be adhered to as far as possible but as with many meets,it may run early or late so listen to the announcements from Dudley Walker.
Only pyramid spikes allowed at Kilmarnock so no Needle Pin spikes or Xmas tree ones
Athletes are welcome to wear Club vests but, as its our Club event, it’s not essential
Entry to the Arena will be by Programme
.The Entry fees to this event are minimal so bring your cash to buy your lucky [We hope] Programme Tracey Davie and Claire McInnes will be in charge. Lucky Numbers from the Programmes will be drawn during the day as well as a Tombola.
Kit sales organised by Lynda Scott and Alison Watson
Catering is again in the hands of Lisa Saxby with help from Ali Currie & Diana Davidson [we need a few more volunteers for this to allow a rota so that parents can see their Athletes events] We still require donations of Home Baking or Wrapped Labelled Sandwiches for the Catering Stall. Indications to Lisa Saxby
Results Team with performance scores organised by Graham Dunn will be Mike Napthine and Elaine Paul. AAA Standards [ Grade 1/2/3 ] achieved at Club Champs will be recognised with a Certificate
The Club Champions 1st /2nd/ 3rd will receive their Awards at the Annual Awards Night on Saturday the 8th of December in the Carmichael Hall. A separate Xmas Disco & Awards Night has been arranged for Friday 7th oF December for all U11 & 1st Year U13s

ARRANGEMENTS FOR U11 ATHLETES
Jennifer Jackson and Gillian Gallagher will meet all U11 Girls escort them to events, do warm ups etc, liaise re location & timings to meet up over the day and Shona Donnelly & Caroline Bradley will support the U11 Boys. The Timetabling has been arranged by Anne Stewart and along with Doleen Galbraith they have thankfully, managed to assemble the necessary officials to run the event

Entry Lists here

Download (XLS, 19KB)

Download (DOC, 17KB)

“>
PLEASE NOTE
This is still being finalised based on Entries & Need for Pools in eg U13 Girls. Copies of Final Timetable will be available on the day with Programmes. Don’t rely on this approximate one as it may change before Sunday . We are just ensuring everyone has a good idea of times over the day

Erin winning the London Junior Triathlon

Erin Wallace has had another trip Down Under to compete on the Gold Coast. Erin our Tri-Athlete goes from strength to strength.
We asked Gordon Wallace Erins dad for an update.
“Erin recently came 5th in the European Junior Triathlon championships in Estonia, and followed this up by winning the London Junior Female Triathlon. This gained her automatic selection for the GB Junior Female team who will compete at the World Finals in the Gold Coast. This sees the top 60 Female Junior triathletes in the world compete in the biggest championship race of the season. This takes place in the early hours of Saturday 15th September. She is currently in the middle of 2 weeks preparation with the GB team out there with all that involves”

The club wishes Erin the very best of luck in Australia. Also great news to hear that Erin is entered for the club Track & Field Championships as she has done every year since she joined the club and is looking forward to competing there. What a star!

A selection below of photos of a few of her athletics exploits.

Award winner at Scottish Athletics event 2017 with Coach Dudley Walker
On track, Indoor, Outdoor , that photo from the Bahamas when winning the 1500m and over XC representing GB Juniors.

Report from Gerry Duggan
Thirty-one of our young athletes hurdled, sprinted, ran, jumped, threw, vaulted and putted their way into the Highland Capital on Saturday the 1st of September. They were in pursuit of PB’s and even a few qualifying standards for next June’s Gothenburg event, before the end of the current Track and Field season.

Inverness Harriers welcomed us to their open graded meeting where our athletes competed in hurdles, 100m, 200m, 800m, Discus, Shot Putt, Javelin, Long Jump and Pole Vault.

Our athletes set off at lunchtime on Friday (everyone was devastated at having to miss an afternoon’s schooling) for the long journey north, where we set-up overnight camp in Elgin. We arrived in plenty of time for tea, before inventing the new Olympic sports of “Rugby in the Dark” and “Luminous Yellow Frisby”. It let us all burn off a bit of energy before lights out.

After a good nights rest, all the athletes were up bright and early, eager to compete, but not before consuming the Breakfast of Champions. Full fry-ups all round.

Our hosts, Inverness Harriers, were brilliant. Realising we were keen to land some Gothenburg qualifying times, they set up the 100m and 200m to “go with the wind”. So our athletes ran the wrong way down the home straight for the 100m and used the 800m stagger mark to set off for the 200m. Thanks guys!

Giffnock’s athletes put their usual heart and soul into the events and we hope that everyone was pleased with their performances. There were too many PBs and SB’s to list out individually, you can see the full results on-line or on Power of 10 (speedy work again on the part of Inverness Harriers).

Full results

One performance does merit special mention. Darcy McNeil (pictures below) set a PB and U13 Club Record in the discus with a whopping 18.70m. Well done Darcy.

 

Symon Lipp was busy with his iPhone round the track and captured as many of the athletes in action as possible. You can see the pictures in the Highland Capital online photo album.

Click here for photos

All the coaches (Jackie Alexander, Sara Lang, Billy Glasgow, Gerry Duggan and Symon Lipp) would like to thank our athletes on their outstanding performances and exemplary behaviour throughout the trip.
Report with thanks to Gerry Duggan

2^nd Sept Pitreavie AAC Young Athletes’ Trophy Meeting

GAA Sky High Pole Vault 2018 (The Final)

Now in its’ 27^th year and still attracting 200 plus competitors the Young Athletes’ Trophy Meeting occurs at the end of the outdoor season and always produces  great spectacle in the track and field competitions .  With it scheduled so soon after the National Age Group championships  it often offers a final chance to collect a medal , improve a PB,  or a chance to re-challenge  many recent National gold medallists.  It also provides U11 athletes a competition to earn a first trophy at something almost akin to National level with the many competitors it attracts in this age group from far and wide.

With fair temperatures and the occasional sunny spell it turned into a memorable day for two of Giffnock’s  U13 Boys.  Ryan Davie collected his first individual Gold in the High Jump with a 1.40m clearance and only narrowly missed a 1.44m PB. Ryan, being a first year U13 performed at an admirable level for his age bettering several boys a year older.  He also competed in the Long Jump finishing 5^th with 4.14m and outdid himself again with a PB finishing 3^rd in the third heat of the 100m with 14.80secs. This earned him a spot in a very competitive final.  He was actually late for his original heat as he was on his last attempt at high Jump at the time and luckily got a move into heat3 when he eventually made it to the start line.  Fortuitously for him though, this was the fastest heat of the day and brought the best out of him, and the time he produced was better than the winner of the heat he should have ran in. Ryan was a bit slower in the final due to a strong headwind and after all the exertion and finished 6^th , but was very pleased overall with his day. More to come next year.

 

Daniel Martin also had bumper day with the medals, earning 3 Golds.  His first of the day being at Long Jump. Having just returned from running his 75m hurdles heat, he and two others had 3 rounds to complete as all the other competitors had finished.  Daniel had some nervy moments with 2 fouls but calmed himself to ensure a safe effort in his final jump to produce  4.38m which won the competition by 5cm. This was much to his surprise afterwards as he wasn’t best pleased with that particular jump. The distance being a good bit down on his performances of late. He followed this up with a safe run in the final of the 75m hurdles winning comfortably in 12.88 secs.  This was his third gold in the event this year after the West Districts and an excellent PB in the National champs a fortnight ago. Finally in the 100m Daniel executed another safe run along with Ryan in Heat 3 making the final.  After managing his effort well throughout the day he stormed through to win the 100m final by 4metres in 13.75s. A very decent time contending with a strong 3.2m/s headwind.

 

Sky High Pole Vault 2018

Finally after a whirlwind week, Reuben Nairne  pulled off his second Pole Vault Grand Prix victory of the year winning the GAA Sky High Pole Vault competition. This was the fourth meeting of the series and just like he did during the winter season he became summer season champion.  It’s been a successful season for him in Pole Vault with him achieving a recent U17 club record of 4.35m which puts him top 5 in the UK and 5^th best on the Scottish all-time list. Added to his superb Silver at the UK School Games on Saturday in Loughborough in 100m hurdles,  and a 4th place in PV competing at the England Athletics Champs in Bedford the previous weekend,  it’s been a demanding but rewarding week for him.  A massive well done Reuben.

Report by Brian Martin

Calling all club members …

There is now less than a week to get you entry in for the Club Track & Field Championships.   Entries are due to close on the 9th September.

Please make an effort to support this event, a lot of time and effort is put in by the organising team to make this event happen.

Full details and the link to online entry can be found at : https://www.giffnocknorth.co.uk/club-track-field-championships-entries-open/

 

Many thanks to the following athletes who have competed for Giffnock North in the 2018-19 Men’s League  – 

Calum McWilliam, Alexander Young, John Hamilton, Scott MacIver, Kyle McLean, Finlay Waugh, Eoghan  O’Donnell, Lewis Mitchell, Andrew Robertson, Andrew Clark, Luke Nelson, Kieran Killen, Sam Young, Calum Rogers, David Lees, Neil Hutchison, Murray Fotheringham, Chris MacKay, Greg Turner, Donald MacLean, Blayne Wright, Ben Shaw, Nicolai Gajic

Men’s League Match 4 and Season Round-up

In the  last Division Two Men’s League in 2018-19, Giffnock North’s team put in the best performance of the season, coming third on the day with 249 points. Edinburgh were 2^nd on 269 points and Corstorphine 1^st on 286.  With over thirty events, I think we can declare that a bit of a blanket finish!

In the four match series Giffnock finished fourth overall, a tantalising 1 point behind Lasswade. Edinburgh in 2^nd and Corstorphine in 1^st are promoted to Division 1. The Match 4 and Overall Series points tables are at the bottom of this email.

On our return to the Mens Leagues, (we didn’t compete last season), I am pleased that we put in a credible performance. Match 4 shows the potential of what Giffnock can do when we field athletes in (almost!) all the events. I thank every single athlete who has competed for Giffnock’s Mens League Team this year. Without fail you put your heart and soul into every performance.

I look forward to you all competing again next year when, if we put in a “Match 4 performance” every time, we will push for promotion.

Gerry Duggan, Team Manager

 

Match 4 Summary (Full results are attached to this email)

We had a very soggy start to the event, making the field events a bit tricky. Our jumpers (Sam Young, Calum Rogers, Scott MacIver, and Lewis Mitchell) landing on puddled crash mats or swampy sand and our throwers (David Lees and Neil Hutchison) handling what must felt like heavy bars of soap. But the guys persevered and landed vital points.

In the middle distances Nicolai Gajic and Donald MacLean (800m) and Andrew Clarke and Ben Shaw (1500m) all scored well for the team. In the guest 1500m Blayne Wright tore strips off his PBB. In the longer event, Kieran Killen ran his first track 10,000m.

Lewis Mitchell and Eoghan O’Donnel performed well in the 400m, despite having to stand at the cold, wet start line for 20 minutes prior to the gun.

The short sprint team also racked up the points. Special mention to new boys Scott MacIver and Finlay Waugh. Scott made a huge round trip from Stornaway and was rewarded with a PB in the 100m and Finlay flew round the 200m for his first sub 23s 200m. Remarkable times in horrible conditions. Kyle McLean continued his series of sub-23 200m runs and John Hamilton had a seasons best in the guest 100m. Alexander Young was frustrated with on an ongoing injury hampering his 100m.

Finally the relays were a mix of highs and lows. The 4×100 landed third place, but in the 2^nd leg of the 4×400, Lewis Mitchell pulled up dramatically with a hamstring injury. We wish him a speedy recovery.

 

Match 4	Match Points	Pts		After 4 Matches	Match Points	Pts
Corstorphine	286	9		Corstorphine	1141	35
Edinburgh	269	8		Edinburgh	1084	33
Giffnock	249	7		Lasswade	791	24
Lasswade	192	6		Giffnock	746	23
Law	175	5		Inverclyde	744	21
Inverclyde	130	4		Law	650	17.5
Clydesdale	115	3		Whitemoss	518	12.5
Whitemoss	114	2		Arbroath	326	7
Arbroath	0	0		Clydesdale	364	6

Full Results

Report by Craig Fotheringham with photos from some earlier triumphs.

” The main factor in the second day of the AAA’s or English Championships was the weather. The warmth and occasional sunshine of yesterday had gone. The temperature had dropped considerably and just as events started , so did the rain and it never relented.

First up today was Reuben Nairne in the Pole Vault. PB’s were going to be rare today and in the inclement conditions everyone was well below par. Reuben managed clearances at 3:71 and 3:86 before failing at 4:01 but achieving a very creditable equal 4th place.

Murray Fotheringham had the unenviable task of competing against the class athlete of the meet – Dominic Ogbechie for the second time. Murray was very briefly in 2nd place with 6:59 Metres but in the cold and wet could not improve and slipped to his second 4th place of the weekend.

Both these boys are first year Under 17’s and will be back next year stronger and more experienced.

Meanwhile Alyson Bell was attempting to win her second medal of the weekend in the Under 15 Girls 200 Metres cruising through her heat in 26.34 seconds and going straight through to the final as many girls did not start due to the weather.

The final was run when the rain was at its worst.
Alyson looked a little jaded from her exertions yesterday but with her usual strong finish clawed her way back into contention. She was making ground and gaining places but the line came too soon and she had to settle for another Giffnock 4th place !!

Thanks Craig for keeping us up to date from a soggy Bedford.”

Great efforts from all 3 of our talented athletes just missing the Podium today at this prestigious competition.And well done Alyson returning home with yesterday’s 100m

Bronze.

A reminder that the Club Track & Field Championships will take place on:

Sunday 23rd September at the Ayrshire Arena ,Kilmarnock

The events timetable can be downloaded here

All details and link for online entries can be found here

Please make every effort to support this Club event.

Closing date for entries is 9th September

All photos courtesy of Bobby Gavin and Scottish Athletics

Report from Craig Fotherigham

The Age group Championships were held in Aberdeen this weekend and those who ventured North on day one were welcomed with a warm day , sunny spells and a moderate breeze.

Our first Girls on the track were Katie Foss and Sophie Haldane who cruised through to the final of the Under 20 Women’s 400 Metres.
They returned for the final later in the day and strong running by Sophie looked to have won her the Gold but Katie had not yet lost belief. She found some extra strength down the home straight and clawed her way back to Sophie. The line eventually came for both girls and it was too close too call. Rather remarkably they were inseparable on the photo finish and both were awarded Gold medals.

Meanwhile Daniel Martin had lived up to his top seeding in the Under 13 Boys Shot Putt taking Gold with 9.54 Metres.

He returned to the track and grabbed his second Gold with a dominant run in the Boys 75 Metre Hurdles setting a new PB of 12.15 seconds.

Over at the high Jump , Murray Fotheringham was stepping up an age group to compete at Under 20 ‘s after his triumph at the Under 17 championships last week. Another confident performance gave the 15 year old a remarkable Gold with a new Giffnock Record of 2:03 Metres.

Erin Campbell grabbed another Gold for Giffnock in the Women’s Sprint Hurdles.

It’s not all about winning medals and lots of our athletes have their all in search of PB performances.

In the Under 13 Boys , first year Ryan Davie just failed at a new PB and came 4th – losing a bronze by the narrowest of margins on countback. He also gave Javelin a go but needs at bit more training in that event.

David Lees was 4th in the Under 20 Men’s Shot Putt but was a bit below par in the discus.

Emily Watson reached the final of the Under 13 Girls Sprint Hurdles finishing in a very creditable 5th place. She also competed in the Javelin placing 7th.

Kyle McLean in his first year as an Under 20 put in a great performance to reach the final.

Tuscany Wright battled through her pre-race nerves to produce a huge PB in the Under 13 Girls 800 Metres, breaking 2:50 for the first time. She was just ahead of Abigail Flower who came home in 2:53 and also gave High Jump a go.

Thansk Craig for reporting from Aberdeen

On Day 2 Giffnock Medallists included
Sophie Haldane took her 2nd Gold medal of the weekend in the U20 W 200m. Another race where the same time was given for 1st & 2nd place but the Gold going to Sophie this time.
Kyle Mclean took Silver in the U20 M 200m
David Lees with Bronze in U20 Javelin
Isla Fotheringham with Gold in the U15G Pole Vault
Ross O’Brien with Silver in the U15, 1500m
Jennifer Dallas with Bronze in the U15 G Shot Putt

Congratulations to all our athletes who travelled to Aberdeen , those above medalled, all those who made Finals , narrowly missed the podium or bettered their PBs. Hope we haven’t missed anyone out over the 2 days.

LIVINGSTON CE & MILE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sunday 5 August 2018

A decent day was had for four of Giffnock North’s  Multi-eventers yesterday at Craigswood for Livingston AC’s Combined Events and Mile Championships. This event has been running since 2015 and has seen increased popularity each year both with numbers of entrants and with some excellent athletic  competition.  Despite a cancellation last year it was well subscribed on its’ return to the calendar.  Another valuable feature of this event is its’ U11 Quadrathlon competitons for boys and girls which had over 25 competitors on the day giving many of them a first competition experience and a fun taste of the Multi event discipline.

Giffnock had one representative here – U11 Girl  Aneesah King Oubacha who did herself proud with some PBs and a meritable 406 points finishing in 12^th position.  A big well done Aneesah!

In the U13 Girls event Emily Watson having just returned from a holiday managed a PB in her outdoor Pentathlon total of 1725 points finishing in 7^th position with event  PBs  also in Shot and 800m. This consolidates her Pentathlon Scottish ranking at 11^th place for 2018. There were 21 competitors in this competition on the day.

In the U17 Girls event Rachel Callan earned a Bronze with 2482 points and a big Shot Putt PB by 28cm. Rachel had other praiseworthy personal performances on the day in High Jump and 800m which were close to PBs.

Finally in the U13 Boys Daniel Martin made up for recent bad luck in the two Scottish National Combined events championships this year by claiming Gold in this one over 14 other athletes with the 2^nd Best score in the UK (1719 points) for 2018.  No PBs unfortunately, which was of some irritation to him but bodes well for the North East Counties CE championships in Gateshead in late September, which he hopes to compete well in before he moves up to the U15 age group.  This was Daniel’s second Pentathlon win this year after also winning the Lee Valley Indoor CE Championships in London back in March.

Results from all these competitions yesterday are available here.

https://www.livingstonac.com/live/

Report by Brian Martin

 

 

Congratulations to the following Giffnock North athletes on their selection for the upcoming Celtic Games at Grangemouth on the 4th August.

Under 18 Women	Alyson Bell	200m  (Futures selection)
	Alyson Bell	4x100m Relay
Under 18 Men	Reuben Nairne	Pole Vault (Futures selection)
Under 16 Boys	Murray Fotheringham	High Jump
	Murray Fotheringham	Mixed Relay
	Ross O’Brien	1500m (Futures selection)

 

 

 

 

 

Scottish Athletics report and full team

 

Two Giffnock North athletes put in stella performances for Scotland at the recent Welsh u20 International in Swansea.

Chis Mackay, jumping against high ranked opposition, pulled out a new pb of 2.03m to take the win.

Alessandro Schenini, competing as a guest, matched fellow Scot Calum Henderson, both athletes jumping 7.29m beating the recently crowned English Schools Champion, Shandell Taylor.

Scottish Athletics report

At the weekend Giffnock athletes were competing on both World and National stages.

In Tampere, Finland, Erin Wallace was flying the flag in the World u20 Championships. Erin put in a magnificent two race shift in the 1500m. In Fridays heat she easily qualified for the final in third place in a time of 4.21.60. In a very tough final Erin ran a very good tactical race clocking 4.17.61 for 7th place. She was first Brit and third European. The race was won by Alemaz Samuel of Ethiopia in 4.09.67. 7th in the world a fantastic performance.

Interview with Erin after the race.

In London Neil Gourley accepted his first senior GB&NI vest at the inaugural Athletics World Cup. Neil, also competing in the 1500m, stormed the last 200m to take the bronze medal and 6 points for the team. The race initially slow and tactical, worked in favour of Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski as he took the win.

‘I came into this knowing that this was my first senior international event and I wanted a lot more,’ said Neil, who recorded 3.53.24, with the race won at 3.52.88.

‘Some people thought that it was unrealistic to win but I really was going in there to win it. That’s got to be your attitude every time. But I can’t really complain. It was one hell of an experience and I am just excited about having the opportunity to do it.

‘I thrive in this environment and if someone else is depending on me then I want it so much more. I hope I did my bit knowing the team was depending on me.’

Neil’s race (Polish commentary)

Back in Scotland it was the Masters and Combined Events Championships at Grangemouth.

Angela Kelly did the 100m & 200m double in the W55 category taking gold in both, in times of 15.16 & 33.07 respectively.

Colin Wylie was also in good form taking the bronze medal in the M45 400m, his time of 60.89, a new club record.

In the u17 Men’s Decathlon, Murray Fotheringham was in the wars. Despite injuring himself in the warm up and limping through the hurdles, he threw a pb in the Discus and still managed to complete the event. Murray accumulated 5886 points, a new club record , and took the Silver medal. The winner was Scott Brindly of North Ayrshire AC.

Well done all the Club athletes who performed today at the Scottish Relay championships over 4x100m , 4x300m and 4x 400m !
All

As reported by Billy Glasgow “a great day was had by all, 8 medals and 2 new club records to boot. Well done to all those who competed.”
Medallists highlighted but good performances from all our athletes

U13 Girls 4 X 100m Final
1 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 58.09
1) #257 Josie Reilly 2) #258 Angelica Mayer
3) #259 Kate Seenan 4) #260 Emily Watson
7 Giffnock North AC ‘B’ 1:01.65
1) #261 Erin mcKay 2) #262 Natasha Tallen
3) #263 Eliza Turner 4) #264 Emma Gilmour

U13 Boys 4 X 100m Final
1 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 53.89
1) #225 Ryan Davie 2) #226 Daniel Martin
3) #227 Craig Shennan 4) #228 Josh Thielan-Mann
U17 Women’s 4 X 100m Final
2 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 50.94
1) #385 Carly Miller 2) #386 Rachel Callan
3) #387 Rosie McKay 4) #388 Katie Foss
U17 Men’s 4 X 100m Final
4 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 47.47
1) #357 Jake Vulcan 100 2) #358 Finlay Waugh
3) #359 Murray Fotheringham 100 4) #360 Nathan McNee 100
Sen Women’s 4 X 100m Final
2 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 50.46 New Club Record
1) #505 Erin Campbell 2) #506 Niamh Grahame
3) #507 Holly Shearer 4) #508 Rhea Campbell
Sen Men’s 4 X 100m Final
1 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 43.46 New Club Record
1) #441 Andy Moses 2) #442 Calum McWilliams
3) #443 Russel Lawson 4) #444 Kyle Mclean
U15 Girls 4 X 300m Final
2 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 3:06.60 F
1) #345 Isla Scott 2) #346 Brooke Moran
3) #347 Lauren Agnew 4) #348 348 MacConnell
U17 Women’s 4 X 300m Final
2 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 2:49.35
1) #417 Rachel Callan 300 2) #418 Eva Blues
3) #419 Orla Lang 4) #420 Katie Foss
U17 Men’s 4 X 400m Final
2 Giffnock North AC ‘A’ 4:00.71 M
1) #369 Murray Fotheringham 2) #370 Donald MacLean
3) #371 Nathan McNee 4) #372 Jake Vulcan

Following the initial announcement of the trip to the Gothenburg Youth Games in Sweden in 2019.  The Standards required for each event are now available.

Please note, javelin, discus and hammer standards are set by the organisers and detailed on the pdf link.

We expect all athletes to compete in at least two events in Gothenburg and should achieve, or be close to standard in any two events on this list.

The standards should be achieved from 1 January 2018 and the last event to be taken into consideration will be the club championships on 23 September – so make sure you get your entry in on time!!

We will be expecting athletes to achieve (or be very close) to the published time/distance/height in two of the events listed. These may not necessarily be the events they would compete in at the games due to differences in specifications in Sweden.

U13 athletes – if you are unsure if you are eligible to attend (you must be in your second competitive year as an U13 this season), please check with your coach.

Again we would remind all athletes that achieving two standards is not a guarantee of selection and even if you don’t quite get both, we will be looking at commitment, attendance at training and turning out to compete for the club.

If you have any questions at all, please email Jackie Alexander.

The initial letter and the standards can now be found on the Gothenburg 2019 page which can also be access from the main website menu.

Gothenburg 2019 – Standards

Thurs Night Sessions-July/Aug/Sept now on website.

JulyAugSept2018

Cheers,

Billy C

Under 12’s survive super soggy Super Team’s Competition in Perth. Report from Steve Taylor
Scottish Athletics U12 Super Teams competition in Perth.
Giffnock North AC took four teams from our U11 and U13 sections to a very wet Perth on 16 June 2018. The event was attended by nearly 350 athletes from clubs throughout Scotland with people traveling from as far as Peterhead and Stornoway to compete.
The weather was testing, with the showers of near biblical proportions, creating a track with several inches of water to slosh through at times. The rain combined with a stiff breeze created hypothermic conditions for the athletes, coaches and spectators alike. Only the salvation of a hot cup of tea and home baking, courtesy of Perth AC, kept many of us from perishing.
Giffnock took the opportunity to select some young promising athletes, many from the U11s, for the 75m, long jump, turbo javelin and relay format, to pit themselves against more established athletes that were fielded by our rivals.
Despite the youthful selection, all the teams fared well with GNAC girl’s teams placed 6th and 7th out of 49 and the boys 6th and 22nd out of 35 teams. The standout performances were Felix Chan, showing his form from the Glasgow schools championships to win his 75m heat in 11.07s (second fastest on the day) and the girls A team cruising to a comfortable win in their relay heat, in a time of 63.07s, and could have gone much faster in better conditions with more competition.

Well done all those that took part.

Apologies to Steve and athletes for the delay in posting this
It’s been busy at the club with news but it is also important to record the achievements of our U12s in Perth.

Thanks to Gerry Duggan for this report

Another round of brilliant personal performances at the Men’s League today. Despite the limited number athletes and events in which we are able to compete, we were lying 5th with only the discus and relay to be scored. The finalised result will be forwarded as soon as they are available

We had a great day in the jumps. Not only did Sam Young PB in both the HJ (1.88) and TJ (11.88), he offered tremendous support to his team mate Calum Rogers (first outdoor competition this season) who added a remarkable 10cm to his PB at 1.70. Not to be outdone, Neil Hutchison jumped a Seasons Best with 5.69. Unfortunately Calum twisted his knee in the TJ. We all wish you a speedy recovery.

In the throws, Neil Hutchison was in great form throwing Seasons Best in both the SP and Javelin with 8.83 and 36.42 respectively. We are sure he would have been able to do the same in the discuss, but he had miss his final throw to take part in the relay.

Our runners also put on a good show. Andrew Robertson shaved his 800m PB down to 2.08:07 and Luke Nelson lopped over 10 secs of his PB, down to 2.21:39. In the 1500 Greg Turner ran a Seasons Best at 4:15.42 and Ethan Carolan put in a never say die performance to snatch 2nd place on the line in the B race in 4:21.86. Greg went on to run the 5000 to secure vital points for the team.

A change of clothing brought on another PB in the one lap race. Ditching his side split middle distance shorts for sprinters Lycra, Eoghan O’Donnell took his 400m PB down to 54.88. Lewis Mitchell was a true team performer, getting round his 400m despite feeling unwell.

And then the relays.

Our 4×100 team of Neil (who had just come off the discuss pit), Greg (who had just finished a 5000), Lewis (who was still feeling terrible) and Luke ( a self-confessed 10,000m runner) did a remarkable job in getting the baton round final time and position to be confirmed

Our 4×400 team (Eoghan, Ethan, Andrew and Sam) put in a remarkable performance to finish 4th.

While everyone did a great job , the backbone of the today’s team was U17 – Andrew Robertson, Luke Nelson, Ethan Carolan, Eogahn O’Donnell, Lewis Mitchell, Calum Rogers and Sam Young. I can’t praise their enthusiasm, team spririt and sheer gutsy performances highly enough. (Greg Turner and Neil Hutchison wish they were still U17!)

A word of thanks to our officials – Graham Dunn, Garry Paterson and Danny O’Donnell. Without your help and support it would not be possible to run these events. Graham Dunn, a proud Englishman, sacrificed watching the Panama World Cup match live today to be with us at Grangemouth today.

The attached picture shows todays squad and officials, minus Greg Turner (curled up in a corner somewhere after a 1500, 5000 and 4×100 in quick succession), Graham Dunn (racing away to watch the England game on Catch-up TV before anyone told him the result), Calum Rogers (already back home with his knee on ice) and Team Manager Gerry Duggan (behind the camera).

Well done all

Also, in a guest 800m race Neil Gourley was just edged into second place by Chris O’Hare, only 200th of second separating them.

News item from Jackie Alexander

Following a very successful team visit to Gothenburg in 2017, the coaches and adults have recovered sufficiently to start mentioning the ‘G’ word again!! (For those of you unfamiliar with the event, please see the links at the bottom of the page).

We have secured funding from the club to assist with costs and have decided to undertake a second visit to the games in 2019.

The 2019 games will be held 28,29 & 30 June and we would be proposing to use similar travelling arrangements to those from 2017. This means we would be away from Thursday 27 June to Monday 1 July.

The cost will be £600 per athlete and this includes all flights and transfers from Glasgow to Gothenburg, hotel accommodation (shared twin rooms) for 4 nights and meals from Thursday evening meal to Monday breakfast, event kit and event entry fees. Last time, parents set up a fundraising committee and managed to reduce the cost for each athlete by £150 so I would suggest this would be something to consider this time once the team is announced.

We will be circulating a set of standards for the various events which we would be expecting athletes to achieve (or be very close to) if they wish to be selected. The deadline for standards is the end of September 2018. There are plenty open graded meetings, national championships and of course, the club champs, to enter to achieve the necessary times and distances. We will be looking for athletes to achieve at least two event standards as they will have to compete in a minimum of two events when on the trip. Throws standards are the only ones set by the organisers.

Selection will not be guaranteed even if the standards have been reached, we will take into account attendance and commitment at training and we would also be looking for athletes who have competed for the club over the season.

I would be grateful if you could advise at this stage if your athlete would be interested in being considered for the trip. This is not a firm commitment nor is it a guarantee of a place but gives me an indication of the numbers we are looking at, to allow me to ensure we will have enough coaches and adult helpers willing to accompany the team. Please email me by Friday 13 July to express interest.

Please note we have a lower age restriction on athletes being considered – all athletes will have to be U15 or above next competitive season. This means that only U13 athletes who are second year U13s can be considered. If your athlete moved up from U11 at the start of the indoor competition season 17-18, they are too young to attend.

I’ve attached the website report from the last trip to give an idea of what we got up to and also the link to this year’s event. If you have any questions, please contact either Sara Lang or me and we’ll try to help.

Jackie Alexander

email addresses for Jackie and Sara:

jackie.alexander1@btinternet.com & sararusselllang@btinternet.com

Event info at –

http://www.vuspel.se/pdf/VUinbj18eng.pdf

 

Report from the 2017 trip

https://www.giffnocknorth.co.uk/gothenburg-trip-gets-the-thumbs-up/

Report by Croy Thomson

GIFFNOCK NORTH AC athletes enjoyed success last weekend, in three different countries.

In England, at the always deeply competitive Athletics England U20 and U23 Championships in Bedford, Erin Wallace claimed not only a fine 1500 metre silver in four minutes, 29.82 seconds, but puts her in a strong position for selection for the GB Team for the World Junior Championships in Finland next month. Also winning silver was U23 sprinter Jenna Wrisberg with a hard-fought 11.78 seconds effort in the 100 metres.

Coming home with well-won bronzes were long jumpers Alessandro Schenini (U20 7.25 metres) and Rachel Alexander (U23 5.89 metres).

In the mountains of Italy, hill runners Lynn McKenna and Rhona Mowat represented Scotland at the International Youth Cup, McKenna in particular hitting the heights with an excellent ninth place finish.

Much more locally, at the Brian Goodwin Memorial 10k hosted by Bellahouston Harriers, Luke Traynor continued recent excellent form by winning in a new course record 28 minutes 31 seconds. The performance makes Luke the third-fastest Scot all-time over the distance on the roads.

 

The U12 athletes’ success at the Greenock Invitational Competition on Sunday 3rd June was rewarded with a visit from Luke Traynor to the U11 Session at Eastwood on Tuesday night.  The Girls  Teams took 1st  as pictured

2nd Team members were Katy Donnelly, Eve Greene,  Madeleine MacKenzie & Hannah Sluman, 3rd Team was  Leilani Spelman Ikedashi & Emilia Hickey Fugaccia  along with Hannah Turnbull & Kirsty Adam as pictured .The boys were Joint 1st with Kilbarchan as pictured but without  Logan Johnstone.

Our 8 year old Team also triumphed. [ Beatrice Nairne and Mara Phillips were the other Team members]

Luke  kindly interrupted his 2nd training session of the day to present the medals and talk to the young athletes and answer some of their questions.  Thanks again Luke . The athletes and parents really appreciated you taking the time to do this. A great reward for their efforts . We would like to underline our appreciation and thanks to Janice Hendrie and Gerry Gaffney and all at Inverclyde AC for organising and hosting this event for U12s.

Best wishes go to many of our athletes for this weekend’s endeavours . It’s getting hard to keep up with them all. We have Lynn McKenna and Rhona  Mowat heading for Italy for the Mountain Running Championships. And our YDL Team heading to Scotstoun for Match 3 .

We have Erin Wallace , Adam Clayton, Alessandro Schenini  Jenna Wrisberg and Rachel Alexander heading for Bedford for the AAA  U23 &U20 Championships with important European Trial selections as part of these.

And we have 4 teams heading to Perth for the Super Teams

 

Report from Gerry Duggan
RESULTS for Mens League Match2, Aberdeen- **WE ARE ON THE WAY UP**

Fantastic result from Sunday despite one or two calls due to a very busy weekend, we finished a very creditable 4th overall and were only 1 point off finishing third(results still subject to scrutiny)

”Thanks to all for some brilliant performances and another magnificent team spirit on the day. In Match 1 we were 6th, Match 2 we were fourth. The momentum is with us, with a full squad to cover all the disciplines we will surely be contenders for Match 3 at Grangemouth on 24^th of June. Look out for “call-up” papers coming out this week”

Once again well done to all who competed.

Gerry as Team Manager  is rightly delighted with the efforts of our athletes in the Men’s league and looking forward to the next match.

We will  need some team and some action photos . Well done to all the Athletes !

Alexander Young, Andrew Robertson, Calum McWilliam, David Lees, Donald MacLean, Eoghan O’Donnell, Ethan Carolan, Greg Turner, Kieran Killen, Lewis Mitchell, Neil Hutchison, Calum Rogers,   

A further reminder that this year’s Club Track & Field Championship will be held at the Ayrshire Athletics Arena, Kilmarnock on Sunday 23rd September.  Please put this date in your diaries and make every effort to support it.  Further details will be posted nearer the event.

A reminder that our Summer Athletics Camps are still open for bookings and details can be found here

 

East Ren Sports Facility Consultation

Scottish Athletics National Indoors Championships 2017
January 28th 2017
(C)Bobby Gavin

To all our ERC Athletes, Parents,Coaches, Officials, Supporters
You may be aware that East Renfrewshire Council recently published proposals regarding future options for developing leisure and recreational facilities in the area. As one of the largest sports clubs in the area, we are keen to draw this consultation to the attention of our members and would encourage you to review and provide any feedback to the Council through the survey on their web page. We have provided a link below:

https://getinvolved.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/erc/eastwoodleisure/

Whilst none of the options set out in the current proposals make any specific reference to provision of athletics facilities, there is the option for you to provide additional feedback in the ‘Comments’ section.
The consultation period closes on 19 June.

We would encourage members of the club who are ERC Residents to discuss and participate in this important consultation. Track facilities are available to us in the area at both Eastwood and Williamwood [and outwith East Ren we also use Hutchesons’ School Track , Emirates Arena , Scotstoun , Tollcross and JWC in East Kilbride] but the lack of a competition standard track has often been highlighted by the club and at times difficult or insufficient Indoor Training access in the winter months to the Emirates Arena due to other demands . Our facilities sub group will be interested in any input to our Club submission to the consultation . Contact via coaches or Helen Nairne

The 26th Giffnock North Festival of Running took place on Thursday 7th June which was a gloriously sunny day, well almost. This year’s event included 1k fun runs for primary school age children and the introduction of a new 2.5k event ,”To the Pond & Beyond” (I can hear Buzz Lightyear shouting it now !) This event is for Secondary School age children representing their school, the School with the most finishers being award £500 to go to the charity of their choice. Lastly, the big event, the Rouken Glen 10k, run in and around the glorious Rouken Glen Park.

In attendance at this year’s Festival were two of Giffnock’s Great Britain Internationals, Erin Wallace and Luke Traynor, many thanks to them for presenting prizes and giving encouragement to all the youngsters.

Primary School 1k Fun Runs
The winners in the 1k Fun Run were Katy Donnelly for Shawlands Primary in the girls, run and Calan Chong for Mearns Primary in the boys run.

To the Pond and & Beyond
In the 2.5k “To the Pond & Beyond” the Girls race was won by Hannah Ryding (St Ninians) in a time of 09.06 minutes. In second place, also from St Ninians, was Kate Paul in 10.03. Third place went to Miriam Gilbride (Mearns Castle) in 10.35.

The boy’s race was a much closer affair with Aaron McGillivray (St Ninians) finishing first in a time of 09.28, second was Matthew Donegan, (Lourdes Secondary) in 09.38. Third was Adam Chamberlain of Williamwood High School in 09.41.

Both boys and Girls team prizes went to St Ninians HS .
St NInians also won the £500 charity prize for the most finishers.

Girls Full Results
Boys Full Results

Giffnock North AC Rouken Glen 10k
To cool the runners off, the Rouken Glen 10k started in light rain, but fortunately didn’t last long.
First across the line was Iain Reid (V35) of Cambuslang Harriers, who is no stranger to this race, having won it three times now, his time 32.54. In second place was Jack Arnold (Sen) of Bellahouston Harriers in 33.18. Third was Andy Bonner (Sen) of Giffnock North AC in 34.58.

First lady to cross the line, for the second year in a row, was Ruth Fraser-Moodie of Springburn Harriers.  Ruth finished in 25th place in a time of 39.10.  Second was Skye Dick  in 27th place, time 39.20.  Third place went to Giffnock North athlete Jill Smylie in 39.29 in 30th place.
First over 50 man to finish was Ted Gourley (Giffnock North) in 13th place in a time of 37.52. First over 50 lady was Angel Carson (Bellahouston Harriers) who clocked a time of 46.44 .
In the under 20 category, Rhona Mowat was first lady to finish in 37th place in a time of 40.03. For the men Alastair McKenzie was first under 20 home in 45.29.

Congratulations to all finishers.

Many thanks to the Organising Committee, and all who officiated, marshalled, photographed and helped in any capacity. You all contributed to a very successful evening of racing for all ages and abilities. See you all next year.

Rouken Glen 10k Full Results

More Photographs courtesy of Alan Stewart

Well done to all who ran tonight’s Rouken Glen 10k.

Results can be found at https://www.stuweb.co.uk/race/1UG

Report and photographs to follow.

Report from Dudley Walker . All photos courtesy of Bobby Gavin

The rarely used Scotstoun Stadium held the second of two athletics events in a week on Friday 1st of June….following the Sprints Night on Wednesday it was the turn of the endurance athletes to stretch their legs and chase fast times!
The Middle Distance and Endurance athletes made the most of the warm weather,the superbly organised event and the wonderful spread of home baking to capture an enormous amount of PBs.
First up was Hannah Ryding making her debut over 3000m.She enjoyed the experience so well that she ran the second fastest time over that distance in Scotland this year in the under 15 age group…and 10th on the UK rankings.Ethan Carolan powered his way to a 9:18.16 personal best.
Also gaining PBs over the distance were Eva Chong,Lara Cassidy and Kieran Killen.
The 800s were well paced and pulled many of our athletes through to much improved times.The under 15 girls squad were all in fine form with all of them achieving either a SB or a PB.Abby Thomson,Zoe Flower,Ella McGregor,Kate Paul,Valencia Wright,Isla Scott all produced improved times with Nuala O’Donnell not far away with a season’s best.Most improved was Valencia on her GN debut with a 7 second PB…down to 2:18.99,
Not to be outdone the under 15 boys in the shape of Jacob,Harris,Reuben and Kian all came up trumps with quick times.Jacob getting ever closer to sub 2 with a time of 2:01.73.most improved was Kian McConville who reduced his 800m best by almost 10 seconds to 2:21.91.Eoghan O’Donnell improved to 2:8.44 with Lewis Mitchell getting close to a PB with a time of 2:11.55
Erin Wallace had her first outing this season over 800m and recorded 2:8.63 which takes her to 5th in the UK under 20 rankings.

Thanks to Dudley for the report

Well done to all the Middle Distance athletes and their coaches!More photos, videos and reports on GAA facebook and twitter feed.
This was the 1st GAA Outdoor Miler Meet of the season.
Entries have just opened for the 2nd one on 27th July.

Full Squad Of Giffnock U12s

Relay Team smiles from Leilani Spelman Ikedashi, Hannah Turnbull, Kirsty Adam & Emilia Hickey Fugaccia

And another smiling Team with Erin Mckay, Lucy Cree, Emily Williams & Cara Weir

A fantastic squad of our young athletes attended this Invitational Quad event hosted by Inverclyde AC at the Ravenscraig Stadium on Sunday the 3rd June. It was an excellent event from start to finish . As the main organiser Janice Hendrie noted ” it was Grassroots Athletics at its best”
Giffnock had a large contingent with 3 Boys Teams. 5 Girls Teams and a brilliant Team of 8 Year olds drawn form our Saturday RJT Session.
The sun was shining, the athletes shone and the Parents , Volunteers and Coaches were delighted with the efforts, performances and attitude of all our athletes. Outstanding! the teams sprinted over 75 m, did Long Jump and Turbo Javelin and then a 4x100m relay . Our team of 8 years olds did the same except for a 60m Sprint. It was a delight to watch , to participate in with all the Club Volunteers working together to make it a great event to be part of. Our very grateful thanks go to Janice Hendrie, Gerry and Jan Gaffney , Inverclyde AC volunteers and coaches and Janice’s troop of Young Leaders who were exceptional too. Thank you for a great day from all at Giffnock North. We are promising to look at hosting the next one.
Our Boys A Team drew with Kilbarchan for 1st Place
Our Girls A team was also first but just look at the Full results below to see the strength and depth over the day’s performances.

Download (XLSX, 29KB)

Max McHarg on the Podium

Nicole Proudfoot

The Murray to Max Exchange

Scottish Schools CE Report
by Craig Fotheringham

The Scottish Schools Combined Events Championships took place at Grangemouth on Saturday 2nd June 2018 with Max McHarg and Murray Fotheringham (both aged 14) ,our only first claim participants. Max and Murray were both Gold medallists last year at these Championships in the Under 14 (group D) and Under 15 (Group C) age categories but both were stepping up an age group this year – Max to Under 15 (Group C) where he remained one of the favourites and Murray to Under 17 (Group B) where he would have to do battle with some considerably older boys! Despite the forecast for cloud followed by heavy showers , the sun was splitting the sky at Grangemouth and the athletes had to seek shade whenever they were not competing.
Max started well with 2nd place in the Hurdles in a new PB of 12.33 seconds. His Long Jump is his weakest event and, slightly down on His PB , a leap of 4.80 Metres left him well behind the leaders down in 5th place overall. However, he then threw in 2 personal bests in the 200 Metres (23.71 seconds ) and 11.30 Metres in Shot Putt to win both events and jump into the overall lead. He tracked his closest rival in the final event before outsprinting him in the home straight for another event win in 2:15.16 and yet another PB. His overall score of 2820 gave him the Gold by a significant margin and the “Murray Cup” returned to Clarkston for another year after a brief 9 hour “holiday” in Grangemouth .
Murray meanwhile had started well with PB’s in both Shot Putt (9.64 Metres) and 100M Hurdles (15.51seconds), but still trailed significantly down in 9th place. His good events, however, were still to come and a huge 6 .82 Metres legal PB for second place in the Long Jump pushed him up to 4th place. A third place in the 200 metres with yet another PB in a time of 23.97 pushed him closer to the podium in terms of points but still 4th Overall. A blistering solo run in the 1500 meters saw him win the final event by over 20 seconds in a time of 4:30.27 which pushed him into Bronze medal position with a Giffnock Record Score of 3312 points.
Second Claim member Nicole Proudfoot was delighted to triumph in the Under 17 (Group B) Girls after a long injury lay off . She scored very consistently throughout the day and received great support from her coach John Birkett.
Also staged on Saturday, in an attempt to ease the congested program for next Friday and Saturday, were the Scottish Schools Hammer and Steeplechase events. Full Final results/times are not yet posted but 3 Giffnock girls attempted the steeplechase – a tortuous event! Jill Carswell and Helen Chong trailed behind Emma Chamberlain until the last lap where Emma’s valiant attempt faded with 400 to go and Helen and Gill both passed her with Helen winning the Bronze medal and an outside chance of a Scottish cap at SIAB next month.
History has a habit of repeating itself and in the Schools ”4 by 100” metre relays at Hutchie the day before , Max anchored his Hutchie Under 15 team to Gold whilst Murray ran last for his Glasgow Academy Over 17 Team bring them home in third place and a Bronze. In the 4 by 400 relay, Annabel Ballantyne and Eve Denholm running for Glasgow Academy brought home another Bronze. The next day at Grangemouth, in the midst of the Combined events competition, the Primary Schools relays took place. As this report is finalised I have not seen final results for either the Senior or Primary School relays but many Giffnock North athletes competed and may well have won medals or made the finals. I am aware Mearns Primary just missed the podium with a 4th place represented by Emily Watson, Eilidh Veitch, Tara Menon and Eilidh Hunter. Trying to keep track of Giffnock athletes when they are not wearing the Blue and Gold is almost impossible, so I am unable to provide a full commentary on the relays. Well done to all who competed and apologies for any omissions.

Grateful thanks to Craig for this report and photographs!! Welcome Development in Combined Events at the Club

Giffnock North AC Festival Of Running Programme –

Thursday 7th June 2018

All events still available, see details below:

PRIMARY SCHOOL FUN RUNS at 6.00pm and 6.15pm   
TURN UP & RUN

SECONDARY SCHOOLRACES at 6.30pm & 6.45pm
Registration 5.15pm
Enter online only at  https://www.entrycentral.com/TTPAB

Rouken Glen 10k at 7.30pm

Enter at https://www.entrycentral.com/Rouken-Glen-10k

 

Jenna Wrisberg

Rachel Callan in the Hurdles relay

Reuben Nairne

Photos Courtesy of Bobby Gavin

GAA Sprint Gala

REPORT by Craig Fotheringham

There was a big turnout at the Glasgow Athletic Association Sprint Gala held at Scotstoun Stadium last night with roughly 2 dozen runners from Giffnock North. It was a nice evening for running but although the wind indicator believed there to be a generally insignificant headwind it was blustery enough to make PB’s a rarity.
Pride of place must go to Jenna Wrisberg who ran her first 100 Metres since a long injury layoff and won the elite Women’s race in 12.04 – fast enough to win a share of the prize pot! Whist Jenna was cashing in at the front, behind her the unfortunate Alyson Bell crashed to the ground 20 meters from the line and left a fair amount of skin on the track. She was smiling afterwards but our best wishes go out to her and we hope the damage is only superficial.
In the elite men’s race, Adam Clayton was 2nd in 11.05 and repeated the feat in the second round of 100’s later in the evening but in 11.07 this time.
In addition to Jenna’s victory there were heat wins for Jason Wu in 11.74 and Jake Vulcan in 13.21. Most could not improve in the second round of 100’s but Jason improved to 11.67 and Andy Moses from 11.84 to 11.72. Russell Lawson also shaved off another 0.05 seconds to win his second round heat in a PB of 11.81. Others to improve in the second round were Rachel Callan (13.75) and Jake Vulkan with a PB of 13.09. Runners to join the PB Club were Murray Fotheringham (12.04), Jacob Luc (12.51) and Emily Williams (15.69).
In between the two rounds of 100 Metres were the 300’s. There were PB’s for Matthew Forbes (37.44), Murray Fotheringham (37.72) and Ella McGregor (45.80) together with a Seasons Best for Freya Menzies of 41.82. Murray’s time also appears to be an Under 17 Club Record.
Whilst the track was in full swing, there were Long and High Jump competitions to keep the crowd occupied. As this report went to press, the results were noy yet finalises but there was some solid jumping from Lauren Agnew and a new PB for Reuben Nairne 6.41M.
The evening finale was a rarely seen end-to-end hurdle relay with Reuben and Murray teaming up with some good pals from the North to scoop the £100 prize.
A great evening was had by all and the cakes were magnificent. Many thanks to the organisers and the officials for making it all run so smoothly and well done to all that participated.

And many thanks to Craig for the full report . Link to Results below . More photos and reports on GAA facebook and Twitter

http://events.scottishathletics.org.uk/events/20322-17680-gaa-sprint-gala-1

Congratulations to Lynn McKenna and Rhona Mowat on their selection for Scotland for Hillrunning at the International Youth Cup in Italy next month . It was as a result of last weekends Ben Lomond races and Report on the exploits of all the Hill runners follows.

Report from Frank McKenna
Some excellent performances from young Giffnock athletes on a gloriously sunny day and a very demanding up and downhill course at the Ben Lomond junior hill races on Saturday 12th May.

First up was Calan Chong in the junior fun run. Unfortunately, there were no other entrants in this race, so Allie offered to accompany him round the course. Young Calan showed his mum a clean pair of heels and completed the 1.7 k course with 80 m climb in a very impressive time of 9 mins and 22 secs.

Next up was Eva Chong in the U15 girls race. Eva ran strongly in the 2.6 k course with 160 m of climb in 16 mins and 49 secs.

Finally, the combined U17 and U20 races with Lynn McKenna and Rhona Mowatt in the U20 category, Helen Chong in the U17 girls category and Christopher Watson -Sweeney in the U17 boys category. This was the qualification race for places in the Scottish age 16-17 team for the forthcoming WMRA Youth Cup to be held in Lanzada, Italy on the 16th of June.

This proved to be a very competitive race with the Giffnock athletes featuring prominently in the final placings. Lynn McKenna came second overall in the combined U20/17 race and secured the single automatic selection place for the Youth cup team, Rhona Mowat finished a strong third, Helen Chong, unfortunately lost a shoe during the race but still managed to come second in the U17 race just over a minute behind the winner. Christopher Watson – Sweeney also competed well in the U17 boys race against several older and experienced international runners.

Thanks to Frank McKenna for the photos and this Report on our Expanding Junior Hill running Team

Giffnock Trio Bound for Loughborough

Congratulations to 3 of our athletes who have been included in teams for the Loughborough International this weekend.

Rachel Alexander (long jump) and Adam Clayton (200m) have been included in the Scotland team and Alessandro Schenini (long jump) has been given his first GB junior vest as part of the GB Juniors team.

This is the 60th Loughborough International and is contested between teams from Scotland, England, Wales, British Universities and GB Juniors. There are several guest athletes and there a number of established senior athletes competing such as Richard Kilty, Daryl Neita, Mark Dry, Allan Smith, Grant Plenderleith and Jemma Reekie to name a few.

For more info see loughboroughsport.com

Good luck to all three on Sunday .

Angelica Mayer, 100m U13 gold
Kosta del Kilmarnock – AKA West Districts Championships 12/13th May REPORT FROM Gerry Duggan & Sara Lang
Day1
Who would have thought the sun would have shone and it would have been dry?!
There were picnic rugs, deck chairs , sunburnt faces and 22 medals on display by the end of the day on Saturday.
13 gold medals, 6 silver and 3 bronze; each and every one fought for with determination and pride .
Its difficult to highlight any one performance or even all of them but suffice to say we had medals at every single age group and at almost every type of event. There were U13s who even got 2 medals ( Daniel Martin) . There were a plethora of Giffnock athletes competing against one another at times ..in particular the U20 M 100m final and 2 sets of High Jump were a Giffnock 1 and 2 ( U17 and Sen M).
Gold medals were won by;
Reuben Nairne 100m Hurdles
Daniel Martin 75m Hurdles and Shot Put
Nikolai Gajic 800m
Adam Clayton 100m
Jacob Luc 800m
Angelica Mayer 100m
Alyson Bell 100m
Nikki Manson Javelin
Alessandro Schenini Long Jump
Chris Mackay High Jump
Murray Fotheringham High Jump
Rachel Alexander Long Jump
Silver medals;
Orla Lang 800m
Catherine Palmer High Jump
Ryan Davie Long Jump
Ethan Dear High Jump
Sam Young High Jump
Rachel Callan Long Jump
Bronze Medals;
Kyle Maclean 100m
Matt Forbes 400m
Jennifer Dallas Shot Put
Day 2 – Who knew it could be sunny in Kilmarnock two days running?
The day started with hurdles. In the combined U17/u20/Senior Men combined final. Murray Fotheringham was the only u17 with a new pb of 59.98. Next was Freya Menzies winning the combined U20/Senior Woman final in 65.87, her first competition at this distance. And just to keep the hurdles medals rolling in, Rachel Callan just missed out on Gold by .04s in the U17 Womans 300mH, coming second with a time of 47.14, her second medal of the champs
The 200m was a busy event for Giffnock across all the age groups.
5 U13 girls competed – Angelica Mayer, Josie Reilly, Eilidh Veitch, Cartriona Bentley and Leah Rigley. Angelica, Josie, Catriona and Eilidh progressed to the semi finals. In the final Angelica was second (28.33) – an addition to her gold from the 100m yesterday – and Josie 7th (29.98) into a headwind off 9.2m/s! Brilliant performance all round. Ellis Nairne was the only U13 Boy and just missed the final finishing 9th fastest in the heats with 30.71s.
In the U15s Alyson Bell, Jenifer Torrance, Ella McGregor, Chloe Drummond and Rachel Morran all competed in girls event. Alyson made the final and tore up the track to win in 26.71. A double sprint gold. In the boys event, Jacob Luc and Michael Nolan competed. Unfortunately Michael was disqualified for running out of lane – windy day? – but Jacob won bronze in the final with 25.20s. A second medal for Jacob.
With no boys in the U17 200m, all focus was on the girls. Eve Denholm and Rachel Callan cruised through the heats before Eve secured gold in the final (26.84) and Rachel 7th (27.44). This was Rachel’s third final of the champs and the only one in which she didn’t medal. Well done both.
In the U20’s 200m Womans Final Holly Shearer secured Bronze (27.80) and in an exact repeat of the 100m result Adam Clayton won gold (22.32) and Kyle McLean Bronze (23.28).
Brilliant effort for all 200m competitors in such blustery conditions
The other track event on Day 2 was the 1500m. All age groups were run as straight finals. Kirsty Wylie was our only U13 girl finishing in a time of 5.45.80 and in the U13 Boys, Calan Chong (5.15.99) and James Wylie (5.54.36). Well done to our U13s. Our U15 girls made their mark through Zoe Flower securing a bronze (4.52.00) and Abbey Thomas (5.05.23) and Hannah Riding (5.08.81) not far behind in in 5th and 7th. The u17 Girls were next up. Jill Carswell (5.03.71) just missed out on bronze in 4th, with Francesca Davidson 5th and (5.04.54) and Helen Chong 8th (5.18.53). Nikolai Gajic just missed 800/1500m double gold coming 2nd in the u20 1500m in a tight battle all the way down the home straight (4.09.72). A close battle was expected in the U15 boys 1500m. Harris Paterson and Ross O’Brien were in a group of three that broke early from the pack. A great race saw Harris (4.24.74) winning silver and Ross (4.26.26) bronze. Reuben MacDonald, Hugh Shiels and Aaron McGilvery battled through to 6th, 9th and 10th places.
Giffnock had a great day in the field.
First to the throws. In the hammer U15 Imogen Maher (23.71m) just finished out of the medals with a consistent series of throws. Going one better, U17 Iris Williams was delighted to secure her first championship medal with a bronze, throwing 26.34m.
Our Javelin throwers didn’t want to miss the medal party and won a double gold. u13 Emily Watson won with 21.09m and U15 Jennifer Dallas won with 26.66m, her second medal of the champs. U13 Tara Menon also threw well with 9.57m. Jennifer rounded off her day with a 4rth place in the discuss with 20.73m.
In the jumps U17 Murray Fotheringham leapt his way to silver (6.86m) – his third medal of the champs – and Sam Young was 4rth (5.79) in the Long Jump. U13 Ellis Nairne was 1 place off a medal in the High Jump (1.26m).
So in total Giffnock North won 19 Golds, 11 silvers and 9 Bronze. Will done to all our medal winners and competitors.

Please please forgive us if there are errors or omissions in this report. It is produced by those who were officiating, coaching and/or parenting ( and sometimes all three!) and it’s so difficult to capture it all. Well done to all of you..not just the medal winners . There were many many pbs and lots of athletes who made finals all credit to them and their coaches.

Many thanks to Gerry and Sara for this report. We would echo their congratulations and also their request for budding journalists at out next club events & competitions!

Following some considerable difficulties and negotiations we have arranged the Club Champs for Sunday 23rd September . They will take place again at the Ayrshire Arena in Kilmarnock. Unfortunately, we were not able to secure our preferred date in Mid September due to the unavailability of Graded Officials who had conflicting duties at a range of other events locally and south of the border. We had also considered an earlier date but substantial clashes with other League matches and events ruled those options out. We realise that the weekend of 22/23rd is the September weekend but the only other options were to go to a later date when the the weather is even less likely to be favourable. Given the winter and spring we have endured we are in need of a chrystal ball regarding the weather. However , on the plus side Doleen Galbraith and Anne Stewart have been working hard to secure the club sufficient graded officials for our event to be licensed and consequently for results to be included in Power of Ten.
A sure fire way of avoiding the date difficulties in future would be if we can grow our own Officials to add to the solid and strong band we have already in Doleen Galbraith, Anne Stewart, Garry Paterson,Colin Saxby, Catriona Gourley, Carole Ford
If you think you could assist the club in this way please let us know
We need Technical Officials for Photo Finish etc as well as Track& Field Officials.
We would be really grateful if you could consider this and contact us . Who knows you could be at the next televised event. Please contact us if you could consider becoming an official. Its not a huge ask .There are courses taking place all the time.

We would like to express apologies to all our club members regarding the current situation in relation to club kit.

We realise, this is a massive inconvenience but for the time being, due to circumstances, outwith our control, we are limited in relation to our kit sales. Consequently, for a limited period, we will be ordering only essential items of kit – vests and hoodies.

This is a problem for the Club and not related at all to Migo Sports. If you have any queries it is crucial that you raise these with the club and not with Migo Sports. The problem is not an issue for Migo Sports who have continued to be really helpful to the Club.

As soon as we can arrange it, normal service will be resumed at Migo Sports. We can’t wait and neither can Michael at Migo Sports. In the interim you can purchase club vests and hoodies from Migo Sports.

If you have any additional queries, please raise with Lynda Scott at email address anthony.scott6@ntlworld.com or by mobile at 07756 927460.

Thanks Lynda

Download (PDF, Unknown)

Freshly following the interest in the London Marathon and Mini Marathon here’s a new race option for you. Giffnock North is offering this opportunity for all secondary school pupils in East Ren and the South side of Glasgow to enjoy a run in Rouken Glen Park . On Thursday the 7th June 2018 ,we have our Giffnock Festival of Running with our popular 10k. This year we will be including our “Race to the Pond and Beyond.” as well as Primary Schools Fun Runs
The Race to the Pond and Beyond is a two and a half kilometre race in the Park and as it says round the pond.
This is a great chance for you to enter Teams from your school.
The Winning school – the one with the most finishers – will receive £500 for a Charity of the School’s choice .
You can raise your own sponsorship money on top of that as we know many schools have projects and charity challenges on the go at this time.
There will be prizes for the first 3 Individuals and first 3 Teams (4 to count) in the 2 Secondary Races. Everyone can enter .Race fee is £4.00. All welcome to join in.
GIRLS RACE at 6.30pm
BOYS RACE at 6.45pm
What do you need to do ? Get your entry in at the link below

Let us know of your current Charity challenges and we will can try and highlight them on our website too . We’re looking forward to a great night in the park.
We need you to identify the Sports Leaders, Sports Champions , Sports Ambassadors [it could be you] from your school and get them to spread the word.Could your school have the most finishers and win the main prize.
We need your entries in asap via Entry Central. www.entrycentral.com/TTPAB
More information from Dudley Walker email: dwalker_2000@hotmail.com & Mobile No 07954 406718

There will also be FUN RUNS for the Primary schools before the Race to the Pond . Details to follow.

A date for your diary – Sunday 23rd September 2018

The Club Track & Field Championships will be held at the Ayrshire Arena, Kilmarnock, KA1 3XF

Format will be the same as last year, open to all club members u11-Masters
All lot of organisation goes into this event, please make an effort to support it.

Online entry and more details will be available nearer the time.

Lynne Beattie on the right with Team mate Mel Coutts following their opening win against Grenada

No image of Alison as yet , one of her teammates in action

As well as Nikki Manson and David Smith representing Team Scotland in High Jump in the Gold Coast and Erin Wallace in the Mixed Relay Triathlon, we are also pleased to highlight the exploits of 2 other former Giffnock Athletes- namely Lynne Beattie in Beach Volleyball and – Alison Howie making yet another appearance in the Scottish women’s Hockey Team.
Both athletes trained under Dudley Walker in the Junior Endurance Squad, making their mark in medal winning XC Teams and on the Track.
Lynne, with her teammate, enjoyed a decisive win in their match today( along with a win for the Scottish Men’s Team too ) while Alison’s Team held Canada to a draw in their game today after a difficult match with New Zealand which sadly ended in defeat.
Well done to Lynne, an Olympian in the GB Volleyball Team at London 2012, and a previous guest and presenter at our Club 25th Anniversary Junior Awards Night.
Well done also to Alison for this current representative honour -one of many international selections she has gained in an illustrious career.

Hello,

April/May/June sessions now on website.

AprilMayJune2018

Cheers,

Billy

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Glasgow Pole Vault Grand Prix is an event which took place over 6 competitions throughout the indoor season at venues across the length and breadth of Scotland. These ranged from Aberdeen in the North to Pitreavie in the East and the Tollcross Vertical Jumps Centre and the Emirates Arena in the West. The competition is based on a league system where competitors are allocated handicaps before each meet. The handicap is calculated in relation to the difference between the National Record height of 5.65m and the athletes personal best. Therefore, the goal is for the athlete to continually improve on their personal best in order to be awarded the most points. This has led to intense competition over the season with over 30 athletes from 14 different clubs competing for top spot and bragging rights within the Scottish Pole Vault community, which includes dedicated pole vaulters as well as those involved in multi events.

The Trophy for the Glasgow Grand Prix Champion 2018 was awarded to Reuben Nairne of Giffnock North. Over the course of the Grand Prix, Reuben has improved from the 3.57m which saw him awarded the English U15 outdoor silver in August 2017 to an incredible 4.14m in only his first indoor season as an U17. This places him as the 7th best Scottish indoor U17 vaulter of all time and confidence is high as Reuben looks forward to the outdoor season; however he is looking forward to a well deserved break and has been currently attempting to eat his own body weight in Easter eggs!

If the idea of running full pelt with a fibreglass pole in your hands to then launch yourself upside down and over a bar at a ridiculous height appeals to you then Glasgow Pole Vault School would be delighted to hear from you and maybe you could be the Grand Prix Champ in the future.

Thanks to GPVS and Helen Nairne for information, photos and report.