The ladies of the club again showed why they are one of the top clubs in Scotland at the moment picking up a bronze medal at Livingston at the weekend. An incredible 9 different ladies have featured in our medal winning teams over the winter at District and National level. This is not counting the others who have pushed the medal winning team members. With a very different team from the record winning team of last year it was always going to be difficult to retain the title. Holly Morrison was well placed on the first leg when disaster struck taking a wrong turning when a marshal was not present. Avril Mason started the recovery moving the team up towards the medals with Victoria Riddell on leg 3 continuing the momentum towards the medals. With her first race since clocking an impressive 2hrs 40mims (24th fastest time every by a Scottish lady) in the Barcelona Marathon in early March, Eilidh Bell recorded one of the fastest long times of the day taking bronze. The ladies B team also impressed taking 11th place and first B team with Elena Heger also running a great race on a long leg.
The ladies now turn their attention to the road, hill and track season.
It was a disappointing turn out for the men with 5 teams entered and only one on the start the question asked by other clubs where were the Shettleston athletes ?This event has been very successful for the club over the years winning the title 6 times in recent years. Denis Williams first appeared at this event in 1983 , 41 years ago, and he probably never thought he would make the first team again at the age of 61! Next year we should really try to get back to our best at this event .We have the athletes to win medals at the Senior level,M40 and M50 age groups. A big thank you to John Mackay and Gary Woods who both officiated at the event and of course to Avril who continues to motivate and recruit ladies for the club.
Results
Ladies 4 Stage Relay
3rd Holly Morrison 19.47, Avril Mason 37.46, Victoria Riddell 19.58, Eilidh Bell 35.17
11th Amy MacLellan 20.26, Elena Hegar 37.48, Caryl Monaghan 24.24, Gemma Griffiths 40.327
Men 6 Stage Relay
23rd Andrew Taylor 16.20, Iain Burns 35.08, Mark McColl 19.37, Michael Paxton 34.29, Denis Williams 21.00, Callum Butterworth 35.40
Sunday saw the Anglo Celtic Plate return to Scotland. This is a 100km race which is just over 62 miles. The venue was around the Perth Inch of a lap distance of just over 2km and each athlete had to complete 42 laps!. Shettleston had two athletes competing. Multiple National medal winner and Scottish Internationalist at the steeplechase, Mike Deason, was competing for Scotland as the race incorporates an international team event. Mike had a fantastic run finishing 11th overall and 3rd in the Scottish championships in a time of 7hrs 10mins 35secs. He also helped Scotland take the team title. Not many of us can even understand what it is like to race over a 100km and be on our feet for over 7 hours.
Former Club President , John Duffy, knows how to celebrate his 60th birthday and he also toed the line for the event. John took the British Masters title for an over 60 with a time of 8hrs 50.59. John has also featured in many of the national medal winning teams over the years and has a great record over the marathon distance claiming medals at National level.
Both athletes will be having a well deserved rest this week
Meanwhile at the Emirates Arena on Friday night saw the Glasgow Jump event. In the High Jump Abraham Lanahan equalled his personal Best with a jump of 1.66m finishing 2nd overall with his brother, Joseph , jumping 1.55m to finish 9th overall. In the Long Jump Jonathan Hooper was 1st with a 6.32m jump