East District Cross Country League – Broxburn 18/01/2014

The final East District Cross Country League match of this winter season took place at Broxburn on Saturday 18 January 2014.

The league covers all age groups from Under 11 boys and girls through to senior men and women and Lasswade had athletes competing in all age groups with the exception of under 11 girls.

In the under 11 boys race we had seven athletes competing with Kurt Robertson leading the team home in 6th place overall.  The others competing were Lois Grahame (20th) Cameron Dickson (35th), Eoin Morton (38th), Christopher Statham (44th), Ethan Gordon (59th) and Clark Lennie (64th).

The next race  was the under 13 girls and with our Inter District winner Sarah Tait unwell it was left to Caroline McKinlay to represent the Lasswade girls. Caroline ran a strong race to finish 19th overall. Lasswade’s Magnus Tait led the way in the under 13 boys race with another fine win. It completed a clean sweep of three league wins this season for Magnus. He was followed by team mates Rory Ferguson (17th) and Lawrie Wilson (46th).

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The under 15/17 girls was the next race and we had two runners,  Lauren Dickson with another fine performance in 5th place followed by team mate Lauren Wilkie who finished strongly in 35th.  In the under 15 boys race we had three runners led  home by Matthew Smith (26th) followed closely by team mate Jamie Darling (28th) and Thomas Snodgrass (38th).

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Kyle McKenzie was the sole Lasswade runner in the under 17 men, he had a solid run to finish in 21st place.

In the women’s race we had three athletes competing and Keira Murray with a strong run in 5th pace led the team home, next in was Amy Frankland with a fine run finishing 15th overall and 2nd under 20, Cathy Dickson ran well to bring the team home, finishing in 71st place.

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The final race of the day was the men  with the biggest field and 255 finishers. There were seven Lasswade athletes competing with Peter Avent the first Lasswade runner home (28th), next in with a strong run was Martin Gore (42nd) followed by John Murray back from a recent injury (74th), Scott Dickson running with a sore knee was next to finish (164th) then came Doug McDonald (179th)  closely followed by  Phil Parr-Burnham (196th) with Derek Wilkie the final Lasswade athlete (232nd). 

Well done to everyone who turned out and competed for the club on Saturday. Thanks to you all and also to the parents/supporters that came along on the day.

Final Team Finishing Positions in the League were as follows:

Under 13 Boys – 4th Team
Women – 7th Team
Men – 8th Team

For full results please click here 

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Inter District Cross Country Championships – 11/01/2014

The Inter District Cross Country Championships took place on Saturday 11 January 2014 as part of the Bupa Great Winter Run 2014.

Lasswade Athletics Club had five athletes selected for the East District Team Sarah Tait (Under 13 Girls), Magnus Tait and Rory Ferguson (Under 13 Boys), Lauren Dickson (Under 15 Girls) and Keira Murray (Women).

It was a beautiful dry and sunny morning although a cold windy day with little protection from the wind for the athletes on an open and flat course.  The first race of the day was the under 13 boys which proved to be a close race with Magnus Tait in amongst the leaders from the start and fighting it out for the medals at the end. Only four seconds separated the first four runners with Magnus just missing out in 4th place. It’s always difficult to finish just outside the medals and Magnus was a bit disappointed but it was a great run by him! Team mate Rory Ferguson one of our newer members who has only ran a couple of cross country races ran very well to finish in 30th place.

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The next race was the under 13 girls and this was another  close race with Lasswade’s  Sarah Tait up amongst the leaders from the start.  In the final lap there was still  a group of four or five runners in contention,  including Sarah who showed her strength pushing on into a headwind to move clear of the field and win by four seconds at the finish! 

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Our next athlete was Lauren Dickson in the under 15 girls and  it was another good performance with Lauren working hard throughout the four lap race.  Lauren finished just outside the top 10 in 11th place.  Another fine run.

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The final Lasswade Athlete competing was Keira Murray in the Women’s race. The senior course was slightly different to that used for the younger athletes in that they crossed the road and used ‘haggis knoll’ as part of the course, a little hill although I am sure it felt pretty hard after a few laps.  Keira worked hard throughout the race and was working in a group of three of four athletes just outside the top 10 for part of the race. Keira finished well in 14th place.

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It is fantastic for Lasswade AC to have athletes selected for these events and even better when they all do so well.

Congratulations to you all on your performances yesterday.

For full results please click here

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Merry Xmas

The Club Committee would like to wish all members, parents, volunteers and friends a very Merry Xmas and a happy New Year. We also welcome Danny Burnett to  LAC. Danny commences work as our Club Development Officer on 6th january. Much more on the CDO role after the holidays when Danny will be out and about to meet Club members.

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Training Over Festive Period

As you will see from an earlier post there are no club training nights now until the 06 January 2014 (unless arranged with your coach – see earlier post). However, there are some races just after the New Year so we are going to hold a couple of sessions over the festive break for the endurance squad. These sessions will be on the following dates:

10.00 am on Saturday 28 December 2013 – Braidburn Park
(Greenbank Road End, Opposite the Garage)

10.00 am on Thursday 02 January 2014 – Ironmills Park, Dalkeith

If anyone has any questions then please contact:

Linda Smith – 07833 667489 (M) or 0131 663 5877 (H)

Kirk Smith  – 07805 107857  (M) or 0131 663 5877 (H)

Dave Hand – 0131 663 0434

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and hope to see you on 28th!      

 

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SECOND HAND SHOES

We have a few pairs of second hand shoes in a variety of sizes and conditions, most are spikes but there are a few pairs of throwers shoes. I attach a list of the shoes, Dave Hand listed them and put the condition down as a guide. If you are interested in any of the shoes then please let David Hand (0131 663 0434) or Kirk Smith (0131 663 5877) know and they can bring them along to training. A small contribution to club funds is the only cost.

Click on SHOES to view list

Alternatively if you have any old spikes that you want to recycle please pass to one of your coaches.

Best wishes,

Kirk

 

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East District Cross Country Champs – Dundee 07/12/2013

The East District Cross Country Championships took place last weekend in Dundee on a cold afternoon with a light covering of snow on the ground.

There were a number of Lasswade athletes competing and hopes were high for a few medals based on performances in the league matches so far.  The athletes did not disappoint with Sarah Tait leading the way in the Under 13  girls and picking up a well deserved silver medal with team mate Caroline McKinlay running well to finish 25th. The next race was the Under 13 boys with Sarah’s brother, Magnus, improving on his bronze medal of last year to win the race this year, he was closely followed by team mate Rory Ferguson in second place, and our third counter was Lawrie Wilson in 29th. The boys picked up the silver medal in the team race.  It was a great start to the day!

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In the Under 15 girls, Lauren Dickson, last year’s under 13 winner ran well to finish in 7th place with team mate Lauren Wilkie finishing fast in 33rd place. Our Under 15 boys team hit by injury and illness only had one runner, Jamie Darling who ran well to finish 35th.

We are struggling in the Under 17 age group for cross country runners and had no boys or girls competing which is disappointing.

Amy  Frankland was our only representative in the Under 20 women race and she ran strongly to finish 6th.

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In the Under 20 men we had hopes of a team medal as we had three Under 20 men. Unfortunately, it was not to be as Callum Clark who has been running well had to withdraw due to a back injury and Ross Henderson dropped out with a groin injury that has been bothering him for a while. It was left up to Rowan Marr who ran a good race to finish just outside the top 10 in 12th place.  Looking at the team placing there were only two complete teams so at worst we would have got a bronze had the team been complete.

In the women’s race there was an air if excitement as Freya Murray Ross (former Lasswade athlete) and older sister of Keira was running.  It was a good race with Freya and Morag McClarty and Freya ended up finishing second.  Keira ran very well finishing in 8th place.

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The final race of the day was the men’s race, unfortunately we had a few of our key runners, Peter Avent, Barney Phillips, John Murray, Owen Miller missing for a variety of reasons and the team was incomplete.  Martin Gore returning from injury led the team home with a strong run finishing 46th, next home was Paul Bellamy in 142nd followed closely by Scott Dickson in 151st.  New recruit Doug MacDonald finished 176th and Derek Wilkie nursing a leg injury finished 227th.

Well done to everyone who took part and represented the club. It looks like the club will have good representation once again at the Inter District match in Holyrood park in January, congratulations to those athletes selected. For full results please click here

The final league match is at Broxburn on 18 January 2014 and we really need everyone to make every effort to compete if they can so please put the date in your diaries.

 

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Christmas & New Year Training

Hi Everyone,

Lasswade Athletics Club have this year decided to close for Christmas and New Year.

The last night of training will be thursday 19th December 2013, Training will resume

Monday 6th January 2014.

Please all athletes contact your coach to check to see if they are willing to do training

over the Christmas Holidays.

Throws:  Margaret Benham

Endurance: Linda Smith

Jumps: Mark Szymanski

Hurdles: Dave McConnell

Sprints: Gordon Robertson

I hope you have a great Christmas and New Year and we will see you all in January

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East District League Match 2 – Alloa – 23/11/2013

The second of this season’s East District League matches took place at Alloa last weekend on what turned out to be a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  The start was quite tight and saw a few runner’s fall in some races as they scrambled for position before leaving the playing fields to head out on to the course proper which proved to be quite a tough hilly route over fields and through woodland before heading back into the finish on the playing fields.

Well done to all the runners who competed on the day, I hope that you enjoyed the event. The finishing positions are noted below for your information.  If you would like to view full results please click here 

The next and final league match of the winter season is on 18/01/2014 at Broxburn.  Please can I ask athletes to make every effort to compete at this event.

 

Under 11 Girls

Rachel Mair – 40th
Louise Hamilton – 55th
Leyla Edmond – 59th

Under 11 Boys
Christopher Stratham – 45th
Eoin Morton – 54th

Under 13 Boys
Magnus Tait – 1st
Rory Ferguson – 16th
Lawrie Wilson – 44th

Under 13 Girls
Courtney Simpson – 54th

Under 15 Boys
Thomas Snodgrass – 27th
Jamie Darling – 28th

Under 15 & 17 Girls
Lauren Wilkie – 41st

Under 17 Men
Iain Lawson – 15th

Women
Keira Murray – 8th
Amy Frankland – 11th (1st Under 20)
Sarah Gledhill – 72nd
Karen McKinlay 78th

Men
Owen Miller – 14th
Rowan Marr – 32nd (5th Junior)
Callum Clark – 46th (6th Junior)
Paul Bellamy – 100th
Doug McDonald – 140th
Derek Wilkie – 199th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sunshine on Gorebridge

The thirty second Annual Cross Country took place under sunny skies in Gore Glen on Sunday 3rd November. The course, slightly altered from previous years because of Borders Railway site works, still offered a stiff challenge to the competing athletes. The set up also provided a better spectator experience for the supporters attending with the younger runners in particular.

An total entry of over 400 athletes made this an excellent event and we are delighted with the support we received  from far and wide.

On the organisational and delivery front our contingent of loyal officials and volunteers from the Club and the wider Athletics family, did us proud.

Midlothian Council, Sponsors and Friends of Lasswade were to the fore in supporting our Club and our Community.

Congratulations again to all the competitors. See where you featured below:

LACXCountryResults2013Unscrutinised.pdf by norriekr

 

Try this link if you have difficulty viewing scribd in your browser

http://www.scribd.com/doc/181353982/LACXCountryResults2013Unscrutinised-pdf

Some great pics on the Pitreavie Gallery http://flic.kr/s/aHsjLRoU6X (obviously its Pitreavie centred 😉 )

 

 

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Ross Matheson’s New Mexico Training Blog (26th October 2013)

Blog entry #3 (26/10/13)

It’s been another quick month in Albuquerque! Time is going by pretty quickly and it doesn’t feel like a month since writing my last post. Since the last post I have raced twice, had another solid month of training and feeling fit!

My first race in the NCAA was an 8k cross country at Notre Dame University. It was just how I imagined, a flat golf course with no mud and 80f degree heat! The race had over 200 college athletes from around America as well as a few Brits too. I saw Chris O’hare and Kris Gauson, 2 Edinburgh AC athletes who also went to the NCAA. The race set off fast and didn’t slow down. It was very physical at the start with lots of pushing and a few falls. Luckily I stayed on my feet but I found my self in about 120th place after 800 metres. I got into a rhythm and spent most of the race coming through the field. I’m the end I got 88th and 5th counter for New Mexico. At first I was very disappointed but on reflection it wasn’t too bad a result. It was my first race since July, it was 75-80% humidity! I had just had 10 days off from an injury and I managed to place 5th in the team when I was expecting to finish 7th or 8th. It showed I had work to do and I needed to be ready for Wisconsin in 2 weeks time.

My next race was the Adidas Wisconsin Invitational cross country. Again it was held on a golf course however it was a bit hillier this time. It was also freezing cold which was a big change from Notre Dame. I felt fitter and more confident going into this 8km race and was looking forward to having a good run. The course was much wider so it wasn’t as physical and I was looking for a position somewhere between 45-70th. The race started pretty steadily and I got in a good position with 3 other guys on my team. We worked together for the first half but gradually we started breaking up and gaps were appearing. I was 8th counter for New Mexico at half way and over the next 1-2 miles I got up to 5th. I was running well and on target for a good finish until at 4 miles I felt a stitch coming on. I tried to run for 200 metres but it gradually got worse. I started to slow down and before I knew it 50 people had passed, then 100 and before long I was last counter for the team and close to last out of the 300+ runners in the team. I’d gone from roughly 80th to last in the space of 600 metres and dropped out with 1km to go. I was gutted and so disappointed however it was out of my control and something I have only ever experienced in a race once or twice. The team went on to finish 5th however if I’d finished strongly and held my position we could have won a place on the podium.

This month was an introduction to the NCAA. I experienced the depth of the quality in the fields and saw how finishing 10 seconds slower can truly cost you 40+ places. At Wisconsin our 4th runner ran 24:11 (69th) and our 5th ran 24:25 (110th).

Since Wisconsin my training has gone up another level and I’m no longer feeling tired every day or have aches and pains. This is good news for my next race which is on the 1st of November at Colorado Springs. This race is a much smaller race with only 70-80 guys in the race and New Mexico have won the meet for the last 5 years in a row. The race is held at 6200ft so the altitude might make things more difficult.

University is going well too. I have scored 90+% in my last 2 tests and I’m enjoying the classes too.

I hope everyone had good runs at Stirling XC, the East District Relays and the National Relays too! And congratulations on winning Impact Club of the Year at the Scottish Athletics Annual Awards!

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