Athletics Results

August 2010

Scottish Under 15/17 Track and Field Championships

The newly refurbished Scotstoun Stadium hosted its first National Championshipson 14/15 August 2010 when the cream of Scotland's Under 15 and Under 17 athletes competed. The Glasgow School of Sport was well represented across the age groups and events.

The GSOS's top performance undoubtedly came from under 15 girl Brogan Wallace in the 1500 metres. Having secured the Scottish Schools 800 metres title back in June 2010, Brogan was concentrating this time on the longer of the middle distance events and lined up in Heat 2. Brogan smoothly negotiated her way through to the final in the faster of the two heats and looked likely to contest for a medal in what looked like a competitive final line up. After racing in the morning it was perhaps unsurprising that the final began as a slow tactical race with all twelve girls closely packed together. This tactical racing continued for 1000 metres then the close bunching saw a couple of the girls take a tumble, this was the key for Brogan to realise the danger of the slow pace and she smoothly moved into the lead and began to force the pace. In doing so she dragged Cowan of Giffnock North and Penrice of Shettleston away from the main pack. In the final 300 metres Brogan continued to pile on the pressure and gradually pulled clear to win in a fine 5 minutes 1 second, her fast last 300 metres producing a respectable time from the early slow pace.

Brogan running at the Championships		Brogan with her medal

The GSOS's other medal came from Under 15 boy Mahad Ahmed who was competing in the long jump. Mahad who has been struggling with a persistent hamstring niggle, which prevented him from contesting the 100 metres, produced a personal best leap of 5.92 metres to win the silver medal. This was particularly noteworthy as Mahad really struggled with his run up on the day and indeed jumped his personal best when starting his run up from the wrong mark!

Mahad at the Scottish Under 15 Track and Field Championships

The School also had a number of other athletes on show who produced between them no less than 10 new personal best performances. The athletes involved were Lewis Nicholson (4th in Shot putt) 12.00 metres, Joseph Amouzo 5.14 metres in the long jump, Jaye McRoberts 2 minutes 39 seconds in 800 metres, Jonathon Faulds 11.99 in the 100 metres, Hannah Jenkins 30.81 at 200 metres, Amy McLachlan who pb'd in both the 100 metres (14.26) and the 200 metres (29.30) and Christian Mankodila with 13.47 in the 100 metres.

First into competition on the Friday was Mahad Ahmed competing in the Under 15 Boys' Long Jump. Mahad had a solid first round jump then followed that up with a new personal best of 5 metres 89 centimetres, however in doing so tweaked his hamstring thus ruling him out of the rest of the meeting, however it was good enough to secure him the silver medal and the Glasgow School of Sport's first of the weekend. Also in the medal hunt on Friday was Brogan Wallace competing in the Under 15 Girls' 800 metres. Brogan smoothly qualified for the final from her heat and was confident of challenging for a medal in her final. The finalists looked evenly matched and a close race was expected and the spectators were not disappointed as three girls, including Brogan, broke clear of the field as they moved into the last lap. Down the back straight and with 250 metres left Brogan made her move and swept to the front and maintained her advantage to the line for a fantastic win. This was Brogan's first national title coupled with a new personal best time of 2.20.50.

Norrie Hay
Head Coach (Athletics)
Glasgow School of Sport

Click to return to top of page

June 2010

Scottish Schools Medal Haul

At the 2010 Scottish Schools Track and Field Championships held at Grangemouth Stadium on 12/13 June 2010, the Glasgow School of Sport won their biggest ever medal haul alongside a tremendous number of personal bests. The competition, held over two long days, is the highlight of school athletics throughout the year and provides tough competition across all events.

Ingles and Christian with Frank Dick at the Scottish Schools		Lee Wilson at the Scottish Schools

First into competition on the Friday was Mahad Ahmed competing in the Under 15 Boys' Long Jump. Mahad had a solid first round jump then followed that up with a new personal best of 5 metres 89, however in doing so tweaked his hamstring ruling him out of the rest of the meeting, however it was good enough to secure him the silver medal and the Glasgow School of Sport's first of the weekend. Also in the medal hunt on Friday was Brogan Wallace competing in the Under 15 Girls' 800 metres. Brogan smoothly qualified for the final from her heat and was confident of challenging for a medal in her final. The finalists looked evenly matched and a close race was expected and the spectators were not disappointed as three girls, including Brogan, broke clear of the field as they moved into the last lap. Down the back straight and with 250 metres left Brogan made her move and swept to the front and maintained her advantage to the line for a fantastic win. This was Brogan's first national title coupled with a new personal best time of 2.20.50.

Brogan with her medals

The School of Sport's other medals all came on day two. Up first was Under 17 athlete Lee Wilson competing over 800 metres. In his final Lee ran a controlled race throughout following the leader through 400 metres in around 58 seconds and maintaining his technique and smooth pace to the line to finish a superb second in a new personal best time of 1.58.11. Next up was the gold medallist from yesterday, Brogan Wallace, going for the middle distance double of 800/1500 metres. Brogan was always well placed in the 1500 metres final, and just like yesterday three girls slowly edged clear of the field, however Brogan's exploits from the previous day took their toll and she had to settle for a third place finish and her second medal of the weekend.

Our final two medals came from the Under 15 Boys' Long Jump where Ingles Lumfuankenda and Christian Mankodila finished in first and third place respectively. Both boys jumped new personal bests with Ingles jumping 5 metres 24 in the last round to win and Christian jumping out to 4 metres 76 to take bronze.

There were also a number of personal best performances throughout the competition from Amy Coyle, Morgan McKinnon, Hannah Jenkins, Lewis Nicholson, Amy McLachlan, Ben Stafford, Sophie Byers and Jaye McRoberts.

Overall this was one of the Glasgow School of Sport's best ever medal hauls in the competition.

Norrie Hay
Head Coach (Athletics)
Glasgow School of Sport

Click to return to top of page

Glasgow Schools Track and Field Championships - 8 June 2010

The Glasgow School of Sport athletes had a very successful day at the 2010 Glasgow Schools Track and Field Championships. In our best ever performance, we won no less than twelve medals with seven of them gold.

The p ick of the bunch was S3's Mahad Ahmed who won double gold in the 100 metres and Long Jump, closely followed by S1's Amy Coyle who took gold and silver in the same events. The other gold medallists were Brogan Wallace - S3 Girls' 1500 metres, Ciaran Gallagher - Senior Boys' 200 metres, Morgan McKinnon - S1 Girls' 200 metres and Sophie Byers - Senior Girls' 300 metres. The other medallists were Ingles Lumfuankenda - Silver in S2 Boys' Long Jump, Jonathon Faulds - Silver in Senior Boys' 200 metres, Christian Mankodila - Bronze in S1 100 metres and Jaye McRoberts - Bronze in S2 Girls' 800 metres.

Others that competed with distinction included Joseph Amouzo who was fourth in the S2 Boys' High Jump, Amy McLachlan who had a personal best in the S3 Girls' 200 metres, Amy McAfferty who was sixth in the Senioe Girls' 800 metres Final and Hannah Jenkins.

Norrie Hay
Head Coach (Athletics)

Click to return to top of page

School of Sport Athletes Enjoy Success at Scottish Schools

At the recent Scottish Schools Multi-Event Championships held at Grangemouth Stadium the Glasgow School of Sport had their largest ever representation with six athletes competing across three age groups.

Undoubtedly the best performance came from S1's Amy Coyle competing in the S1 Girls' Triathlon. This triathlon comprised of High Jump, Shot Putt and 600 metres. Amy made a strong start jumping a new personal best of 1 metre 28 centimetres in the High Jump to lie equal fifth after the first event. She was little disappointed with her throw of 5 metres 15 centimetres in the shot putt which saw her drop back to eighth. However, a storming new personal best of 1 minute 49 seconds in the 600 metres saw her leap up the standing and secure a superb bronze medal.

Also competing in this S1 Girls' event were Morgan McKinnon, who finished twelfth, with the consolation of winning the Shot Putt section of the event, and Hannah Jenkins who was fifteenth overall with new personal bests in both High Jump and Shot Putt.

In the S1 Boys' event Christian Mankodila finished a creditable ninth. Christian struggled a little with his run up in the Long Jump and this caused him to finish lower than he expected.

In the Under 15 Boys' Pentathlon (80 metres Hurdles, Long Jump, Shot Putt, 200 Metres and 800 metres), Glasgow School of Sport had two competitors: Ingles Lumfuankenda who finished fifth and Joseph Amouzo who was sixth. Both boys were very evenly matched throughout and only finished a few points outside the medal positions. Both lifted their performance levels on a very long and hot day with Ingles managing to set new personal bests in four events and Joseph in three events as they matched each other stride for stride, throw for throw and jump for jump.

Amy Coyle on the podium

Click to return to top of page

March 2010

Runners Grab Silver at National Cross Country Championships

Last weekend two Glasgow School of Sport athletes were competing in National Cross Country Championships in England.

The furthest travelled was S3 Brogan Wallace who, after her impressive fifth place in the Scottish School Cross Country Championships, was selected to represent the Scottish Schools at the British Schools International taking place this year (2010) in Truro, Cornwall. This was Brogan's first international selection and a step up in terms of the depth and quality of the opposition. Undaunted Brogan set off aggressively and was determined to produce a good performance. This she undoubtedly did with a sixteenth place finish overall helping the Scottish team to second and securing herself a Team Silver medal in the process. This ends a fine cross country season for Brogan, highlights of which include, tenth place in the Scottish Championships, fifth place in the Schools, and first place in the Glasgow Schools. Brogan will now take a bit of a rest before preparing for the summer track season.

Brogan Wallace

The other athlete in action was S6's Lee Wilson who was representing the Scottish Air Cadets in the British Cadets Cross Country Championships. Lee travelled in confident mood after his fine sixth place in the Scottish Road Race Championships the previous weekend setting a fine 5 kilometre personal best in the process. Lee opted this weekend to adopt the same tactics as in the road race, setting off steadily and working his way through. Again this proved successful as he moved smoothly through the field into second place and chasing the leader hard. Unfortunately he ran out of distance in this pursuit and had to settle for a fine second place overall, with the consolation of being the first air cadet, the winner being a representative of a local club select team, leaving Lee as the National Air Cadet Champion.

Norrie Hay
Head Coach (Athletics)

Click to return to top of page

February 2010

Excellent Performances as the Athletics Indoor Season Draws to a Close

Glasgow School of Sport athletes have been in involved in a couple of indoor competitions recently. On 4 February a number competed in the Scottish Schools Indoor Championships. The best performance undoubtedly came from Jade Barclay, who after a period out of competition returned to win the bronze medal in the Over 16 Girls’ 300 metres, running a season’s best of 42.8 seconds in the final, just failing to overtake the front two in the last few strides.

Another excellent performance came from Under 16 Girls’ Brogan Wallace who ran a new personal best time in the B final after narrowly failing to make A final. Brogan ran 2 minutes 29.5 seconds to take 4th in her final.

There were a few other encouraging performances from Amy McLachlan, Joseph Amouzo and Ingles Lumfuankenda competing in their first Schools Schools Indoor Championships.

On the following Saturday, 6 February 2010, again at the Kelvin Hall, two Glasgow School of Sport pupils lined up in their first ever Senior Championships. Jade Barclay, fresh from her indoor medal, lined up in the women's 400 metres, whilst Lee Wilson was hoping to bounce back after a disappointing Schools race.

First up was Jade, who competed well in her first ever indoor 400 metres running a solid 61 seconds but just failing to qualify for the final. Lee competed shortly after and he had better luck running a competitive 2 minutes .02 seconds to qualify, at 17, for his first senior final. In the final he acquitted himself well running 2 minutes 0.9 seconds to finish just outside the medals in 4th place. This competition brings an end to the athletes indoor season and provided valuable experience and knowledge as they begin to prepare for the fast approaching outdoor track season.

Norrie Hay
Head Coach (Athletics)

Click to return to top of page

November 2008 - Scottish Secondary Road Relay Championship - Race Report

November the 8th, 2008 saw our 1st year athletes contest the Scottish Secondary Road Relay Championships, held at Grangemouth Stadium. All competitors had to complete a 1400 metres loop in and around the stadium.

First into action was our 1st year girls led off by Jaye McRoberts, who produced a great performance two weeks earlier at the Scottish Cross Country relays. Jaye showed great maturity by utilising a steady start before easing herself through the field to bring the team home in a fine third place.

From left to right Dean, Ingles and Jock	From left to right Rebecca, Ellidh and Jaye

Taking over on the second of this three leg relay was Rebecca Hughes who got off to a great start as she closed in on the girls in front, briefly moving into second. However all three girls were closely grouped as they approached the final change. On the final leg Ellidh Clark set off in third closely pursued by the fourth placed school who quickly caught Ellidh and looked set to go clear. However, Ellidh did not panic and slowly began to close the gap and retook third place, which she held until the finish securing the bronze medal for the girls.

Following the girls were the 1st year boys, led off by Jock Breckenridge who quickly settled into a good rhythm following the leading school and establishing a nice lead over the chasing pack as they approached the first change over. On the second leg Dean Stevenson quickly caught the early leader and stormed into the lead as he tore around the twisting loop before passing to Ingles Lumguankenda to run the final leg. Ingles set off determinedly to hold onto the lead but was passed around halfway point but remained positive and secured a fantastic silver medal for the team.

Click to return to top of page

November 2007 - Scottish Schools Road Relay Championship

The School of Sport competed at the Scottish Schools Road Relay Championship on 10 November 2007. The team of Andrew Daisley, Craig Prior, Ryan McDonald and Sean Fontana (pictured left to right below and with the other medal winners) finished third being narrowly pipped at the post by Hutchesons' Grammar School and Williamwood Academy.

Andrew Daisley, Craig Prior, Ryan McDonald and Sean Fontana with their medals	Scottish Schools Road Relay Championship medal winners

Click to return to top of page

Bank of Scotland Age Group Championships 18/19 August 2007

The Glasgow School of Sport athletes were in action at Grangemouth Stadium on 18 and 19 August 2007, and there were some outstanding performances.

Some of the highlights include Laurie McKenna winning a Bronze medal in the under 17 Women’s 100 metres despite horrendous weather conditions. Laurie also won a silver medal the following day in the under 17 Women’s Long Jump.

Laurie is pictured with her medals below.

Laurie McKenna	Craig Prior and Laurie McKenna	Craig Prior

Craig Prior, pictured above right, was competing for the Glasgow School of Sport for the first time since his selection to the athletics programme in June 2007 and his debut performance was superb! Craig won a silver medal in the under 15 Boys' 800 metres just losing out on the gold medal by 7 hundredths of a second. It is Craig’s first Scottish medal.

There were also personal best performances from both Sean Fontana and Alex Oliver in the 800 metres.

Click to return to top of page

Personal Bests

Kenny Boyd became the first athlete within the School of Sport Athletics Programme to win a gold medal in the under 17 men's 1500 metres at the British AAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham in 2006.

Many other athletes from the School of Sport had a very successful year gaining district and national titles, as well as representing Scotland throughout the season.

Matthew Turner and David Clunie who joined the School of Sport in their 5th year at school have both made excellent progress in track and field, taking national titles and winning gold in the 2006 Celtic Games.

Other past and present Glasgow School of Sport pupils who have gained international honours include:

• Christopher Hodgkins
• David Ross Hunt
• Claire McAulay
• Charlotte McShane
• John Cook
• David Clunie
• Matthew Turner

Athletes selected to National Squads

• Matthew Turner
• John Cooke
• Steven Cooke
• Daniel Swanson
• Sean Fontana
• David Clunie
• Laurie McKenna

Click to return to top of page