John Brash – Funeral Arrangements

John’s wife, Rebecca has been touch with Margaret Benham and has asked her to pass on her thanks to everyone for their kind messages of sympathy. Rebecca also asked Margaret to let everyone know that the service for John will take place at Mortonhall Crematorium on Friday 8th January 2021, 2.00pm.

Due to Covid restrictions numbers attending are limited to 20 and only family will be permitted inside the chapel. However, any club members wishing to pay their respects will be able to stand outside.

 

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John Brash

The club recently received the very sad news that former coach and official John Brash passed away earlier this week.

John Brash

John was involved with Lasswade AC for many years as both a coach, official and also as a parent as his son Martin was a member. John was seen regularly at training on Monday and Thursday nights where he collected subs and also coached. High Jumper, Robert Ferguson, was one of the athletes that John coached up to 2013 at which point he had won numerous Scottish Championships at age group level with a best jump at that point of 2.05. A credit to John and his coaching knowledge

John was also a qualified official and was a regular at events throughout the year both track and field and cross country competitions. In addition John and his wife Rebecca also found time to support club events preparing food for officials and volunteers who gave up their time to support Lasswade AC.

John was a great asset to the club and he took on many different roles happy to lend a helping hand wherever it was needed . He will be sadly missed by all at Lasswade AC.

Sincere condolences to Rebecca and family from all at Lasswade AC.

 

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Lothian Cross Country – Foxlake, Dunbar – 12/12/2020

The second of the Lothian Cross Country series took place at Foxlake on Saturday 12th December with 21 athletes from Lasswade AC competing.

Weather wise it was overcast and wet with some heavy spells of rain throughout the day. This meant that conditions underfoot were very muddy.

It was great to have some competition and most of the Lasswade AC athletes seemed to enjoy running in the mud and rain with some fine performances.

Full results are attached 11596-Lothian_Junior_XC_Foxlake_Results

Thanks to Team East Lothian for organising and for all the officials and volunteers who helped on the day.

The next race will take place on 4/01/2021, more details to follow shortly.

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Lothian Cross Country – Holyrood Park – 14/11/2020

Given the current situation with Covid 19 it was fantastic to see the above event take place yesterday morning at Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. I think keeping it on a smaller scale within Lothian and limiting it to junior athletes (U11- U17) certainly helped. Huge thanks to all involved but in particular to Edinburgh AC and Andy Ross of Harmeny Athletic Club for all of their hard work in making this happen. Thanks also to all of the officials and marshals who helped on the day.

The weather on the day was perfect, not too cold and it stayed dry. The fields in terms of size were restricted to a maximum of 30 which worked out well with only one age group (U13) exceeding the numbers which resulted in their being two waves. Lasswade AC had a great turn out with 21 athletes across all of the age groups with some fine performances. I think most were just happy to get some sort of competition. All being well the next event will take place at Fox Lake, Dunbar on 12 December but we will keep you all up to date.

Thanks to everyone, athletes, parents and officials for turning out to represent the club at this event and for adhering to the guidelines.

Link to provisional results here

 

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Angela McLaughlin (Marshall)

It is with great sadness that the club has to let members know of the passing of Angela McLaughlin (nee Marshall).

 

 

 

 

 

Angela has been involved in athletics for many years and was a keen thrower as a young athlete and a regular at track and field competition.  In more recent years she has taken on the role of supporter and organiser taking Megan and Amy, ‘her girls’ to competitions for their respective events regardless of the weather, spending many cold and wet Saturday afternoons at cross country events.  Angela was incredibly proud of her daughters but supported all Lasswade AC athletes and took the time to speak to them finding out how they had performed in their event with a genuine interest.

Together with Mark and her family she was  heavily involved in the organisation of the Forth Valley League which is a key competition for younger athletes. Angela was also always involved in supporting club events like our annual cross country and road race and was a member of our committee.

Angela worked as a nurse, a member of that group of extremely caring and special people. Her caring nature shone through to anyone who knew her.

Angela will be sadly missed by us all and is a huge loss to Lasswade AC and athletics.

We pass on our sincere condolences to Mark, Megan, Amy and family.

‘A private funeral service will be held on Tuesday 15 September at Rosewell Cemetery at 11am.

‘Family flowers only are requested, but if desired donations online to Marie Curie Hospice.

‘With ongoing restrictions, the family are limited to the number of people who are allowed to be at the graveside. If you do wish to pay your respects, please do so by attending but remaining at a suitable distance.’

Marie Curie donate website

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RETURN TO TRAINING

With the re-opening of the track facilities at Dalkeith Campus, Lasswade are now ready to start implementing a return to training. Initially this will be on a staggered basis where we will start with one group then add groups at each session.

The current schedule for a return is as follows:

  • Thursday September 4th: Endurance
  • Monday September 8th: Endurance, Sprints (Gordon), Hurdles

Further groups will be added as we go along with emails being sent to all members in advance.

In advance of all training sessions members will be contacted and must reply ahead of arriving at the session. You will not be able to take part in any sessions unless you have replied to confirm:

  1. You intend to take part in the session
  2. You are free of any of the symptoms of Covid 19 and are not feeling unwell.
  3. You have not been in contact with anyone with Covid 19 in the last 14 days.
  4. You have not been told to self isolate as part of the contact tracing measures.
  5. You have not been overseas to a country on the quarantine list.
  6. You have read and agree to the updated Code of Conduct.
  7. You have read and understand the guidance for athletes provided.

Code of Conduct 2020

Guidance-for-Athletes-August-21

Adults accompanying athletes to training will be allowed to remain however should be:

  • limited to one per household
  • remain within the designated area at all times
  • maintain strict rules of social distancing at all times

Updated Guidance for Phase Three Return to Athletics and further information can be found at the following links:

Guidance-for-Coaches-August-21

Guidance-for-Clubs-August-21

LAC Updated Track COVID-19-Risk-Assessment

Hygiene poster

NHS: Covid 19 Information and advice

For further information please contact Craig at lasswadeathletics@gmail.com / 07751279456

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Cademuir Rollercoaster – 15/08/2020

The Cademuir Rollercoaster Junior Hill Race took place at Peebles on Saturday in what turned out to be a very warm and sunny afternoon. Perhaps a little too warm for a hill race.

There were four races, U15 boys and girls, and U18 boys and girls. Although the fields were limited to twenty in each race and the courses were shorter it was fantastic to see an event taking place after months of no competition.

There were four Lasswade AC athletes taking part in these races. In the U15 boys Andrew McWilliam and Rowan Taylor who had both had good cross country seasons last winter decided to give the hills a try and had great races with different tactics. Andrew’s intentions were clear from the start as he led from gun to tape to win, Rowan worked his way through the field to finish 2nd. A fantastic effort by both boys.

Lasswade AC also had two athletes in the U18 boys race. Harry Henriksen had a solid race to finish well in 3rd place in a race that may have been a bit on the short side for him. Sam Kitchin was disappointed with his race but hadn’t felt great with stomach pains.

Great to see all of these athletes racing again in the Lasswade colours! Well done to you all.

Thanks also to all those involved in organising this event.

For full results and Scottish athletics report please click here 

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Lasswade AC short look back in time

Hi All,

I was looking back through some old photo’s and pulled a short video together – really need to sort all the photo’s out.

 

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Coaches Question and Answer Session: Kirk and Linda Smith

Scottish Athletics Club Coaches of the Year 2018

  1. Firstly, we’d like to get a little bit of background on your involvement in athletics before coaching. You were both competitive athletes, what did you enjoy most about the sport and what were your biggest achievements?

(Linda) – I enjoyed being relatively successful as a young athlete.  Winning East District and East v West District medals, Winning Gold and Bronze respectively at the first Euro Junior Scottish Championships at 800 and 400m in 1985 and Bronze at British Indoor 800m Championships at RAF Cosford (which was the only indoor track in Britain at that time).  I also did well at cross country and got to represent Scotland on both the track and cross country.  As a senior athlete I had a recurring achilles problem so did not race very often. If only I knew then what I know now about dealing with that type of injury.

(Kirk) – I competed in athletics back in the day as a colt, what is now U11, for Edinburgh Southern Harriers. Initially like most kids I had a go at all events but it was the longer  distances on the track, cross country and road that I enjoyed most. As a young athlete I had some success winning district track titles over 3000m and district selection at cross country. I also represented Scottish Boys Clubs over the cross country.  As a senior I was a similar level just making the transition from 3000m to 5000m on the track.  I enjoyed being part of a club and various training groups over the years, making friends with the other athletes in the group/club some of whom I still meet regularly today. I also feel fortunate for the experiences the club gave me. As a young athlete (18) going down to the National 12 stage road relay was an amazing experience, being part of the same team as Allister Hutton but also seeing guys like Sebastian Coe who at that point was double Olympic 1500m champion warming up as he was running the 4th leg for his club Haringey.

  1. How did you both get into coaching – was there any main motivation or key event which inspired you to volunteer?

(Linda) – Amy our daughter wanted to try athletics.  I ran for EAC when I was young but Lasswade AC was local so we took her there.  I was too nosey at the time to leave her and wanted to see what training the club would do with her.   Davie Hand knew who I was from my running days and asked if I wanted to help out.   At first it was just holding a stopwatch but I wanted to get more involved and gradually took the sessions along with Davie H and the other coaches who were helping at the time

(Kirk) – I got involved in coaching after Linda as I was kind of the stay at home Dad with Matthew as he was too young to take part. I then got involved in football coaching with Matthew and once he was old enough to join Lasswade I started to come along to training. I was still running myself so I would just go a run or do a session on the track as Linda coached with the kids. As Linda says we both knew Dave Hand and he (as anyone that knows him will know) is always keen to get people involved with the club and he asked if I would like to get involved in coaching. Linda had also been encouraging me to get involved so it had to be with the endurance group.

 

  1. What have been your proudest moments as coaches? Everyone here at Lasswade Ac was very proud of your Scottish Athletics Award in 2018, which was wholly deserved.

(Linda) – We have been lucky to have had a very talented group of athletes that we have brought through from U11 to present.  Seeing these athletes grow and all they have achieved and are still achieving makes us proud.   Being nominated and then winning the Award was a huge honour for us and we would not have won this award without the great group of athletes we have along with the support of their parents.

(Kirk) – Obviously Linda has been coaching a bit longer than me. However, since I have being involved I can only echo what Linda has said in that we have been very fortunate to have a very talented group of athletes who are incredibly focused individuals. They all get on well together and are incredibly supportive of each other and us. Winning the coaching award was a huge honour not only for us but for the club. We could not have done it without the incredible support from athletes, parents and the club who put us through all of the coaching qualifications. In terms of athletic performances there are lots and I think I said this at our meal last year. As well as our own children (Amy and Matthew) all of you have given us some great memories which we will treasure. Many of these have made me very happy for the individual/s as it is always fully deserved and a result of their hard work and dedication. I think that is part of the beauty of athletics in that you don’t always have to win a race or even a medal to progress or achieve a goal. Everyone can have their own personal targets and to see the elation and pride of a young athlete when they achieve that target is very rewarding.

 

  1. Given the current period of uncertainty and disruption, some athletes are finding it hard to keep motivated without definite races. How has it affected your coaching? What advice would you to your athletes?

(Linda) – We have had to adjust the sessions and have basically extended the winter training.   There will not be much of a track season this year (if any) but the athletes still have to be ready for any races that do go ahead.    I think the virtual races that are now starting to happen are great and athletes are encouraged to make these their targets for now and give them a go.   This situation will not last forever and you should just look on it as one of life’s not so nice experiences!  Hopefully everyone will get through it and stay healthy.

(Kirk) – There is no doubt that it is hard to keep motivated when its unclear when or if you will be able to race this track season but whether it is 3 weeks or 3 months there will be races again. It is easier for the older athletes to train on their own but more difficult for the younger athletes who may be too young to run themselves and may at this point come to training for the social benefits. The longer the club isn’t operating the greater the risk that some young athletes may not return to the club. This is part of the reason that we are trying to maintain a degree of contact via social media and also set some training goals for them. In the short term virtual challenges will be something we will encourage athletes to target until competition returns – keep training so that your ready when it does!

 

  1. Finally, some quick-fire questions:
  • What is/was your favourite training session?

(Linda) – Fast sessions – 200s

(Kirk) – 10/12 x 400m (60 Sec Rec) – Quite a tough session so you need your head in the right place mentally.  Always found that this was a great indicator of fitness.

  • What’s the most impressive sporting performance you’ve seen, why?

(Linda) – (1) Kelly Holmes winning 800/1500 Gold at 2004 Olympics given she has been injured in the run up to the games and (2)When Jo Pavey won the 10,000 as a 40 year old – that was an amazing race to watch and (3) Watching Coe, Ovett and Cram racing in the 80s – gave you goosebumps watching them and (4) more recently Emma Coburn winning World Championship 3K steeplechase.

(Kirk) – Ovett v Cram 1500m at Crystal Palace was just a great race with two of the top 1500m runners in the world at that time going head to head.

Callum Hawkins 2019 London Marathon setting a new Scottish Record. Although in terms of the times some of the Africans are running it is not super quick but still world class  performance. I think after what he had gone through in the Gold Coast that it was a fantastic comeback Marathon.

Emma Coburn – World Championship 3000m Chase – With 5 Kenyan’s in the final (one running for Bahrain) everyone was writing her off but she won the gold.

There’s lots of other great races and performances in fact being at Glasgow a few months ago for the indoor Pole Vault world record by Armand Duplantis was fantastic!

  • What is your favourite quote?

(Linda) – Never say Never!

(Kirk) – Believe you can and your halfway there!

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Lasswade Quiz on Scottish Athletics

Matthew has done a short quiz on Scottish athletics. To have a go please click here

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