Entries are now open for the VMH Solicitors Lasswade 10 Mile Road Race which will take place on Sunday 2nd March, 2025. We’re pleased to have VMH Solicitors supporting us again this year.
Take advantage of our Early Bird offer – we’ve frozen our entry fees (£16 for affiliated runners, £18 for non-affiliated) at last year’s price until 31st December 2024. After that it will be £20/£22 until entries close on 28th February, 2025 at 11pm. Entry fee includes free refreshments for all runners. Enter Here via EntryCentral
More information about our road race can be found on the link below.
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Phone: 0131 622 2626 Email: enquiries@vmh.co.uk (not for race enquiries!)
Sunday 27th October saw the return of the Scottish Athletics Indoor League at the Emirates Stadium, Glasgow. There was no league action last season due to the refurbishment work ahead of the World Indoor Championships that took place in March earlier this year. Team Lasswade also saw a bit of an “upgrade” since the last time fixture with 36 athletes turning out to compete – twice the size for the last competition in January 2023 – a great effort from our coaches getting athletes to represent the club.
Non stop action!
Competing for Lasswade for the very first time was Albie, Elkie, Sienna, Maya and Jake. Hopefully, all our athletes competing indoors for the first time enjoyed the experience of running in such a great venue – there was an audible gasp from one of our athletes as we walked into the arena as it really is one of the best indoor tracks in the country.
Despite a few nervous faces, Lasswade’s athletes acquitted themselves well with a good number of athletes winning their heats. The Under 11 girls and Under 20 men’s teams put in solid performances and finished top of their age groups.
Thanks to the parents who assisted on the day. With a team of 36, it really does need more than one team manager to help shepherd athletes to their events and calm some nerves (and not just the spectating parents!). Please do volunteer your help if possible.
The next competition is on the 8th December. Sign up here by 25th November.
We’ve been quite lucky with the mild weather recently, but as the nights are getting colder, it’s important that athletes are dressed appropriately for training. Athletes who are not suitably clothed for training may be asked to sit out the session. We are hoping that this would be a last resort but athletes should bring extra kit to cover all weather conditions.
An important thing to remember is that the temperature can drop quite quickly at Dalkeith, so whilst the weather at the start of the session maybe “OK”, by the end of the session, the temperatures can easily drop below zero. Children also lose heat much faster than adults so they can develop hypothermia much quicker.
Please look at the chart below for recommendations on what to wear.
The National Short Course Cross Country Championships took place yesterday at Kirkcaldy High School. It was a mild and dry day, the course was good underfoot with the exception of a section in the far corner that was quite muddy.
There were 17 athletes from Lasswade competing with 4 medals and lots of strong performances in large and high quality fields.
The first race of the day was the under 15 girls and Freya Brown continued her strong form with a comfortable win in the u15 girls race over 2k. Cerys Wright followed her home in 2nd place. There was good support from Beth McWilliam in 28th and Emma Thomson in 35th. The team won silver medals, just 3 points behind 1st.
Next off was the u15 boys, with two athletes from Lasswade Josh Cooper and Finlay Troup, who both had strong runs to finish in 47th and 54th respectively.
Bethan Kitchin was our sole runner in the u17 women which was the next race to the start line and she finished fast in 29th place.
The races were coming fast and the u17 men were next and it produced a great team performance with Charlie Copp 24th, Laurence Ward 32nd, Jake Page 41st and Elliot Cameron 61st.
Olivia Meikle placed really highly in the senior women’s race over 4k – coming 66th and 17th u20. Kate Kitchin backed her up in 226th and 36th v40.
The final race and biggest field of the day were the senior/ junior men. Andrew McWilliam led the field to the first corner and was rewarded with a fine 20th overall and bronze in the u20 category. Behind him came Rowan Taylor in 9th u20 and Innes Wright a few seconds back in 13th. The men’s team was completed by veteran Andy Brown who was 12th in his age category with team finishing 12th.
Well done to club member Harry Henriksen finishing 9th overall representing Edinburgh University.
It was also great to see Christian Graham at the event spectating, hopefully we’ll see more of him at training over the coming weeks and months as his recovery progresses.
Overall another great day out for Lasswade cross country team.
The first East District League match of this season took place at Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy on Saturday. We were very fortunate with the weather as it was dry, mild and sunny.
It was great to see so many Lasswade AC athletes competing, we had a total of 32 athletes over all the age groups, with some great performances and a number of our teams are sitting near the top of the league table after the first match.
Thanks to everyone that came along and supported the club in the league. Congratulations to all the athletes on their performances.
It’s that time of year when we start planning for the Lasswade 10, our annual road race that will take place on Sunday 2nd March, 2025. We’re looking for some more volunteers to join the organising team this year to help spread the load. Please get in touch (chair@lasswade-ac.org.uk) if you can help.
The race helps raise funds for the club and enables us to put on events like the club track competition and enter the different cross country and track and field leagues.
The National Cross Country Relays were once again at Cumbernauld on 19 October and Lasswade AC had a number of teams competing in all age groups. It was a mild and beautiful sunny day although the course was quite muddy and wet in sections with the recent wet weather.
The first race of the day was the young females and hopes were high after our young females recent performance in the East District Relays championships where they won gold, however there was a change to the team for the National Relays as Freya Brown was unavailable as she was away on holiday.
Our u13 runner Isla Madhra got the team off to a flying start finishing 2nd on the first leg behind Emma Nicholson of Giffnock. Under 15 Cerys Wright was on our second leg going off a few seconds behind Lucy Tonner of Giffnock but she quickly pulled that lead back and ran an outstanding race to hand over to our third leg runner u17 Bethan Kitchin with a lead of 55 seconds. Bethan made sure she didn’t go off too hard and paced her race perfectly to bring the team home in 1st place to win gold! An excellent start to the day. Our other girls team of Esme Scott, Darcy Esson and Beth McWilliam finished in 50th place.
Bethan crossing the finish line!Lasswade Girls – Champions!
The second race of the day was the young males and Lasswade AC we were down to one team as one of our under 15 boys was ill so had to withdraw on Friday. Our lead off u13 runner was Fraser Houston who ran well handing over to Struan Milne our second leg runner in 32nd place. Struan had a good run and was 20th quickest u15 of the day to set our final leg runner Charlie Copp off in 29th place. Under 17 Charlie running strongly pulled back another five places to finish in 24th place out of 55 teams.
Next to the start line it was the turn of the Ladies and Lasswade AC had one team with u20 Olivia Meikle leading them off. Olivia a little nervous going off first had a solid run to hand over to second leg runner Amy Frankland in 32nd place. Amy set off on a mission and had a great run with the 4th quickest time on the 2nd leg she tore through the field pulling back 19 places to hand over in 13th place. Our third leg runner was Cathy Dickson V50 who ran well to keep the team just outside the top 20 in 21st place, still in the top third of the field of 73 teams. On the glory leg was Claire Houston v40 who ran well to almost maintain our position finishing in 23rd place. A great effort by the team with a lady from each age group.
The final race of the day was the senior men and we had two teams. I’d hoped to have one team of u20 only but unfortunately we were one short as our fourth u20 was on holiday. I was keen to see how far up the field the boys could get so ran the three u20 men first with Innes Wright leading them off with a fine run coming home in 15th place to hand on to Rowan Taylor. Rowan had a good run to pull back a couple of places and hand on to 3rd leg runner Andrew McWilliam in 13th place. Andrew looking strong ran the 5th quickest time on leg 3 to pull the team inside the top 10 and hand onto final leg runner Gareth Fleming in 9th place. Gareth had a solid run and kept us inside the top 20 bringing the team home in 19th place.
Our second team made up primarily of masters finished 73rd of the 115 teams. Scott Dickson V50 finished 91st on first leg to hand on to Ken McWilliam. Ken v45 ran the quickest leg of the runners in the second team and pulled back 13 places to hand on to Steve Brown v55 in 78th place. Steve ran well to hold the position and hand on to final leg runner Euan Hood. Euan coming back from injury managed to pull back another five places to finish in 73rd place.
Lasswade athlete Harry Henriksen ran well for Edinburgh University on the third leg pulling them up from 6th to 3rd place and running the 2nd quickest time on leg 3. It was also good to see Alastair Scott running for his university Stirling.
Congratulations and well done to all the athletes. Thanks to Megan for bringing the tent and club flag today and everyone else for their help and support.
Hope to see you next week at Kirkcaldy.
Photographs courtesy of Neil Renton and Bobby Gavin
Our Thursday Multi-Events group coaches are having a well deserved break on the Thursday 17th October. All other groups are training as usual but it would be good if athletes/parents/carers could use the Teams App to confirm attendance.
Anyone wishing to join us for Andy’s Pool Night social at the Ball Room, Meadowbank, please email chair@lasswade-ac.org.uk. There are only 32 spaces available and tickets are just £6. This will take the usual format of three “competitions” over the course of the evening with a short presentation afterwards.
Save the date! Andy Sobik is organising his annual pool night. This is open to over 16s (under 18s with parental permission) and parents are welcome to join in too. Only 32 spaces available though and just £6 per person. Donations for prizes welcome.
Venue: The Ball Room Sports Bar, Meadowbank. Date: Wednesday 23rd October, Time TBC.
