MATT HITTING NEW HEIGHTS

Balfron teen enjoys a medal haul in Glasgow

Matt Chandler was on superb form as he took gold and silver medals in the under-17 indoor championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on Saturday.

The 16-year-old from Balfron started in the 60m hurdles confidently having recently set a club record of 8.47sec whilst representing Scotland in Ireland.

The final was a tense affair, with multiple restarts as an athlete’s blocks slipped then two others were disqualified for false starts. When they finally got away at the fourth time of asking, Matt started well but ended second in 8.76, knowing his personal best would have won the gold.

He didn’t have to wait long to clinch gold though as he was on top form in the pole vault. He cleared his opening height 3.61m first time but had a scare at the next height of 3.71m, twice clearing it only for the pole to knock the bar off.

He finally did manage to clear on his third and final attempt but this left him trailing rival Finlay Walker (Kilbarchan) who had cleared first time to lead on countback.

At 3.81m, Matt made no mistakes at the first attempt to set a new club indoor record and retake the lead. With Walker failing, Matt had secured victory.

He made some good attempts at 3.91m but was unable to go clear but was happy with a gold medal and new club record. Balfron teammate Matthew Meredith was just outside the medals after setting a season’s best 3.11m.

Katie Sharkey was also on the podium in the 60m hurdles. She set a superb personal best 8.92sec in her heats before taking bronze in the final with 8.99.

The girls’ shot competition saw two Central athletes just outside the medals as Rachael Methven threw a season’s best 9.70m for fourth, just six centimetres short of the bronze medal position.

Also taking part were Scottish pentathlon international Lucy Smith whose indoor PB 9.36m earned her fifth spot behind Rachael before clearing 1.48m in the high jump for seventh place.

Anna Cameron set a PB in the 60m semi-final of 8.16sec and went faster with 8.13 in the final for seventh overall. She then ran a season’s best 27.04sec in the 200m semi-final which just failed to make the final.

Elizabeth Thompson also took part in the sprints equalling her 60m PB with 8.51sec to progress to the semi-finals then set another PB in the 200m with 27.82 sec.

The 1500m saw two Central athletes competing. Keir Howlieson ran an indoor PB 4m19.16s to reach the final where he finished ninth.

Ben MacMillan was returning a year after he made his breakthrough performance at last year’s indoor championships where he won silver at the under-15 age group.

Competing in his new under 17 age group Ben ran an indoor PB 4m22.76s but this was not enough to progress to the final at this new age group.