Scottish Track and Field Age Group Indoor Championships

Over the course of the weekend EKAC had a number of athletes involved in the Scottish Age Group Indoor Championships. These championships allowed the EKAC athletes to go head to head with the best athletes the country (and England and Ireland) had to offer. Not only is this an invaluable experience for the athletes, but it also allows their coaches to assess how well all the hard work over the winter has paid off. Going by some of the results the hard work seems to be paying off! Some notable performances over the two days:

Greg Kelly won the silver medal in the under-16 60m in a new PB time of 7.48 seconds, only finishing behind the record breaking Michael Olsen of Edinburgh AC. Greg (14) also finished fourth in the 200m in a time of 24.16, just outside the PB of 24.05 he set at the Scottish Schools Indoor Championships. Greg also plays football for Westwood Rovers, who are in the last four of the Scottish Cup for their age group.

Callum Field made the step up to 400m and won a silver in the under-16s in a time of 54.64 seconds, a good performance by the 14-year-old after a slightly interrupted preparation. Callum has had a good winter and recorded a PB time of 54.53 seconds in January after reaching the finals and picking up prize money in the youths' 60m and 90m races at the historic New Year meeting at Musselburgh racecourse.

Shannon McMahon (17) is one of EKAC's unsung heroes and she won her seventh medal at Scottish Schools / Scottish Age Group level with a battling bronze in the 200m at under-20 level. Shannon is looking to move up to longer distances but found she had enough speed in her legs to record 26.91 seconds for third place, an indoor PB.

Nicole Sharpe (14) made the semi-finals of both the under-16 60m and 200m, equalling her PB of 8.60 in the 60m. Her time of 27.98 in the 200m was just behind her PB mark of 27.58 set at the Scottish Schools Indoor Championships, where she again reached the semis.

Aidan Gilbride (16) Aidan won his 800m heat in a time of 2:00.13 to qualify for final. In the final he was in contention with two others around the last bend for a shot at the medals unfortunately after a little barging ensued (which Aidan bore the brunt of) he finished in 4th place in a time of 1:59.42, just ½ second off his PB.

Two former EKAC members who train with the EK sprint squad dominated the 60m for under-20 women. Arlene Barr has had a breakthrough winter and recorded a PB of 7.84 seconds in her heat before winning the final in 7.88 from Laura McCracken, who finished second in 8.01.

Another athlete who has started training with the EK endurance squad (Heather Addison) picked up a silver medal in the 1500m final.

Alisha Montgomery and Chloe Mulligan also ran well over the 60m and 200m, a week after Chloe had set a new 200m pb of 28.19 at the scottish schools the week before. Mixing it up with the country’s best was good preperation for their summer season.

Ryan Clydesdale also competed in the 200m and set a new PB of 28.00.

The club’s junior section where taking their first footsteps into national competition. Competing in the under 14 age group to gain experience at national level which will stand them in good stead for future national competitions.

Over the 60m and 200m indoor PB’s where set left, right and centre by: Owen Selfridge, Josh Haughey, Lara Brown, Jessica Hagan.

Over the 800m more indoor PB’s set by Sophie Forsyth (2 mins 56 seconds) and Thomas McCourt (2 mins 47 seconds) whilst Calum Hopkins also had a solid run over the 800m.

Next up for East Kilbride’s athletes is the Scottish National Cross Country Championships on Saturday the 22nd of February. These championships will have a special feel about them as EKAC’s greatest cross country runner; Alan Partridge (64) will be lining up alongside the senior men’s team.

EKAC xcountry a success

East Kilbride Athletic Club were delighted to host the newest races on the Scottish Athletics Cross Country Calendar recently with a full programme of events held at O’Cathian Farm, Hay Hill Road, Jackton.

 

In conjunction with the East Kilbride Community Trust and landowner Mr James Kean EKAC the club proceeded to host one of the most traditional cross country courses seen in recent times.  With almost three hundred competitors braving the elements the club declared the event a complete success and look forward to making this an annual event.

 

The Senior Men’s race was won by Mark Pollard (Inverclyde) after a good battle with Robert Gilroy (Cambuslang) and Cameron Wilson (Kilmarnock) took the bronze medal in third place.  In the Senior Ladies event Kara Tate (Kilmarnock) finished strongly to take a close victory from Lisa Finlay (Dumfries) with Carole Setchel (Shettleston) taking third place.  There were also age group races for both boys and girls and the winners in each event were: Boys Under 11 Elliot Bain (East Kilbride AC), Under 13 Scott Sprang (Ayr Seaforth), Under 15 Ryan Gray (Inverclyde) & Under 17 Men Aidan Gilbride (East Kilbride AC).  Girls Under 11 Alisha Sivell (Kilbarchan) , Under 13 Emily Crusher (GiffnockNorth), Under 15 Nikki Miller (Giffnock North) & Under 17 Women Nicole Scott.

 

The races were run over four testing laps around O’Cathian Farm nearJackton.  With each lap featuring three climbs and testing muddy conditions it was a true test of cross country running with many post race compliments flooding in.  A selection of the post race compliments follow:

 

Jim Orr (Cambuslang) - Thanks to everyone involved at East Kilbride Athletic Club today for their hard work and effort in putting together an excellent day's cross country racing. Well done folks!

 

Colin Partridge (Lothian) - Really enjoyed the race today. Mud glorious mud!

 

Neil Walker (Kilmarnock) - Great event today guys, good turnout, very tough course!

 

George Pettit (Cambuslang) - Thats what you call a cross countrycourse,Great event will be back next year.

Alan Sprang (Ayr Seaforth) - Congratulations on a well run and great event. It was good to see a traditional cross country course for once.  Pity there’s no more like it.  I hope you will run the event again.

With such positive feedback the club will be delighted toliaise with the East Kilbride Community Trust regarding making this an annual feature in both the sporting calendars of the town of East Kilbride and Scottish Athletics.

For further information on both East Kilbride Athletic Club and the East Kilbride Community Trust go to their respective websites at www.ekac.org.uk &www.eastkilbridecommunitytrust.co.uk/

Interview: Mike Skinner

Last month GB athlete Mike Skinner ran for East Kilbride Athletic Club in the McAndrew Road Relays. This week the club sat down with the runner to discover his passion for the sport.

Just like many athletes out there, Mike, who also works for a sports management company, juggles work commitments during the day and training sessions at night:

“You have to be organized and have good time management skills.” He tells the club.

“When I leave the house in the morning I will normally have kit with me for the evening session or run, some food/snacks for before and after and sometimes shower gear.

“I will normally try to pack all this the night before so I am not rushing in the morning. When I leave the house around 9am I know that it will close to 8pm before I am home again, or on session days even later.

“I’m not going to say it is easy but it is just something you have to do if you want to run well.”

In order to keep running well Mike admits that he has had to adapt his running over the years as he gets older. Skinner, who ran 800m and 1500m in his earlier years has progressed now to completing 5000m and cross country championships:

“Unfortunately I think that is just something that happens with age!

“I have been running for over 20 years now and I have realised that my body doesn’t recover as quickly any more.

“I cannot do enough of the shorter/quality sessions that you need for the 800/1500 and so I have had to move up in distance.

“That being said, it has been nice to have some change as there are new challenges and goals I can set myself.” Added the athlete.

One of the goals that Mike had promised himself was to pull on an EKAC vest and help the club out at a race. Last month he did just that, along with taking the younger kids out for a training session and answering all their queries about his career so far.

Skinner’s first club was Blackheath and Bromley, a south London club, and even do this day he is still a member. When asked if loyalty was important, Mike was confident in his answer:

“Very strongly I do, yes.

“I have been a member of Blackheath and Bromley since I turned ten years old and I owe a lot to them.

“The coaches that gave me so much time when I was younger, the club officials who do so much behind the scenes and the amount of success that I have been lucky to be a part of with the various teams, have all added to the enjoyment that I have taken from athletics.

“Me being a member and representing the club I think is a small price to pay for all it has given me.”

So not only does Mike give back to his first club, as mentioned earlier, he also helped out EKAC at the McAndrew Road Relays.

Skinner, along with the rest of his team, was required to run a 5K road race set around Scotstoun. Of his performance, the GB athlete wasn’t too overjoyed:

“I was a bit disappointed in my own performance.” He commented.

“I would have liked to have run faster but I say that after pretty much every race! I always think I could have done more.

“In terms of the race and being part of the EKAC team I really enjoyed it.

“For so many years I have been promising to come up and represent the club and so I am really glad I’ve done it now and I had a really enjoyable weekend.”

During his weekend at EK, Mike also took the younger athletes out for a training session and answered any questions that they had for him.

Mike admits that growing up he never really had an inspiration that got him into running:

“I am a big Chelsea fan and so I used to like all the Chelsea players but ones that you would never have heard of (I supported Chelsea when they were not as big and successful as they are now!)

“The individual I liked most though was a basketball player, Michael Jordan.” He added.

“Maybe because his name was also Michael but also because he led by example.”

So when he was younger Mike did what every other youngster does and dabble in a number of sports:

“When I was younger I played all sports.” He commented

“Football was my favourite and I played for the school team. 

“As I was in the football team and they knew I loved sport the school entered me in the local primary schools cross-country race.

“I ran in this race and won in a new course record! A coach from Blackheath and Bromley was at this race and asked if I was a member of an athletics club.

“At that stage I wasn’t and so they invited to go to the local track on a Wednesday night for some coaching. This I did and as they say the rest is history!”

For youngsters looking to get into athletics, Mike admits that youngsters need to enjoy themselves and learn to take the good with the bad:

“My biggest tips would be to make sure you enjoy it and don’t get too serious too soon.”

“I don’t believe a 10 or 11 year old should be training 6 times a week and not playing any other sports!

“Athletics is a hard sport and there will be some tough times to go through, be it injuries, setbacks or disappointments.

“But, when you work hard at something and you get the rewards it is an amazing feeling and if you can stick at it I have no doubt you’ll make some great friends and create some amazing memories along the way too.”

Scottish Cross Country Relay Championships

EKAC headed through to Cumbernauld for the Scottish Cross Country Relay championships on Saturday ( to a course that has more hills on it than East Kilbride has roundabouts in it!) With minimal rain and wind, the conditions were good for a cross country race.

EKAC where involved in 3 races on the day: junior boys, junior girls and senior men.

First up were the junior girls. The A team of Sarah Connelly, Lucy Muirhead and Mhairi Boyle ran well to finish in 43^rd. The B team also ran well to finish in 69^th.

Next up it was the junior boys. The A team ran very well to secure 17^th position; the team consisted of Calum Hopkins, Martin Lynas and Aidan Gilbride.  Martin ran the 10^th fastest time by an U15 and Aidan ran the 15^th fastest time by an U17 no mean feat considering they were up against some of the best in the country! The B team also ran well to finish in a respectable 59^th.

Lastly it was the senior men’s team who were up. The seniors require 4 runners per team to run 4K each. The A team done brilliantly to finish 22^nd an improvement on last year’s position by 7 places!  The A team consisted of Jack Kirwan (14:21), Vincent Hastings (14:16), Grant Baillie (13:18) and Alessandro Tronconi (13:25). 

The B team also ran well to finish 74^th with Niall Walker (14:24), David Thomson (15:39), Derek Leitch (16:49) and Graeme Haddow (16:46).

Next up for EKAC is the Scottish Short Course Championships which take place on November the 10^th.

Lanarkshire’s Relay Good for EKAC

The Lanarkshire Road Relay Championships were held at Drumpellier Park in Coatbridge this weekend.
The championships proved to be a memorable day for East Kilbride AC. The conditions however were not so memorable. The kid’s races were run around the loch and they would have been drier running through the loch! The rain was relentless but that did not deter the youngsters.

The U11 girls team finished 9th with Maja Robertson, Robyn McLean and Abbie Kirwan all running well.

The U13/U15/U17 girls A team finished 2nd the team consisted of Sarah Connolly (7:14), Lucy Muirhead (7:14) and Shannon McMahon (7:49). With Sarah and Lucy running the joint fastest time of the day by under 13 girls! The B team consisting of R Peacock (8:22), R Russell (8:04) and M Boyle (7:58) finished 7th.

The U11 boys ran well to claim the Lanarkshire crown. The A team consisted of Owen Selfridge (4:50), Cameron McDonald (5:13) and Elliot Bain (4:38). Elliot claiming the fastest time of the day by an under 11 boy! The B team consisting of E Selfridge (5:29), A Gilbride (5:40) and E Sweeten (5:26) also ran well to claim 5th position.

The U13 boys A team was unlucky not to claim a bronze as they were pushed out to 4th. Gutsy performances all round from Matthew Kirwan (9:48), Ryan Clydesdale (10:41) and Calum Hopkins (9:46) lead to some impressive times.

The U15 boys also ran well to claim the Lanarkshire crown. The A team consisted of Callum Field (8:55), Ross Malloch (9:17) and Martin Lynas (8:28). Martin claimed the fastest time of the day from an under 15 boy.

The senior team is a team of 4 men required to run 4km each. The senior men’s team that was aiming to improve on last year’s 3rd but where hit badly by a number of call offs and injuries.

Fielding just one team this week, the
guys showed good character and battled to a respectable 6th position, not bad considering the average age of the last two runners was 56! The team consisted of Jack Kirwan (13:40), David Thomson (14:52), Derek Leitch (15:39) and Graeme Haddow (15:58).

David Gilmour - EKAC club record (1991)

In 1991, David Gilmour was 4th in the Scottish Championships 400m final (1st Scot) in a time of 48.05. At what appears to be Crownpoint!!

Stephen Shanks - EKAC club record (1995)

Stephen Shanks - 200m he was 2nd in the 1995 Scottish Championships in a time of 21.72