Successful season celebrated

Nov 12 2008

CENTRAL AC held their annual prize-winning ceilidh at Dunblane’s Victoria Hall to celebrate the successes of individual athletes throughout the season.

In addition to award of the trophies and medals from the recent club track and field championships, a series of club perpetual awards were presented by club president, Tony Quin.

Leaders in the informal category of most trophies in one night, were Alex Semple and Caitlin Watson who both took home a trio of trophies. Both won their age group titles at the championships, and Alex supported it with the award of the Joe Allan Trophy for best single performance by an under 13 boy, with his new club record of 4.88m long jump, which also won a further trophy as the best performance in any event by any athlete at the championship.

Caitlin won the Jimmy Millar Trophy for horizontal jumps for the year and one of the Isobel Robertson trophies for team performance in the Young Athletes League, Central’s premier event for young athletes.

The equivalent award for boys was presented to Sanju Siriwardena for a year of sterling performances in sprints. Emily Greenan took home the Joe Allan award for best performance by an under 13 girl in the club championships with her 1500m time of 5:32.9.

Kyle Henderson won the Jimmy Millar Memorial Trophy for horizontal jumps for the male side of the club for his long jumping for the second year, with his new best of 6.79m putting him atop the Scottish rankings, yet again.

A special award for contribution to team performance by girls/ladies was presented to Louise Anderson, who has made significant progress in both sprints and jumps, effectively making her the first name on all team managers’ team sheets across a wide range of events.

Most improved athlete, in both genders, are often considered the most prestigious, and hardest earned, awards. This year, Agatha Williams-Kelly gained the female Fraser Memorial Trophy for her dramatic improvements particularly in hurdles, where she moved to 9th in the Scottish under 13 rankings.

Tom Watson gained the boys/men award through his 800m exploits, with his 2.01.9 being achieved whilst winning the Scottish under 15 championship title in a new Championship bp performance and a Central record.

A series of awards for throwing exploits featured Laura Macaulay who won the Bob Crawford Memorial Trophy for javelin with her major improvement and a new club record of 24.82m whilst Ross Milne won the matching male award and also the award for the best throw in any event by a boy at the club championships with his 34.82m javelin throw.

The club’s endurance awards have become increasingly difficult to select as the wealth of talent and team and individual awards grow. A number of national champions and international athletes failed to get onto the nomination short-lists.

For the cross country awards, the first of the Ralph Erskine Trophies for contribution to team performance was awarded to Alistair Hay, based around his contribution to winning two main relays in 2008, with this years recent wins going into the bank for next year awards, and in becoming both East District and Scottish 4K champion together with his contribution to the national silver medal winning team at the main National Championships in February.

Alison Docherty won the ladies trophy through her contribution to winning the two main relays in autumn 2008, the East District team trophy and to the ladies winning the East of Scotland League trophy, as well as being lead Central lady home in a team bronze winning squad.

Robert Russell won the Whitelam Quaich for Endurance Performance, where his 10K road time at Stirling placed him 5th on the UK rankings, added to his Scottish half marathon championship win, and a lead member of the winning relay teams for both cross country and roads.

Lewis Millar won the Whitelam trophy for commitment in endurance events, where his contribution to track leagues added to his supporting role in cross country and road races, notably contributing to the senior men win the Scottish six stage road relays at Livingston in the spring.

The Jimmy Millar King of the Track Trophy for overall commitment to the club was awarded to Derek Easton who coaches the large Stirling based endurance group covering a wide range of abilities. He has coached a huge number of athletes to individual honours and his athletes made the major contribution to teams sweeping the board in team championship titles, and thus making the greatest contribution to the club being recognised as the top endurance club in Scotland.