LASSWADE ATHLETIC CLUB

With great disappointment, the organising team for this year’s Lasswade 10 Road Race have taken the difficult decision to cancel this event planned for Sunday, 16^th April.  A fixture clash with another popular Scottish event has impacted entries and made the Lasswade 10 Road Race unviable this year.  We hope by making this decision sooner rather than later, any runners already entered can make alternative plans.

We would like to apologise to those who have already entered, refunds will be issued via EntryCentral in due course.  Thank you for your interest in the Lasswade 10 Road Race.

We’re planning to go back to our normal date “first Sunday in March” for 2024 so please keep the 3^rd of March next year free in your calendars.

If you’re still looking for races, take a look at the Penicuik 10k being hosted by our friends at Penicuik Harriers on May 13th.

We are now seeking athletes for the first two league match’s, these are.

April 23rd Forth Valley League for U11, U13 & U15 athletes

April 3oth Central & Southern League for all age groups.

Further info on these leagues including venues, timetables and how to declare can be found on our Track & Field Comp’s & Fixtures page – please note the deadline when declaring! There is also a useful guide to competing here

These topics will be covered at our virtual Members/Parents Info Evening on March 21st

Ahead of the summer Track and Field season we will be holding a virtual members/parents night on Tuesday 21st March at 7pm. The topics will cover how the various competitions run and go over some volunteering roles. To register please complete this form and details will be sent nearer the time. If you have any questions in particular just mention them in the form.

Jake Walker, a 4^th year Sport and Exercise Science student at the University of Stirling is looking at the impact of COVID on running performance for his final year dissertation.

Below is a link to a survey, which should only take 5 minutes to complete (regardless if you’ve had covid or not).

https://stirling.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/the-impact-of-covid-on-running-performance-a-survey-to-id-2

It was back to Callender Park, Falkirk once again this year for the National cross country championships, the finale to the Scottish domestic cross country season. The conditions on the day were much better than last year. It was a dry day, not too cold and the course was in good condition for some fast running!

Lasswade AC had athletes competing in most races but no complete team in any age group which was disappointing.

The first race of the day was the U13 girls and there were three Lasswade athletes in the race. Leading the girls home was Beth McWilliam in 23rd place with team mate Emma Thomson in 46th place and Eilidh Mowbray in 73rd place.

It was the turn of the U13 boys next with three Lasswade athletes competing in the National for the first time. First home was Francis Ovanni-Finnegan in 42nd place with Struan Milne close behind in 52nd place and Finlay Troup just a little further back in 73rd place.

In the U15 girls race we had three Lasswade athletes, Freya Mowbray, Bethan Kitchin and Abbie Foster. Freya had a solid run to finish in 17th place, Bethan was next home in 35th place with Abbie taking one for the team coming home in 120th.

Laurence Ward and Kieran Glass were our two athletes in the U15 boys race. Laurence was first home in with a good run in 27th place and Kieran finishing 75th place in his first National.

In the u17 boys we had three athletes competing. Andrew McWilliam had a good race in a strong field to finish 7th. Rowan Taylor was next home in 25th place with team mate Sam Kitchin in 56th place.

Alastair Scott was our sole athlete in the Men’s U20 race. Alastair finished in 49th place in his first race of the season.

In the Senior Women’s race we also had one athlete competing, Keira Gore was our only athlete who finished in 37th place.

The final race of the day was the Senior Men’s race and we had three athletes, one senior Christian Graham and two masters Martin Gore and Ken McWilliam. First home was Christian with a solid run in 13th place, Martin was next home in 209th place followed by Ken in 355th place.

A great days athletics with lots of strong performances. Hope that you all had a good day and enjoyed the days athletics. Thanks to our regular official and Chief Marshal on the day Linden Nicholson and to all of our other volunteer marshals Scott and Cathy Dickson, Stuart and Olivia Meikle and Steve Brown.

For full results please click here

Looking forward to the track season now!

22/03/2023 UPDATE: Unfortunately – this event has now been cancelled. Please see above for more details.

It’s back! A slightly later date than usual, but better late than never! On Sunday, 16th April, Lasswade AC will be hosting its popular 10 mile road race.

The race comprises a ten mile loop set in a scenic, rural location, run mainly on ‘B’ and ‘C’ class roads, and unclassified routes. Starting in Rosewell village, the route follows a gentle incline to Gourlaw Farm before dropping down to the bottom of Roslin Glen at two miles, followed by a steep rise for 400 metres, after which it is nice and easy before dropping to the four mile mark in the village of Auchendinny.  There is a climb between the fifth and six miles thereafter, apart from a small hump at around seven miles, the route is generally downhill into Rosewell.

Prizes
First 3 male, First 3 female – (Vouchers for £100, £50, £25)
First Master (over 40) Male & Female (£50 voucher)

First Male Team, First Female Team (boxed medals – 3 to count; Teams to be registered with Scottish Athletics).

Individual winners can opt to take the highest prize and forfeit the age category prize, e.g. a Master winning the Senior Men’s/Women’s Race can claim the Senior Men’s/Women’s 1st prize and forfeit the relevant Master’s 1st prize.

Don’t delay – there is a limit on numbers and there’s no entries on the day.

Congratulations to Graeme Armstrong who took double gold today in the V65 60m (8.59s) and 200m (28.86s) at the Scottish Masters Indoor Championships.

In the V45 age group, Keith Kong set a new PB to finish 5th in the 60m (7.89s) and a season’s best in the Long Jump (4.87m) for 2nd place.

The Lasswade 10 Mile Road Race was last held in 2020 and is one of the major fundraising activities for the club. The event organisers are looking for additional help with the race planning to make sure that this race can go ahead this year.

Additionally, we’re also looking for volunteers to help out on the day – provisionally it will be on the Sunday, 16th April but this is only really going to happen if we literally club together to make it happen.

Please get in touch with Keith if you can spare some time to share the workload or can help out on the day.

The final match of the Scottish Athletics Indoor League took place on Sunday 15^th January.  Always a difficult fixture with most athletes only just back in training after the Christmas break, the Lasswade team still came back with (at least) 14 personal best performances.

Some of the great performances included Lara who took 8 seconds off her 600m time and also went on to equal her PB in the 60m.  Also in the U11s, Ada recorded another PB in the 60m, her third one in each of her races indoors this season. 

In the U13s, Yvie who ran exceptionally well in the 200m at the last match went on to improve again running 31.34s.

Megan added 65cm to her shot putt PB in the Under 15s.  Lauchie and Ruairidh had PBs in the 300m and LJ respectively.

In-form Ramsay took a staggering half second off his 60m PB to record 7.49s for 2^nd place and went on to take nearly half a second off his 200m PB running 23.62s.  Will set a new PB in his 800m finishing 5^th overall.

The versatile Eloise got a new PB in her 800m race, finishing strongly in 2m33.92.  Abbie reached out to a new PB of 3m70 in the long jump.

In the U20s, Sophie recorded a new PB in the long jump and Alec picked up some useful points in the Shot Putt – not one of his usual events and despite throwing a considerably heavier weight than the last time he did the shot putt, managed to record a new PB of 6.91m.

Whilst you can’t get a PB each time you go out and compete, the rest of Team Lasswade still put out great performances and almost everyone who didn’t get a PB came pretty close to them.  Well done to everyone who competed in the league this winter.  There are still some open-graded competitions coming up – check the Scottish Athletics events calendar for more information.

Thanks to: Susan and John for officiating and Britt and Kelly volunteering to help out with the competition.  We are always on the look-out for more help as the competitions can’t run without volunteers.  Please get in touch if you’re interested in helping out at the club or at competitions.

Thanks to Gary Leek of Athletics Digital for providing the photos. More photos available on his website.

Match 3 Results below:

Overall Team Scores (PM)

Athletic events at all levels need officials to ensure a safe, fair meeting.

To encourage new recruits into officiating Scottish Athletics are hosting 2 walk rounds during the Indoor Championship on 4 and 12 February. Members of one of the sub groups of the Officials Commission will be there to escort interested people around the various disciplines involved in an athletic meeting. They will explain the different discipline and show first hand what each one does.

To register for the walk around send your name and email address to shonamalcolm@scottishathletics.org.uk and state is AM or PM would suit you best. Possible times would be 10am and 1pm

If you have anyone in your club that you think would be interested in learning more about what is involved or wishes to become an official, then please get them to contact Shona Malcolm via email shonamalcolm@scottishathletics.org.uk or call on 07731832567 for further information.

I cannot stress the importance of bringing new people into the sport to support greater competition for athletes at all levels.