Saturday 20th May, 2023
After a successful first match in the CSSAL league a few weeks ago, the 2nd match took place this weekend. Nearly 40 athletes turned out to compete – one of the largest teams Lasswade have put together in recent years. The day started out looking like a repeat of the first match, with victories for Eloise in the U17 300, Will in U17 400m and Charlie and Murray in the 400m.
A head-wind in the home-straight meant that times were not going to be fast in the sprints but the Lasswade athletes were well placed in pretty much all the age groups with a good number of first places being returned. In the 800m, victories came in great style from Beth, Andrew, Bethan and Greg all front-running their way to impressive victories. Andrew, after breaking 4 mins in the 1500m when winning the East districts last week hopefully broke 2 minutes for the first time in the 800m. Final results are eagerly anticipated over the next few days.
Special mention to Ken, who in the morning of the competition reluctantly decided to pull out of his events having failed to recover from a cold that had been bugging him all week. Inspired by the fantastic performances from Beth and Andrew, Ken decided to “see what he could do” in the masters 800m. Sitting on the shoulders of the leaders for the first lap, Ken hit the front with down the back straight of the 2nd lap but despite a battling last 150m, just got pipped on the line. I’m pretty sure that a fully fit Ken would have made it a triple victory for the McWilliam household. Never the less, a great performance from Ken – well done!
Thanks to all the coaches who have helped put this amazing team together; to the officials and parents who helped on the day (Ruth, Susan, Britt, Kate, Ross, Kenny, Kelly); to all the parents, carers and grandparents who travelled across the M8 and of course to all the athletes who came out to compete.
Hopefully, the athletes who competed on the track for the first time (Campbell, Ollie, Jacob, Adrian, Ben, Katie and Bethan) will be back for more. The first one is always the hardest and you all did so well.
Our final match in the CSSAL League is on Sunday 23rd July at Kilmarnock. The track events switch to sprint hurdles, 150m/200m and 600m/1500m.
