LASSWADE ATHLETIC CLUB

Lasswade AC are  using a great website called easyfundraising to help raise money for the club – simply by shopping online.

Easyfundraising turns your everyday online shopping into FREE donations when you use them to shop with over 6,000 retailers such as eBay, John Lewis & Partners, Argos, ASOS and Booking.com.

Retailers then make a small donation to say ‘thank you’ and easyfundraising gives those free funds to the cause.

Please register using this unique link – just click sign up –

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/support-a-good-cause/step-1/?char=181012&invite=3Z7EZ1&referral-campaign=s2s

Plus, once you’ve signed up and raised £5 in donations, easyfundraising will give us an extra £5 donation.

There’s no catch or hidden charges and Lasswade AC will be really grateful for your donations.

We currently have 11 supporters and raised £107.01 how much can we raise? Please sign up.

Looking for a competition to start the track & field season? Edinburgh AC are holding the Lothian Trials at Livingston on Sunday April 10th with a range of events for Under 11s and up. If you haven’t competed before, this is a nice informal competition to start with.

Closing date for entries is midnight on Sunday 20th March.

For more information on the events available for your age group and to submit your entry, please click here.

The deadline for tickets has been extended to Thursday, 10th March so there still time!

Click here for details on how to get your tickets.

On behalf of scottishathletics sponsors, Lindsays, we’d like to invite you and your club members to the firm’s webinar ‘In conversation with Eilish McColgan’ taking place on Zoom on Wednesday 9 March 2022 from 4pm-5pm.

Hosted by Managing Partner Alasdair Cummings, Lindsays sponsored athlete Eilish McColgan will be taking part in a Q&A session with Ian Beattie MBE, Chief Operating Officer at Lindsays and now Chairman of UK Athletics.

2021 was a year of personal bests and some firsts for Eilish. Taking part in The Great North Run and achieving the 3rd fastest time in UK history in her half-marathon debut! Breaking two European records on the roads in the 10k and the 10-mile races as well as taking the British 5000m track record. What’s in store for 2022?

This will be an interactive event where you will be able to put questions to Eilish.

When:    Wednesday 9 March 2022

Timings:  4pm – 5pm

How to register

This webinar will be held via Zoom and so to register your place please click here. Please note: you should add your scottishathletics membership number in the comments field of the registration form.

Following registration you will receive a confirmation email which includes a link to join.

This year’s National cross country championships were once again held at Callendar Park, Falkirk. It was two years since they had last been staged due to the Covid19 pandemic so it was great to have the largest cross country event in Scotland taking place again. The expectation was for a very muddy course due to the recent rain and snow, however the course was in remarkably good condition and not as muddy as expected. The weather on the day was windy but mild and dry which was a bonus!

There were Lasswade AC athletes competing in most races but unfortunately only one complete team in any age group which was disappointing.

The first race of the day was the u13 girls and there were two Lasswade athletes in the race. First home in a very large field was Beth McWilliam in 75th place closely followed by team mate Emma Thomson in 77th place.

The u13 boys was the next race and the only race where we had a complete team of four runners. There was a close battle between club mates Jonathan MacQueen and Rhuaridh Wood with Jonathan coming home first for Lasswade in 57th, Rhuaridh was not far behind in 61st place. Next home for the club was Lauchie Welsh in 91st with club mate Nathan Lawrence completing the team in 115th.

In the u15 girls race we had three Lasswade athletes, Freya Mowbray, Bethan Kitchin and Amy Rutherford. Freya has been running well throughout the cross country season and had another strong run to finish in 16th place , Bethan was next home in 39th with Amy bringing the team home in 79th place.

Andrew McWilliam, Rowan Taylor and Patrick Snowden were our three athletes in the u15 boys race. Andrew was first home just being run out of the medals in the finishing straight to finish 4th. Not too far behind was Rowan with a fine run in 7th place. Patrick in his first National cross country finished 87th.

Unfortunately we had no u17 boys competing today.

There were two u17 women from Lasswade competing. Olivia Meikle was first home with a strong run in 19th. Fiona Eades finished in 56th covered head to toe in mud after falling in a ditch out on the course.

There were no Lasswade athletes in either the male or female u20 races.

The women’s race was the penultimate race of the day and we had three Lasswade athletes Sarah Tait, Amy Frankland and Amy Smith. Sarah Tait and Amy Frankland had a personal battle over the 10k course with Sarah coming home in 7th closely followed by Amy in 8th. Amy Smith was a bit further back in 55th after hurting her foot on the first lap.

The finale was the men’s race and Lasswade athlete David Woods did the same as Fiona Eades and came home in 204th place covered head to toe in mud after a fall (caught on video). Dave Scott was the only other Lasswade finisher in 460th place.

A fantastic days athletics with lots of great performances. Hope that you all had a great day and thanks to our volunteer marshals Ken McWilliams and Steve Brown. Thanks also to our official Linden Nicholson who regularly officiates at these events throughout the winter.

For full results please click here

Looking forward to the track season now!

Look at this fantastic noticeboard that Andy Sobik has put together for the 40th Anniversary Celebrations. He’s even had his knitting needles out!

All it needs now is your contributions of photographs and memorabilia to add to it. Please bring your contributions down to the track or get in touch with Andy.

Have you got your ticket yet?

Deadline for tickets is 2nd of March.

Saturday, 2nd April at the Dalkeith Masonic Hall.

Booking is now open for the event of the year and here is all the information you need to secure your ticket…..

Click here to download the Booking Form which can be completed online and emailed to cathy.dickson@talktalk.net or printed, completed and returned to –

Cathy Dickson
3 Buckstane Park,
Edinburgh,
EH10 6PA.

Please indicate how many tickets (A or B) you would like to book and fill in your name and address so they can be posted out to you.

The payment options are included on the form.

Bank transfer to the club account

Lasswade Athletics Club
Sort Code: 80-06-29 Account Number: 00493746
Ref Lass40A and your name or Lass40B and your name.

Or a cheque made payable to Lasswade Athletics club with your name and the number of A or B tickets ordered on the back.

When ordering A tickets please also complete the attached menu form to select your Starter, Main and Dessert for the evening and send this back either by email or post with your ticket order form.

Deadline for bookings is Wednesday, 2nd March 2022 …book now and don’t miss out, it will be a good night!

If anyone has any photographs or memorabilia (club kit, spikes, trophies etc) from the club over the past 40 years and is willing to lend them to us we would be very grateful. We would like to create a display to showcase the clubs history, there may be several familiar faces….

Hope to see you there!

Inter District Cross Country Championships – Irvine 15/01/22

The Inter District Cross Country Championships took place at Beach Park, Irvine this weekend. It was great to see an event back at this location which has been used for National Cross Country Championships and Scottish Schools Championships over the years.

The conditions were good for running, it was a cold dry day and the course was firm with a number of short but challenging hills to break up the rhythm of the runners in a very open course.

Lasswade AC had nine runners competing with five representing the East of Scotland. Freya Mowbray, Andrew McWilliam and Rowan Taylor all u15, Olivia Meikle u17 and Amy Frankland in the senior Women’s team. In addition we had four athletes in the Scottish Universities team, Sarah Tait, Magnus Tait, Christian Graham and Harry Henriksen.

The first Lasswade athlete in action was Freya Mowbray in the u15 girls. Freya went off fairly quick and had a solid run to finish in 24th place.

In the u15 boys Andrew McWilliam and clubmate Rowan Taylor were together battling for 3rd spot for much of the race with Rowan fading slightly towards the end of the race. Both boys did well to finish 3rd and 7th respectively and help the East of Scotland to team gold in that race.

Olivia Meikle was in the u17 women’s race and had a good run to secure a top 20 finish in 17th place.

The next race with Lasswade athletes was the senior women with Sarah Tait and Amy Frankland. Both girls have been running well over the country so far this season with Sarah gaining a couple of u23 Scottish team selections. Sarah had started off quite hard and was up in the top 4 for a large part of the race, Amy had a more conservative start to the race but worked her way back towards Sarah taking the lead at one point but then Sarah rallied and passed Amy on the final run into the finish. Sarah finished 7th and Amy 8th. East of Scotland won team gold.

The final race of the day was the men with three Lasswade athletes all running for Scottish Universities, Christian Graham, Magnus Tait and Harry Henriksen. All had been running well over the country this season with Christian securing Scottish u23 selection for Liverpool and again for Belfast next weekend. Magnus and Harry had also been running well and had been fairly closely matched in their races so far. The race started off fairly fast and Christian wasn’t too far off the pace in about 6th place with Harry also up near the front at the start and Magnus just behind. As the race progressed there wasn’t much movement at the front with Christian finishing 7th Harry and Magnus drifted back a little finishing 18th and 29th respectively. Scottish Universities won the team gold.

Well done to all the athletes on their individual performances and good luck to Sarah and Christian for next weekend in Belfast.

For full results please click here

Photographs courtesy of Neil Renton

Want to help raise funds for the club? There are two easy ways to help without it costing you a penny!

Have a look at our fundraising page for more information.