Whilst the school holidays may be over, the track season still continues!
There’s still time to sign up for the CSSAL League competition on Sunday 25th August at Crownpoint in Glasgow. We are hoping to have a minibus (limited spaces – first come, first serve) so don’t hesitate and sign-up now. So far, only 20 athletes have signed up across all age groups which is quite disappointing given the efforts the coaches, volunteers and organisers put in to make these events happen.
We also have the Forth Valley League competition at Grangemouth on Saturday 31st August and our own Club Competition on Thursday 29th August at Dalkeith Campus.
Congratulations to our Club Together Officer, Harry Baird who was one the first recipients of the Eric Liddell Recognition Award for his contribution to athletics in Scotland.
Harry has been our Club Together Officer for nearly two years and his experience and expertise has been invaluable while the club recovered from the pandemic.
Unfortunately, our storage shed at the track is no longer water-tight and so some assistance is required to help move as much of the training equipment to our alternative storage container in Bonnyrigg Park. If you’re available to assist us load up a van on the evening of Thursday 8th August, please email chair@lasswade-ac.org.uk and if you have any knowledge of metal storage containers, please also get in touch!
Wednesday 4th Sept@ 7pm – Virtual members/parent info meeting where we will explain the winter training and competitions, we also invite questions in the sign up form. This is ideal for those new to the club or simply needing a refresher. Sign up here
Friday 27th September – Quiz Night -at Dalkeith Masonic Hall. Details to follow.
Our annual Club Competition will take place on Thursday 29st August from 6.00pm till 9.00pm at Dalkeith Campus. This is open to all members of Lasswade Athletics Club from U9s to U17s and is free to enter and is not restricted to athletes who only train on Thursdays.
*** Please complete the online entry form here before Friday 23rd August 5pm ***
Events
Under 9s will compete in the 60m, Shot Putt and Standing Long Jump. Under 11s: 3 events from 75m, 150m, 600m, Shot Putt, Long Jump, Javelin and High Jump Under 13s to Under 17s: 3 events from 100m, 200, 800m*, 1500m*, Shot Putt, Long Jump, Javelin and High Jump * restricted to 800m or 1500m (not both). Athletes can do 2 track and 1 field event or 1 track and 2 field events.
There will also be mixed relays for Under 11s to Under 17s.
Medals are awarded to winners of each event. This year, points will be awarded for performances in the same vein as a multi-events competition (rather than points being awarded based on finishing positions) and trophies will be awarded to the overall winner in each age group in the U11s and above for both the male and females. In the Under 9s, a trophy will be awarded to the overall winner (male or female).
We are hoping that older athletes will be able to help with officiating and other duties as there will be no training that evening. Any parents/carers who would like to get involved will be very welcome too as it takes a lot of people to run a competition.
If you are available to help please Susan know as soon as possible so that duties can be allocated. We cannot run events like this without the goodwill of our supporters so thank you in advance of a positive response. Please reply to susanout@blueyonder.co.uk
Note: Timetable is provisional until the number of entries is known. The running order for track events will remain the same but times may vary. The field events order may change depending upon the number of entries in each age group.
The final timetable will be confirmed once entries close on Friday 23rd August 5pm.
Unfortunately the Multi Events group session for Thursday 4th and 11th July are cancelled. We should be back in training on Thursday 18th July. Enjoy the break!
Stacey’s Thursday Throws group will not run on the 11th and 18th July. If you cannot attend any of the other sessions during the summer please reply on the stack app so I know who to expect each training session. This allows Stacey to plan training sessions or assist in other areas of the track if no one is in attendance.
Lasswade athletes have had a busy few weeks competing in various league competitions, Border Athletics Games ans schools competitions. It’s also an increasing number also competing in the Open Graded competitions for extra competition opportunities. These are really good competitions to try something new or even get more experience in your favourite events. Hopefully I haven’t missed any competitions in the round-up but if we have, please let us know and send any photos and a mini-report of the competition. Thanks.
Glasgow Milers Meet, 31st May Scotstoun
There were plenty of PBs for the endurance runners but the highlight was Andy Brown’s Scottish Record for the M45 800m.
Andy Brown
M45 800m
1:58.79
M45 Scottish Record
Innes Wright
U20M 800m
2:00.57
PB
Cerys Wright
U15W 800m
2:13.28
PB
Freya Brown
U15W 800m
2:16.16
PB
Harry Henriksen
SM 3000m
08:12.56
PB
Andrew McWilliam
U20M 3000m
08:25.96
PB
Laurence Ward
U17M 3000m
09:24.93
Scottish Schools Pentathlon Championship, 1st June Grangemouth
Beth, Emma, Yvie and Isla represented Dalkeith High School.
Earlston Border Games, 1st June
The opening fixture of the Border Games for 2024 saw Keith, Charlie, Petter and Eloise take part in the sprint events.
Petter reached the x-ties (semis) of the 90m and cruised into the final of the 200m with ease. Unfortunately, coming into the home straight, Petter was badly balked by a runner pulling up and despite recovering well had to settle for 3rd place.
Referee!
Keith also reached x-ties of the Open 90m and the final of the Vets 90m finishing 3rd.
Charlie was our only representative in the final of the open 90m where he finished 5th.
Eloise ran well in the final of the 400m and was the first lady to cross the line but a bit behind the eventual winner. Hopefully see a kinder mark from the handicapper in the future will see her challenging for the prizes.
With a busy week of school athletics competitions leading up to the fixture, the team was a little depleted due to athletes having a well deserved rest or having picked up an injury (boo!).
Stephanie, Esme, Olivia S , Daniel and Leo all made their track debut for the club and acquitted themselves well. A great run from Esme in the U13 girls 1500m saw her work steadily through the field to finish 2nd overall behind Isla M which meant we took first place in both the A and B events.
PBs came from Lachlan in the U11s 200m, Antek got his PB in the U11s 600m, Ollie was another runner to get a 200mPB and Lara had a fantastic day with PBs in both the 600m and high jump.
Provisionally Lasswade were 6th on the day but with the high jump points have been included, we could be lifted into 5th place.
Thank you to Fiona, Zee, Ruth, John and Joanna for helping officiate on the day and to Alison who was part of the start team.
Our final fixture for the FVL is on Saturday, 31st August. If anyone is willing to help act as team manager for this fixture please get in touch with Keith.
Strong winds prevented most of our athletes recording PBs in the majority of their events but nonetheless, great performances from our Lasswade athletes.
In the middle distance events, Cerys Wright won gold in the 1500m; Freya Brown took silver in the 800m and Andrew McWilliam took bronze in the 1500m.
Entry to the Scottish Schools championships is organised by the athlete’s school so it can be quite tricky sometimes to get more of our athletes competing in this competition. A quick scan of the results shows Lasswade having at least 20 athletes competing – well done to all of you.
Peebles Border Games, 12th June
Murray, Keith, Eloise and Charlie all raced in the 110m sprint where Charlie and Murray reached the final where they finished 3rd and 6th respectively. It was a fine achievement for Murray to reach the final – his 2m handicap after his win in Jedburgh last year left him too much to do in a good quality final.
Eloise ran a great race to qualify for the one lap final where she finished 5th.
After a great team result in the 1st Match, Match 2 was going to be a more challenging competition as the timetable featured a large number of sprint hurdle races where we’ve yet to re-establish a hurdle group. Lasswade was only able to fill a small number of spaces on the team sheet in the hurdle races and our athletes who filled in did well to earn us some valuable points. Despite this minor setback, there were good performances in the remaining events to make up lost ground.
In the 200m, James ran a fantastic first race for the club winning the U17 men’s B race. In the U15 girls B race, Aoife S, recovering from a sore ankle, won her race too. Kyle and Eva covered the A races and ran great times – Eva running almost a second faster than her first 200m in the FVL just a week earlier. More great runs for Bethan and Abbie in the U17 200m – their times would have been PBs but for the strong wind behind them.
Double wins for Charlie and Petter in the senior 200m. Despite having run the 200m twice the day before at the Scottish Schools where the windspeed was too strong for legal PBs, Petter did get finally get rewarded with a new legal PB of 23.34 (0.0 windspeed – the same time as one his runs the day before which had a +4.0 wind!).
Sarah Donnelly won her Masters 200m in her first race for the club. Sophie B having jist returned from a warm weather training jaunt with her university ran well for 3rd in the 200m and despite still being very tired from the travelling, still managed to score important points by competing in the 1500m and discus.
Having had a busy few weeks competing in schools competitions, Beth and Emma picked up important points covering events that they don’t normally train for. Both ran the 70m Hurdles and finished in the exact same time. Beth also picked up points in the High Jump and Long Jump. Emma set a fantastic PB of 1.40m to win the U15 girls high jump.
Lara and Isla H both recorded new PBs in the 600m (Lara’s 2nd PB over 600m in a week!). Lara also won the LJ in a new PB.
Isla M and Esme ran well in the 1200m, with Isla taking 2nd and Esme backing Isla up well to win the B race. Bethan K scored more points in the 1500m with 3rd place in the U17 Ladies ‘A’ race, the same position as Olivia in the senior women’s race.
Lachlan was our only U11 Boy competing in the CSSAL today. As always Lachlan competed with a smile on his face and recorded a PB in the long jump. Big brother, Ollie also recorded a PB in his LJ and has now added nearly half a meter to his PB from last season. Well done, Ollie.
Petter picked up more vital points in the LJ, gaining a second PB of the day in the process. Both Petter and Ken also score useful points in the SM shot putt. Kyle finished 2nd in the U17 javelin.
Luke B threw well in the javelin – not too far off his performance last season’s club competition.
Struan was well pleased with his 22second PB in the 1500m although he just narrowly missed breaking the 5 minute mark. Next time Struan!
Aaden took over 12 seconds off his 1500m PB in the Under 17s age group. He was narrowly beaten into 2nd place with a hard fight down the home straight. Definitely more to come from Aaden. In the Masters 1500m, Ken took maximum points again with a 1500m PB.
Lasswade finished a credible 5th place on the day and sit 3rd in the league overall. Our next (and final fixture in the CSSAL League is on Sunday, August 25th.
Big thanks to Ross Milne and Scott MacIntyre for diligently recording all the results on the day; Sam Kitchin for volunteering to be the stadium announcer and to our officials/helpers, Harry Baird, Susan Outerson, Ruth Szymanski and Kelly Grieve.
SuperTeams National Final, 22nd June Ayr
Our team of Kupa, Lara, Anatswa and Lachlan did superbly well to finish 13th overall out of 35 teams across the whole of Scotland.
It’s worth noting that the long jump distances were recorded from the point of take off rather than the usual method. Lara’s and Lachlan’s jumps are around 30cm further than their official PBs and a good indicator that there are plenty more PBs to come from them both.
Thank you to Darren Winters for helping out as team manager and chaperone.
Falkirk Harriers Open Graded: June 26th, Grangemouth
Results Highlights for Lasswade were two PBs for Sophie B in the 100m and 400m; Emma T and Aaden in the 1500m. Well done to all of you.
The team selections for Sunday’s competition have just been emailed out. If you haven’t received an email please check your spam folders and get in touch if not received.
Anyone who has borrowed a vest recently but isn’t competing on Sunday, please bring these to training on Thursday.
As part of National Volunteers’ Week, from June 3rd to the 9th, Lasswade AC wants to thank each and every one of our brilliant team who give up their time to make our club function.
Whether it’s our coaches, officials, committee, admin, social media………. Whatever role you play we are extremely grateful and want to say: THANK YOU!
When members attend training this week we invite them to thank their coach or any other volunteer. This can be by handshake, fist bump or simply saying thanks.
We would love to recruit more volunteers. So, to see what is involved, how you will be supported and where we need your help please see here In particular we need to bring a new Treasurer on board at the next AGM – further info is within the link above.
If you are interested in joining our great band of volunteers please email Harry on lasswade.cdo@gmail.com for further info.
