LASSWADE ATHLETIC CLUB

The club's U13 Girls' team gave a good account of themselves today at the Scottish Superteams competition at Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow. 

In the first event of the day, the 100m, all four girls ran new PB times.  Beth Murray (15.42s), Rachel Louden (15.82s), Lisa Robertson (15.94s) and Rachel Hutchison (16.10s).  More PBs were to follow in the long jump for Beth (3.82m), and Rachel Hutchison (3.16m), while Lisa jumped 3.57m and Rachel Louden 3.31m.

The third event (Shot Put) saw all four girls register PBs again, as Beth threw 4.53m, Rachel Louden 4.06m, Rachel Hutchison 3.87m and Lisa 3.73m.

The girls rounded of a fine day's work by running very well in a tough medley relay (2 x100m, 1 x 200m & 1x 800m), finishing fifth.

The team all performed well on the day, produced new PB performances, and gained valuable experience.  Considering they were the youngest and smallest team in the competition, they did very well, and will all be eligible for next year's competition.

Despite being missing a number of regular competitors due to injuries and other commitments, the club’s young athletes produced some fine performances at Grangemouth today to finish third overall in the Forth Valley League Division One for the season.

A lot of athletes were asked to compete in events which they don’t normally do, but they all rose to the challenge to earn valuable points for the team.

Well done to all the athletes, coaches, officials, parents and helpers.  It was a real team effort, and the feelgood factor nearly led to Davie Mac sharing his chocolates on the bus home! 

July has been a busy month for some of the club’s track and field athletes as they competed in top level competitions in Scotland and England. 

Guy Learmonth, Greg Louden, Colin Menzies, Ross Matheson, Ross Finlayson, Scott Anderson, Niall Sheehan and Callum Wilson all competed in the Scottish Senior Championships, held at Pitreavie Stadium on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July.

Greg and Guy both qualified from their heats on the Saturday to progress to the finals of their events on Sunday.  In Sunday’s finals, Greg produced a season’s best run of 48.43s as he finished fifth in the 400m, and Guy collected the bronze medal in the 800m with a time of 1:53.79.  Also in the 800m, Ross Matheson finished 4th in the semi-final (1:58.79), and Scott Anderson (2:04.43), and Ross Finlayson (2:05.25), ran in the heats. 

Colin Menzies was among the medals as well, as he took the bronze in the 3000m Steeplechase (10:19.29).

Niall Sheehan finished 13th in the 5000m final (15:21.97), and Callum Wilson produced a jump of 13.38m, as he finished 5th in the triple jump.

The following Saturday, Greg Louden and Guy Learmonth were selected to compete for Scotland at the Birmingham Games in the U20 4 x 400m  relay team.  The team set a new Scottish Junior record time of 3:14.25, breaking the previous record which had stood for 27 years.

The next day saw Greg join club team mate Ross Matheson, as they competed for Team Edinburgh in the National Junior League at Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow.  Greg won the 400m, and finished 4th in the 200m in a new PB time of 22.05s.  He was also a part of the winning 4 x 400m relay team (3:23.32). 

Ross registered an impressive treble of victories, winning the 800m in 1:56.89, the 1500m in 4:07.76, and running in the 4 x 400m relay team.  

Team Edinburgh won the match overall, and finished top of the league for the season, they have now qualified for the league finals which take place at Derby on the 12th of August

The club’s younger athletes were also in action during the past month, competing in the usual leagues and championships.  Earlier in the month, Ellen Kristoffersen was runner up in the Scottish U15 Girls’ Pentathlon competition with a total of 2608 points.  Ellen, along with Rachel Robertson and Gareth Fleming, was also part of the U15 Edinburgh Select team who won the Scottish Schools’ Super 8 Challenge match at Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow, on 7th July.

The club were also represented by two teams in the recent Scottish Junior 4 x 100m Relay Championships at Pitreavie Stadium.  The U13 Girls’ team (Beth Murray, Lisa Robertson, Rachel Hutchison and Rachel Louden) were sixth in their heat, while the U15 Boys’ team (William Hutchison, Jamie Cousin, Iain Lawson and John Wyse) finished 6th in their final.

Some of the club’s young athletes were recognised for their achievements over the past year, when they were named as winners in two categories at the Midlothian Council Sports Awards held at Midlothian House, Dalkeith, on Friday.

Greg Louden was awarded  the Junior Individual Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sport, and the Under 15 Girls’ team (Erin Feeley, Megan Fleming, Amy Frankland, Ellen Kristoffersen, Fiona Matheson, Katie Purves and Rachel Robertson) were the recipients of the Junior Team Award.

Greg Louden and Guy Learmonth produced terrific performances at the English U20 Championships at Bedford over the weekend.  They both qualified comfortably from Saturday's heats and semi-finals to qualify for Sunday's finals of their events.

In the 800m final, Guy ran a new PB time of 1:49.23 to finish fourth, while Greg ran a season's best time (48.45s) as he collected the silver medal in the 400m final.

Well done to both athletes.