Central’s good show at Grangemouth
There was a strong showing from Central AC men’s team competing in the first match of the Scottish Division One Track and Field Season at Grangemouth.
Individual wins canme from Graham Porterfield in the shot putt and Matthew Chandler in the pole vault but valuable points across all disciplines saw Central finish the day in third place.
Last week’s Stirling Marathon winner Michael Wright showed his versatility to claim third place in the 400m hurdles A race while David Lindsay took the same spot in the B race.
The 800m saw Dale Colley back on his local track clocking 2.11.75 for fifth, proving he had not conquered a midweek illness while Fraser Logan, fresh from a 5000m race the night before, was sixth in the B race.
Andrew Sweeney was back in Men’s League action and was fifth in a quality 100m backed up by Cameron Smith who used all his experience to come through in second in the B race, clocking 12.02secs. Ruaridh Miller showed great resilience in the 3000m steeplechase clocking 10.17.28 for fifth in spite of running two laps with only one shoe while David Lindsay again underlined his worth to the team with fourth B points.
Kai Ligertwood shouldered responsibility for the 110m hurdles earning points in fourth while Andrew Sweeney was back on the track in the 400m, finishing fifth A.
The 1500m saw Fraser Logan finish fifth A while Dale Colley provided more B points in fourth place.
The 200m series saw Cameron Smith in sixth A backed up by Under 20 Kieran Halliday in fourth B while in the 5000m Michael Wright was back with second A in 15.34.54 as did Ruaridh Miller who provided fifth B points.
In the field the throwing duties were covered by Graham Porterfield and Ron Todd. Graham had an excellent day winning the shot putt with 11.38m; recording a discus personal best of 32.31metres for third A; threw a 32.78m javelin throw and completed a busy day with a hammer throw of 38.28m for third.
Ron weighed in with second B points in the discus (27.46ms); second B javelin (29.39m) and fourth B in the shot put.
Conditions for the pole vault were ideal and Under 20 athlete Matthew Chandler won the event with an outdoor personal best of 4.20m while Ron Todd again produced excellent second B points with a best clearance of 3.10m. Matthew also contested the high jump and again proved his quality credentials with second A placing as he cleared 1.85m.
Under 17 athlete Erik Escala proved a more than useful addition to the team and high jumped to 1.70m for second B points. He was also seventh A in the long jump. Kai Litgertwood was second A in the triple jump with a best of 10.72m.
The 4x100m quartet of Fraser Logan on the final leg with Cameron Smith, Matthew Chandler and Kieran Halliday finishing in fourth. The guest 100metres saw Kieran Halliday record 11.76 to win his race while Erik Escala (12.18secs) and Ian McDonald (12.25secs) also ran.
As always there was great back-up from the Club’s Officials through John Dickson, Stuart MacFarlane, Tom McMenemy, Bill Gault, Richard and Ronnie O’Grady plus Gillian Marchant and Kenny Hislop. Overall placings on the day saw Aberdeen again in first place followed by Falkirk Victoria Harriers, Central, Inverness, Shettleston, Pitreavie, Victoria Park Glasgow and Kilbarchan.
● A busy weekend of athletics started with the Scottish 5km Road Race Championships on Silverknowes Esplanade in Edinburgh. A trio of Central runners dipped below 16 minutes in the race with Murray MacLarty and Finlay Logan finishing virtually together in 15.42 while Under 17 Ben MacMillan came through with an impressive 15.58.
● Decathlete Tom Chandler was competing at the British University Championships in Bedford over the weekend and his classy performances included personal bests in shot put (12.37m), high jump (1.86m) and pole vault (4.45m) s in qualifying.