Young athletes do county proud at Scottish championships

Mar 12 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

COUNTY athletes were flying the flag for West Lothian last weekend at the Scottish Athletics National Age Group Championships at the Kelvin Hall.

There were representatives from West Lothian in each of the age categories – under-13, under-15, under-17 and under-20.

Under-13 athlete Ella McFarlane and under-15 athlete Rhiannon Armstrong both did the 60m/200m sprint double, with Ella progressing to the under-13 girls’ 60m semi-finals after a third-place finish in her heat.

And Rhiannon set an indoor personal best time of 29.07 in the 200m.

In the under-15 boys’ competition Scott Henderson finished third in his 60m heat to progress to the semi-finals where he finished his race sixth in a time of 8.25.

Matthew Thomson finished ninth in the under-17 men's high jump competition, jumping 1.70m for the third time this year.

In the women’s section Vicky Dalziel massive 8.45m hurl earned her seventh spot in the under-17 shot putt. The versatile county athlete also ran 9.69 in the 60m hurdles to finish fourth in heat 2.

But the highlight of the weekend was Robbie Nairn’s medal-winning performance in the under-13 boys’ shot putt.

Robbie shone in a field of very tough competition with a personal best thrown of 8.55m which brought him a bronze medal spot and moved him up to fifth place in the UK rankings. He also competed in the 60m where a third-place finish in heat saw him breeze into the semi-finals.

Unfortunately he finished his race in fourth place with a time of 8.79 which was just a few hundredths of second short of qualifying for the final.

Veteran Livingston athlete Ian Leggett was also in action as he competed in the Scottish Athletics Masters Indoor Championships.

Running in the 1500m Ian was the M65 category gold medallist crossing the line first in a time of 5:51.83.

In recent years Ian's running exploits have taken him as far afield as Italy and Sweden and last weekend's medal winning performance will provide useful preparation for the summer European Masters Championships.