Commonwealth Games Mascot meets our 1500m Olympian; Special Awards for Neil and Club Stalwart Graham Dunn
What a night at Hutchie track – Finnie the Commonwealth Games Unicorn paid us a visit, courtesy of invitation from coach Craig Fotheringham, and how the young athletes enjoyed a fin-tastic time!
Finnie entertained, danced, and competed against the U12s over 100m – our photos (see links below) show just some of the excitement.
Better still, we had not just one Special Guest, but two: we were also treated to another appearance from our Olympian metric miler Neil Gourley, and all the U12 and U14 athletes (not to mention the coaches) were delighted to welcome him. Queues formed for autographs and selfies with Finnie and Neil, before Neil insisted on his own selfie with the one and only Finnie .
Neil is home briefly from his USA base after a major period of rehabilitation from a serious injury. This is in the lead up to important races including the British Championships and an important date in July in Glasgow, this time over the legendary distance of one mile.
It wasn’t all fun and games, of course: this was a GNAC training night before the YDL Match on Sunday! Some serious preparation was put in, before a short breather to let Finnie and Neil gather themselves before their second tour de force with the U16, U18 and U20 athletes.
The night was the perfect opportunity to present awards to Neil and long-time club servant, Graham Dunn. In presenting a specially commisioned trophy to Graham, Club Chairman Jon Vincent described in full our appreciation of Graham’s outstanding 30-years-plus of input to Giffnock North AC, including being Coach, Committee Member, Club Treasurer, Official, Website Manager, Content Editor, Social Media Organiser and Club Record Keeper. Such a contribution.
In addition Jon presented Neil with Honorary Lifetime Membership of Giffnock North AC. Jon outlined Neil’s world-class athletics achievements, his exceptional record of support and commitment to the club, and his being an inspirationalrole model for the young athletes. Neil regularly makes time to drop by, meet the youngsters and keep in touch.
Thanks to Finnie, Neil and all the athletes, parents and coaches who came to support and to Craig Fotheringham for persuading Finnie to include this stop in a busy schedule.
Below you will find links to all the photos and videos our coaches took on Tuesday night. Have a wade through them to see if you can spot you/your athlete and to get a sense of the fun everyone experienced.
- Album 1 (thanks to Gerry Duggan)
- Album 2 (thanks to Ola Witas and Clare Stevenson)
- Album 3 (thanks to Craig and Alison Fotheringham)
If you have been inspired by this, or any other Giffnock North event and would like to find out more about becoming a parent helper, coach, official, admin or social media manager, please get in touch via our admin email address – admin@giffnocknorth.co.uk