Balfron pupils go for gold
Athletes return with medals haul from championships
Balfron High School pupils were on a medal run at the Scottish Schools Pentathlon Championships.
They landed a full set of gold, silver and bronze medals for brothers Tom and Matt Chandler and Anna Cameron.
A gold medal for Dollar Academy’s Lucy Smith capped a successful day for the Central AC contingent.
Tom was competing at this event for the final time and looking for his third consecutive gold.
Competing in the over 17 boys pentathlon he led from the start with 11.15m in the shot and a PB 15.48s in the 110m hurdles to open up a 200-point lead. A season’s best 6.61m long jump extended this further and put him within sight of a championship record.
He battled hard in the 200m ( 23.70s) and 1500m ( 4: 40.19) but strong winds meant the record was beyond his reach. However his final score of 3469 took the gold and was the second highest score ever.
Lucy Smith also led from the start in the S1 girls triathlon event after an excellent 1.45m high jump. She followed this with 8.09m in the shot to stretch her lead to 150 points.
A fourth place finish in the 600 metres saw her win by 169 points, earning her a first gold at national level and the first girl from Dollar Academy to win gold at the championships.
Like Tom, Lucy’s score was also the second highest ever in the history of the event.
Lucy was not the only Central AC athlete in the event as Ciorstaidh Ainsworth of Wallace High School was attempting combined events for the first time.
She worked her way into seventh place after 1.27m at high jump and 6.49m at shot. In the final 600m event it was Ciorstaidh who showed the form that won her the Scottish indoor 800m title as she won the race in 1:44.57 to pull her up to sixth place.
Competing in the under 15 boys pentathlon, Matt Chandler was up against the hugely talented Joel MacFarlane of Arbroath who during the indoor season won the UK title in a new Scottish record.
Matt pushed him hard setting superb PBs at 80m hurdles (12.16s) and long jump ( 5.56m). He ran another PB 25.4s in the 200m and threw a PB 8.88m in the shot. Matt battled hard in the 800m but Joel was too strong and he had to settle for 2511 points and a silver medal.
Anna Cameron completed the medal haul for Balfron High and Central AC in the under 15 girls category in a close contest for the medals from start to finish.
She started with a PB 12.63s in the 75m hurdles then set another PB 1.43m in the high jump.
Her shot of 6.94m saw her drop to fifth but an excellent long jump PB of 4.90m, the furthest of the day, pulled her back into the medal positions in third.
Anna knew that with a good 800m she could go even better and she ran a superb race to pull clear and win in 2:31.66, missing the silver medal by a single point.
As a reward for their performances Matt Chandler, Anna Cameron, Lucy Smith, Lucy Davison and Charlie Dineen were all selected for the Scottish Schools pentathlon squad who will have special training sessions in the autumn.
From each age group four athletes will then be selected to represent Scotland in an international at the Emirates Arena in December.