Teens Central to Scots’ win
Strong displays at Grangemouth
Five Central AC athletes helped Scotland to a convincing victory over Ireland and Wales in the Celtic Games international at Grangemouth on Saturday.
Star performer of the day was Coirilidh Cook who was making her international debut in the under-16 girls 80m hurdles.
The 14 year-old from Balfron is more used to competing at the shorter 75m hurdle distance where she has already won the Scottish schools title this season, but the longer distance meant she had the challenge of adjusting her stride pattern.
When the gun went her task was made even harder when she slipped out of the blocks but she quickly recovered and overhauled her Welsh and Irish rivals to take the lead.
There was a late charge by the Irish competitor but Coirilidh held her nerve and the lead to take the win for Scotland by 0.05secs in a superb personal best and club record 11.89.
Following was Daniel Ferguson in the under-16 boys 100m hurdles. The 15-year-old from Tullibody, also making his international debut, ran strongly over the barriers to finish in a pb 13.99, his first sub-14-second run. The Welsh competitor was too fast but Daniel held off Ireland to take second place for Scotland and the silver medal.
Coirilidh and Daniel then joined forces in the mixed 4x100m relay. Coirilidh led off for Scotland and ran well round the first bend tracking the Welsh and Irish athletes outside her.
Daniel took the baton on the third leg holding off the Welsh athlete and overtaking Ireland before handing the baton on for his Scottish team-mate to sprint home for victory.
This gave Daniel a gold medal to add to his silver in the hurdles and Coirilidh a second gold medal of the day.
Emma Mailer won at the Celtic Games last year and the 16-yearold from Stirling was looking to defend her under-18 girls 400m hurdles title.
She was up against a strong Irish competitor in Miriam Daly, who had competed at the European Youth Championships earlier this summer and although Emma could not prevent the Irish competitor winning, she dug in for the full lap of the track to finish well ahead of Wales and take silver in a season’s best 66.41.
Elizabeth Thompson was competing in her second international in the 4x400m relay. She was running second leg, and with Ireland and Wales choosing to put their top athletes in the first leg she took the baton in third place.
However, she showed her experience as she ran a 59-second leg to close the gap on the other teams from more than five metres to hand over almost level. This allowed her team-mates to overtake the Welsh team in the final leg to finish second behind a strong Irish team.
Anna Cameron has made huge strides this season since focusing on long jump after winning the Scottish schools earlier this summer with a personal best 5.55m.
This earned her a place in the Scottish Futures team, who were selected by the Scottish Schools in addition to the main Scottish team.
She didn’t quite manage to reproduce the form she showed at the Scottish Schools but gained good experience at international level as she jumped 4.99m for fourth and also ran the anchor leg in the 4x100m.
Overall, Scotland dominated the final standings, not only winning overall but winning in every individual age group, helped greatly by the performances of the Central AC contingent.