The Braw Lads O' Central AC

In 1787, whilst roaming around Galashiels and surrounding areas, and composing some songs, Robert Burns penned ‘The Braw Lads O Galla Water’ writing in the person of a young girl admiring the handsome and noble young men of this borders area. The poem starts.

 

Braw, braw lads on Yarrow-braes,

They rove amang the blooming heather;

But Yarrow braes, nor Ettrick shaws

Can match the lads o' Galla Water.

 

After a two year hiatus, a normal cross country season commenced for Central Athletic Club last Saturday 9 October. At Mossilee Farm on the side of a very steep hillside close to Galashiels, a worthy army of volunteers from Gala Harriers hosted the East District Cross Country Relay Championships at which East District clubs (from as far north as Aberdeen, all the way down to the borders) pitted themselves against each other in a cross country relay format; three women to a team and four men to a team.  

 

                The race start and finish area at Mossilee Farm

Upon arrival at the farm in Galashiels, it rather felt that we had stepped back to 2019, with no face masks, no check-in apps, no elite-only fields, and competition for all those with a pair of spikes and a hunger. Despite the moderate warm rain near the start, everyone beamed with enjoyment at being back to their cross-country endeavour. The course itself, nestled in the rural outskirts of Galashiels, looked like something from a Yorkshire Tea advert, with wide expanses of very steep grass farmland interspersed only by dry stone dikes and muddy ditches to trap the unsuspecting.

 

Regrettably Central AC could muster no junior teams on the day, and so it was to the men’s and women’s teams that the club turned their hope. So ladies first. Due to injury ailments associated with one of the ladies team members, our team was reduced from three to two, however, Cliona Diamond and Claire Houston brought as much energy and enthusiasm as three athletes could muster, and as the rain began to ease on our Yorkshire Tea hillside, Cliona Diamond set off keenly. This was a debut cross country run in the Club for Cliona Diamond, and she ran steadfast and sure up and around the steep hills, coming home in 15^th in 17:59mins. Cliona then passed off to long-standing Central AC stalwart Claire Houston. Claire ran 18:23mins, and even spirited a smile as she neared the end of the race, such was her enjoyment to be back. Both women ran well, and the day will no doubt prove to be a great experience for them as they set their sights to the Scottish Cross Country Relay Champs at Scone Palace in two weeks time where a full team awaits.

 

                Cliona Diamond towards the end of her leg

 

                      Claire Houston at the start of her leg
 

Then to some braw lads. This race title had been the preserve of the Central AC men for many many years up until 2019, when, in a moment of weakness, they relinquished the title to the formidable Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds. Following COVID, Central AC men had not one, but two years, during which to nurse their wrath to keep it warm. Last Saturday the Men’s A team was ably represented by Calum Phillip, Ben MacMillan, Luca Fanottoli and Hamish Hickey. University of Stirling student, Calum Phillip, set off first, and went round confidently holding his own against a throng of seasoned individuals coming home in 6^th place in 13:46mins. After his break-through season on the track summer past, the imaginary baton was then handed to Ben MacMillan. The steep hill and dale is not the natural habitat of young Ben, however, this proved no barrier, and he enjoyed a magnificent leg on the day, bringing the team from 6th to 2nd place at the conclusion of his leg with a 13:21mins performance, just being held off for 1st place by our foes, Edinburgh University. 

 

                            Ben MacMillan driving up hills
 

It was then to our Italian club member, Luca Fanottoli, for the third leg. Luca, currently in the form of his life, set off with supreme composure and after only a few hundred metres, he took the lead from Edinburgh University. The brutally steep hillside proved no match for Luca, and with ethereal lightness, he showed his opponents a clean pair of heels and brought the team home in 1^st place in a 13:29mins performance, and with a comfortable ten second lead. 

 

                 Italian Luca Fanotolli taking a decisive lead

 

The last leg went to cross country aficionado, and University of Stirling student, Hamish Hickey. Hamish losing his lead in this last leg was about as likely as Eliud Kipchoge announcing to us all that he’s decided to start running barefoot, and Hamish drew to a close the two-year wait for redemption with a commanding 13:12mins run, which was the fastest leg by the team, and proved to be the third fastest run of the day. Three years since their last victory in these East District Cross Country Relay championships, the gold medals hung around the necks of the Central AC men once again.
 

It was also great to see the Club supported by fourteen other men formed across four other teams, all of whom ran with distinction. The Club owes a debt of thanks to Scottish Athletics, and to the dedicated volunteer team at Gala Harriers, for hosting the event in such beautiful surroundings.

 

On a wet afternoon last Saturday, the braw braw lads o’ Central AC lads roamed the steep hillside around Gala, and no one could match them.

 

No Country for Young Men

My goodness I miss athletics competitions. Today, on this Easter Monday, I should have been down in England with some Central AC athletes watching them set fire to the Fast 5K road race, but instead, I find myself in Stirling being served a nice cup of tea and biscuits by the Good Lady, as we spend quality time together pondering as to what to watch next; Homes under the Hammer, or Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr.

In the absence of competitions for the club athletes, and prizing myself from the best daytime TV on offer, I spent time this morning cajoling the foster daughter to try thrusting a javelin through our Victorian flat. The results were tremendous. As I trampled over the burst lath-and-plaster on the floor with my camera in one hand and measuring tape in the other, I recorded 2.7 metres covered. I am not ashamed to report to the reader that tears started to prick my eyes. 'What's that in your eyes Michael?' the javelin-wielding foster daughter quipped. 'It's nothing, it's nothing; get back to your javelin!'

Outwith the competitive pantheon of my Victorian hallway, and contrary to England, the remainder of Scotland remains stricken to the athletic wilderness with the staging of physical open athletic competitions being denied by command of the Scottish Government.

 

The wilderness

Unconstitutional

So perhaps we should all just resign ourselves to the current dearth of competition in Scotland? Well...when the Scottish Government have been found to have acted unlawfully in preventing religious worship, perhaps we, as an athletics community, should be more pro-active in pushing for a return of competition? Following a judicial review at the Court of Session in response to an action brought by 27 churches working together, Judge Lord Baird found the actions of the Scottish Government were unlawful in respect of church services and "disproportionately infringed" on the freedom of religious expressions. 

The result being that a worshipping community can now meet in their place of worship (an internal environment), with up to a fairly significant 50 persons in attendance. Perhaps the athletics community in Scotland, in a similar fashion, should work together so that athletes can compete in their sport in what is an outdoor environment?

 

 Open for business

No Country for Young Men

Matters reached a sad crescendo on this Easter weekend. In England, to the twittering adulation of the UK-wide athletics community, 5K races, on either track or road, were organised in Battersea, Barrowfield and Ashton-in-Makerfield. Athletes were welcomed with open arms, and entries were invited from athletes irrespective of standard. This was great, and myself and a gilded band of talented athletes had planned on travelling down to the Fast 5K on Easter Monday in a bid to validate all of the hard work done over a long dark winter.

All was well, until the point that the athletes were notified that, according to the criteria drafted by Sport Scotland, that they simply aren't good enough to travel. Sport Scotland read from a spreadsheet that says our athletes (most of whom are male sub-15mins 5K runners, and some of whom were chasing GB standards to compete at the forthcoming European Champs this summer) are insufficiently good enough to travel in a car, and at their own expense, compete in England against the best athetes in Britain. So on this Easter Monday, we didn't travel.

 

 

     Opportunity cost

 

This might not have been so bad had there been some physical competitions organised for April in Scotland, but there isn't. So we now find ourselves in an improbable position whereby the Scottish national agency for sport, will not permit athletes to travel to England to compete, and will not permit any athletic competitions to be hosted in Scotland by community athletic clubs....

Lath-and-Plaster

Like the lath-and-plaster which once secured and adorned the internal finishes of my flat, the provision of competition for athletes in Scotland lies impact damaged on the floor, whilst England sees races being hosted in every corner of their country.

The paternalistic Sport Scotland proclaim on their website that they "...understand the barriers people face and proactively address them so everyone has the opportunity to get involved in sport and physical activity". This government agency have now erected more barriers to athletics competition in Scotland than Trump erected on the southern US border to immigrants.

Young Scottish athletes now stand in an arid wilderness, pressed up against a border, peering across to a promised land where competition has resumed, where qualifying performances are being set, and wondering how on earth they can get there.

 

The Last Lap

The worst, regrettably, is saved for the last lap. When Central AC's Jamie Crowe, a 13:53mins 5,000m runner and the reigning Scottish Cross Country champion, is deemed to be insufficiently good enough by Scotland's government agency for sport, to drive himself to England to race the Podium 5K (a race where a British and World time was eclipsed), there is something tragic and pitiful in the support we are granting our best Scottish athletes at present.

Scotland is, seemingly, No Country for Young Men.

 

Michael Wright, Easter Monday, 2021

Angels in February

During the month of February three Scottish angels took flight at some World Indoor meetings. At the same time as displaying to us their celestial, God given gifts, they delivered to us a divine message of hope and renewal, and perhaps what we should expect in this forthcoming Olympic summer. They also gave us something to watch on the old i-Player.

 

Angels in February

Love in Liévin

In the week leading up to the Feast of St Valentine's, the World Indoor Tour arrived at Liévin, an old mining town near Lens in France. Think Longannet in Fife, but with nicer weather.

In the spirit of St Valentine's, Scotland's crush rested on one of our few remaining global exports other than whisky and tartan tat - Laura Muir. 2021 is a big year for Laura. British Athletics have spent a great deal of time and effort putting Muir at the height of some fathomless pedestal in the run up to major championships for the past six years. With a 5th at Worlds in Beijing 2015, 7th at Olympics in 2016, 4th at Worlds in London in 2017, and 5th at Worlds in Doha, it has been close, but regrettably, Tokyo is likely to prove even tougher.

Laura set off in the 1,500m, and sat back in the initial part of the race, gliding across the ground serenely with her distinctive upright stance. As she did so, the pacers and Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay stormed off at the front and clocked a coffee-choking 58secs at 400m. With 800m to go, it looked like Tsegay might tire, but contrarily, she pushed on again hard, with Muir being unable to respond.

In direct contrast to Muir's perfect upper body form, Tsegay appears to enjoy a coveted skill in being able to drive momentum without the use of her arms. Despite this hindrance, Tsegay set a new indoor world record of 3:53.09mins, pouring cold water on the commentator who had suggested that the early pace was suicidal. Laura, despite her usual master class of form and technique, finished second in three minutes 59.58 seconds. 

Love in Liévin

 

Therein lies the problem for Muir. Despite her divine talent, and her ability to run a 3:59mins in the midst of a bleak February, the grim reality is that the winner was a full six seconds ahead of her, and 2 seconds ahead of her outdoor PB. Tsegay, Hasan, Kipyegon...etc. The level of world women's 1,500m running is staggering. With her anglelic kick, Laura needs the Olympics to be a tactical affair.

Earlier in the evening, fellow Scot Jemma Reekie set off in the women's 800m A race. Reekie set off near the back in 6th, biding her time, and tracking new girl on the block Keely Hodkingson. As we have seen before, the ability of Reekie to both read and control a race hundreds of metres before it has actually happened, is supernatural. This started to shine brightly through the clouds as the race developed. 600m to go, 6th place. 400m to go, 4th place. 200m to go, 1st place.....

 

 

Reekie perfectly poised with 200m to go

 

Rather like Cupid drawing his bow on some unsuspecting mortal on St Valentine's, both Alemu and Hynne were drawing their bows in the last 100 metres in an attempt to strike at Reekie. Alemu moved to the outside as Hynne moved to the inside. But Reekie is neither mortal, and nor was she there anymore. Reekie was gone, taking the victory in 2:00.64. As we have seen on several ocassions in the last 24 months, the Young Pretender is talented, hungry and an astute race tactitian, and in the opinion of this writer, is the favourite Scottish endurance athlete to take an Olympic medal.

The City of Angels

The next World Indoor event took place in Toruń in Poland on 17 February 2021. In contrast to the former mining town of Liévin, Toruń is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Boasting UNESCO World Heritage Site status, it's Old Town boasts beautiful Gothic Revival architecture, old city walls, and dreaming spires, which affirm its nickname as 'The City of Angels'.

 

 

The City of Angels

 

It was in this City of Angels, that Scotland's angelic host, Neil Gourley, took flight. On the start line of the 1,500m, and against a flood of Nike vests, Neil stood clothed in the glowing yellow majesty of a Giffnock North vest. The media were quick to suggest some sort of nostalgic amateur beauty in this situation, but in reality, it is desperately sad that an athlete of the talent and stature of Neil Gourley (1,500m finalist at Worlds in Doha) does not hold an individual sponsorship.

 

The Giffnock North Angel

Neil set off very sensibly, going through 400m in 6th place tracking a local lad, Michael Rozmys. Things remained much the same up to 500m to go, at which point the pacer drops out, and Neil takes order moving to 4th and now tracking the elder statesman of European athletics, Marcin Lewandowski.

With 400m to go, things heat up. The Ethopian, Barega, and the Kenyan, Birgen, seek to put some distance between them and the Europeans at their heels, however, and like Archangel Michael in a heavenly fight with a dragon, Lewandowski wasn't going to let them get away. 

With 200m to go, Birgen starts to implode, and like a fallen angel, is drawn down into the fiery depths of the chasing pack, whilst Barega adorns wings and takes to the skies. Neil watches down on all of this, sitting perfectly in 4th place. Into the last 100m, and the viewer rather hoped that Neil would find something to get past Lewandowski, but to no avail. Neil finished 3rd in 3:35mins with a new PB (better than his outdoor PB) and 3rd on the Scottish all-time list.

Neil's race was very different to Jemma's and Laura's. As Laura and Jemma largely dictated their races on their terms, perhaps reflecting their world level talents, Neil cautiously sat back, and to good success. Qualification for the men's 1,500m for Tokyo is going to be brutal, but Neil seems to be reading from a scroll that says he is in a good place for it.

Scotland's Shame 

 Closed

After all of the uplifting scenes of our angelic heroes care of Aunty Beeb, our life here down on the Scottish earth remains free from grace and glory.

For a country that has been plagued for decades by poor health, drug abuse, and childhood obesity, our collective failure as a Scottish nation to provide any organised sporting provision in the outdoor environment for our younger generation of athletes during these last two months is so sad that it defies even satire.

The athletics clubs across Scotland, and the collective cocophony of facility providers and those in control of them (local authorities, local trusts and the Scottish Government), both agree that sport is a priority for our young people and should be high up on the agenda. But when the 13 year old who could be the next Laura Muir, the next Jemma Reekie or the next Neil Gourley can't access their local track or any form of organised training, one of us is mistaken, and the other is lying.

The angels wept.

The Virtual Reloaded: A Review of the Scottish Athletics Virtual Challenge 8-11 Jan 2021

The news stung. Stung like the last water jump in the steeplechase you fell into that one time, or stung like that time in 2016 when you were told that the Glasgow 10K you just ran a PB in doesn't count because that shower of cowboys that charged you £50 for it, were 149.7m short in their course measurement right. Another virtual challenge...

The inexorable decimation of the Scottish Athletics calendar continues unabated. I am just waiting for the Proclaimers to break into a toe-tapping lament of the demise of the athletics calendar. Emirates no more, Inverness no more...Falkirk no more? At this rate, all I am going have to report on is the jog that the Good Lady broke into upon learning that her beloved Made in Chelsea was about to start.

 

Action Scenes from The Virtual

Virtual races are ineffably sad. Virtual races are a bit like going for a night out, but with a VR headset strapped to your face, sitting in your bedroom, in your pyjamas, with a moderately sized glass of beer. The communal sharing of a thrill-seeking and lactic throbbing pleasure is lost in the virtual translation; the corinthian camaraderie, the moist armpit thrust into one's face at the race start, the red suited man waving his gun in the air...etc. All difficult to achieve standing in the cold...on your lonesome....on the B8052. The road to nowhere, and everywhere.

The virtual racing requires a great deal of spontaneous imagination, which isn't much use for a Scottish Athletics community spoilt with 150 years of refinement and tradition. The lamppost up ahead isn't actually a lamppost, but the finish line; the shell-suited young man standing outside McDonalds isn't actually a uncouth youth, but is in fact one of your many many fans heralding your passage with proclamations of encouragement. As the lactic begins to course its way to the back of your eyeballs, it starts to all become a bit like trying to deciper the latest public health restrictions; hallucinatory and mind bending.

In any event, last weekend Scotland's brightest and best headed for their local route to partake in the next Virtual  Challenge. The dead streets were brought to life with eye-splitting green and pink neon brightness, as athletes laced up the Nike Nxt% shoes. With their carbon plated shoes fastened, and their music players set to their favourite 19th century composer, off they went.

The U20s - 6K

In the U20 females, it was Rhona Mowat of Giffnock North who took gold. Rhona was 10th U20 athlete at Scone in December, and has clearly been working tirelessly over the Christmas period, and she covered her 6K in a sprightly 23:00mins.

I too spent some time engaged with the post-millenial Virtual action, which is both a glowing testimony to the power of the Scottish Athletics community to draw you in, and a crushing indictment on my lack of friends. 

Last Saturday I watched (from afar) Central AC U20 athlete Ben MacMillan compete in the Virtual, who, I should bear confession to, is an athlete that I help coach. I kept a safe 2 metres away on my bike, principally because Ben has longer legs than Paul Tergat, and I wanted to avoid a carbon plate being prized into my jaw. Being frantically conscious that an evening of PS5 gaming lay ahead of him that evening, Ben duly ran a very swift 18:01mins to take the U20 6K triumph by a dominant margin.

The Women - 8K

In the womens race, and in bronze medal position, it was Noami Lang. Naomi had finished 2nd at Little Moscow in December, and ran her 8K in 28:40mins for 3rd. Maintaining that same pace would equate to a 35:50mins 10K, and with a 10K PB of 37:16mins from 2019, she will need to find a road 10K out the other end of all this.

Jenny Bannerman is just one of the increasing number of outstanding runners coming out of Inverness Harriers, and sticking it to the central belt runners, and she took silver with a 27:56mins performance. However, the winner of the Virtual Challenge was Rebecca Johnson of Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds. Rebecca was 3rd at Little Moscow in November, and upgrades herself to gold with a seizmic 27:37mins performance. From all the team here at The Last Lap, well done Rebecca.

The Men - 8K

The top of the leaderboard was awash with the red of Cambuslang taking 4th, 3rd and 2nd place. Jamie MacKinnon, the U23 from Cambuslang, took to the perimeter of Knightswood Golf Course in the north west of Glasgow where he took bronze in 24:38mins on Sunday morning. On the day before, his red-vested, curly-haired compatriot Gavin Smith was across town at Crown Point athletics track in the East End of Glasgow, where he smashed out at a fine 24:30mins performance. That's 30:30mins 10K pace for a guy with a 10K PB of 31:36mins. Pretty good. Goodness knows how he cajoled that happy bunch at Glasgow Life to open up the track for him.

However, the virtual olive wreath was to be crowned, not upon the head of a Glasgow athlete, but on the head of a Dundee athlete, James Donald. James Donald is the incarnation of Clark Kent; unassuming, polite, mild mannered, but always ready to strip off into a Hawks ensemble, and launch himself into a frenzy of sub-30mins 10K running. James must have found a phone box in Inchture to get changed in, and on the country roads there, he saved the Scottish Athletics community from the enemy of post-24:00mins 8K performances, and delivered 23:45mins for his 8K. If he'd kept going at that clip, it would equate to a 29:40mins 10K. James, dear reader, is in shape.

The Last Lap

There were many conspicuous by their absence in the Virtual last weekend, but of course that's understandable. With no Inter-Districts to qualify for and no prospect of meaningful races on the horizon, it's all starting to become a cold January hell. But then, as Churchill noted 'If you're going through hell, keep going.'

A Cabin in the Woods

In the seminal 1978 American novel, Once A Runner, we read of the protagonist college athlete, Quenton Cassidy, and his dream to run a sub-4 minute mile. In preparation both for this, and a show-down race with an international miler travelling over from New Zealand (loosely based on legendary miler John Walker), Cassidy gives up college and his girlfriend to go and live and train alone in a cabin in the woods for several months. Twice-a-day, every day, and alone, he hits the country roads and the wooded trails, clocking up to twenty-three miles a day. His cabin lies littered with running books, training diaries, empty beer bottles, and countless pairs of damp trainers. At one point, after having a conversation with the kettle and the microwave, he etches on cold glass, in reverse mirror script, 'HELP! IMPRISONED IN FEBRUARY'.

 

                              The Cabin in the Woods

When you think about it, which I am sure you do all the time, we all face the prospect of spending this Christmas in a cabin in the woods. Isolation. Stuck in a house away from many of our dearest family members. Or worse, stuck in the house with our nearest family members, and with nowhere to go....

The Good Lady faces the grim prosect of spending the first Christmas away from her family this year, and forced to spend Christmas day with my family, who prove to be compliantly local to us. My house on Christmas will be like Fawlty Towers. It seems dignified enough at the outset, as a libation is thrust into one's hand, but spend any length of time there, and the middle class veneer melts into the bottomless pit of football commentary, Brexit demagoguery, spilt drinks, and chasing unruly family members round the house with a dog at the heels. As she reflects on what might have been, there will be tears.

For many athletes in Scotland, days over the Christmas holidays are likely to hold as much variety as a BBC News at Ten monologue during the last six months. Get up, spy on the neighbours, watch Dolly Parton's Christmas Concert, make lunch, and then spend the afternoon listening to family members exchange views on "how life has changed!" until our ears begin to bleed.

Or, may I suggest, we can run. We can prize ourselves from the sedentary, head-nodding, smile-inducing, compliment-forcing lethargy, and just get ourselves out the door and on to a country road, and grind out some miles. For those of us who have always longed to know what 100 miles a week feels like, this is your opportunity. For those of us who have always longed to know what 20 miles a week feels like, this is your opportunity.

This Christmas, there is no criss-crossing the country to see your great aunt Beartrice, and gone is the irredeemable tedium of traipsing round shopping malls. The return of competition, and the track season, is surely only round the corner, and how often do you, an athlete, whilst sitting at your virtual study seminar or your virtual work meeting, just ask yourself "I wish I had two weeks to play with to just get some miles in". 

                                                Trails

Like Quenton Cassidy, the isolation this Christmas isolates us from what can often be the distractions and excuses from taking our training to the next level. The shopping, the drinks with friends...etc. We are all stuck in our cabin in the woods this year. There is nowhere to go - but through the hills, the trails and the country roads that surround you - there is everything to achieve.

To my tens of readers, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Michael Wright, 24 December 2020

Little Moscow: A Review of the Scottish Athletics Invitational 5K

This week I rustled through my sources for some Scottish races to report, but there was nothing. It was like going to the fridge in search of a beer at 4am during a Saturday night soiree with the Hare and Hounds in a student flat. Nada, nothing.

I did ask the Good Lady if she might adorn a Central vest, pin on some numbers, and run a couple of laps of Stirling Castle to provide some content, but the suggestion went down as well as a pair of Karrimor running trainers on Christmas morning.

In the absence of events this week, I have reverted to carrying out a belated review of the Scottish Invitational 5K Event at Lochgelly on 29th November.

Little Moscow

Moscow 

In the not-so-distant past, Lochgelly and surrounding areas used to be termed "Little Moscow" particularly so during the period when the constituency there, astonishingly, returned a Communist MP to the House of Commons from 1935 – 1950. Having agreed to marshall at the race, and travelling through on the day under the gloomy fog that wouldn't lift that morning, it was rather like crossing the Iron Curtain in a John La Carre novel. On approach to 'Fife Cycle Park', I felt that I should have pulled up on the road side outside the venue, flashed my headlights to "Control" (Alex Jackson MBE), and await a similar flash-of-the-headlights response to permit controlled entry under the shadow of the high fencing and dense network of CCTV cameras that consume the place. 

In any event, I parked up, and reported for duty at the command centre. After some light hearted chit chat with those well-kent faces that I hadn't placed eyes on for a number of months, and after a life-affirming nod of the head from Mark Pollard, I headed to my command post to marshal the forthcoming action in the foggy and cold silence.

 

Little Moscow (Lochgelly)

Ladies First 

In the endurance game, and even when one is in form, it can be all too tempting to just let the group do the work in the early stages and sit back. You first, no you, no you, no I insist, you go first. Not so for Annabel Simpson. Fully confident in her ability and her fitness, she dared the field to go with her, and they politely declined. She ran the whole thing solo in 16:28, a paltry 3 seconds off her PB from 2018. It was a clean pair of heels from gun-to-tape, and it was a sight to behold. 

 Annabel Simpson and lots of daylight

Annabel was richly rewarded, as every Scottish Athletics victor is, with an interview with the venerable Peter Jardine, in which she recognised her victory with ease and grace.

In exceptional company, Naomi Lang enjoyed a superb run as she took 2nd in 16:44mins, which was a considerable road 5K PB for her. This was the first race that Naomi ran in 2020, which really brings into focus the torried year we have all endured. Rebecca Johnson in 3rd place in 16:51mins, and Morag Millar in 4th in 16:53, her first run back since giving birth less than six months ago. The rapid return of Morag to training and competition bodes well for her 2021. 

In fifth place was Megan Keith in 17:00mins, a 5K PB for her, and illustrates her comfort, as an U20, in rubbing shoulders against the best women in Scotland.

The Men

The Start

Off the gentlemen went on their five lap course. Near the conclusion of lap one, the charges had already split into two, with the lead pack comprising Ben Greenwood, Kris Jones, Ali Hay, Jamie Crowe, Jonny Glen, James Donald, Ryan Thomson, and Ben Potrykus, all champing at the bit. Into the second lap, and Ben Greenwood was searching for the emergency escape button having perhaps started too keenly.

Into the third lap, and more begin to drop leaving Crowe, Jones, Glen and Donald all to the fore, with Ali Hay, Thomson and Potrykus just behind.

On to the fourth lap, and then there were three: Crowe, Jones and Glen, with just the beginnings of daylight beginning to show between the top two and Jones. Yet again, we see the toe-to-toe fight between the Coe and Ovett of our day; Crowe and Glen.

With his muscular frame, and his bulging calves, it rather looks like Jonny Glen has been assembled in the white heat of a Clyde Shipyard by a squad of lads that smoke forty-a-day, and eat asbestos for breakfast. If King Crowe floats like a butterfly, then Jonny Glen stings like Her Majesty's Type 42-class Destroyer, smashing his way along the tarmacadam road with power and fortitude.

Into the fifth and final lap and the climax of my day out in the Red East. The top three fairly close together, with King Crowe having led the majority. Then with about 45 seconds as they near the final corner, Glen pulled out to the side of Crowe, tested the water, saw that he liked it, and pressed ahead. Crowe didn't let Glen have all his own way and stuck to the back of him like some firmly applied kinesiology tape. However, and into the final home straight, Glen, through what must have been a very solid lockdown, propelled himself away for the big W, and a credit to him for doing so. It was mightily impressive in the fine company he was keeping that day.

 

with around 45secs to go... 

In third place was the indefatigable Kristian Jones who had held with the top two for almost the whole way round. He will no doubt be a bit disappointed that he didn't hold until the home straight, but on any other day, it is likely he would have been right in there at the end. In fourth and fifth was Sean Chalmers and Joe Arthur. Both Chalmers and Arthur paced themselves to perfection, having been back in the chasing group at the start, and come through brilliantly towards the end.

In sixth place was the Peter Pan of Scottish distance running, Ali Hay. As time progresses, he defies the ageing process and continues to quietly distrubute a sombre thrashing to the three generations of athletes that have come after him. How many more generations of 18-20 year olds are going to have to go home, and through a stream of tears, explain to their parents why they got lit up by a dad of two in his mid-30s? Likely many.

Reflection

When driving home West to regale the Good Lady of my day out in the East, I was reminded that our sport is not one of socialist-inspired equal distribution of honour, nor is it one free of class hierarchies. Ours is a sport that adopts pure unadulterated hierarchy. Every performance at Lochgelly, and therefore every person, is measured to within one second of each other (or one one-hundredths of a second if you are fortunate to have Dave Finlayson's expert photo finish team in place). All these people are then put on a public board online, so we are absolutely crystal clear on where everyone sits within our sport; where the winner is, where the loser is, and where everyone else sits precisely in that context.  

We live in a society that too often sanitises the competitive and hierarchial reality of athletics. Let us not lose sight of the fact that, therein, lies the joy of our sport.

On a lighter note, every athlete there that day owes a debt of thanks to Adrian Stott on spearheading the organisation and delivery of the day. Adrian is like Mr Motivator, but without the colourful spandex outfit and the Jamaican ancestry. He was all smiles and positive energy as he tirelessly bounded from point to point on the course (with a pineapple nestled under his arm), ensuring that everyone was safe, well, and looked after in his company. Lochgelly would not have happened without him, and he is a credit to the sport which he dutifully serves.

The Last Lap

After exhaustive research around the dinner tables of the proletariat Scottish Athletics community this week, the decision was reached that the Order of Lenin Award should go to Annabel Simpson. A performance that was as fearless as it was dominant, as majestic as it was inspiring.