Athletics: Braveheart heroes

May 22 2009 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

KILBARCHAN Harriers Claire Gibson and Conor McNulty were star performers in the Scottish team competing at the Loughborough International Games.

Both athletes posted wins in their respective races and they each broke their own Kilbarchan club records in the process.

Claire, who last week won the Scottish Inter-Regional 1500 metres title in a club record of 4mins 17.53secs, has her sights set on winning selection for the 800 metres at the Commonwealth Games next year.

And she took a big step in that direction with her winning time of 2mins 2.95secs, barely a second outside the qualifying time.

Conor, who likewise won a Scottish Inter-Regional title last week, proceeded to smash his own record yet again, his time of 9mins 5.75secs in the 3000m steeplechase being an improvement of over 11 seconds on his previous best.

Closer to home, at the second meeting of the Scottish Young Athletes League at Wishaw, the Kilbarchan club finished in a disappointing fifth place but there were nevertheless some fine performances.

Winners included Hazel Ross for the under 17 womens 80m Hurdles in 11.85secs, as well as Andrew McLaughlan and Andrew Cunningham in the under 17s Shot (14.96m) and Discus (33.19m) respectively.

And the other winners included Graham Evans in the under 17 mens 3K Steeplechase, timed at 4mins 43.58secs and Adrian Menzez- McVeigh in the under 15 boys 400m, his time being 54.29secs.

At the British Masters Pentathlon Championships at Oxford in wild and wet conditions, Lindsay Scott won gold in the over 70s age group, scoring 2,989 points.

Elsewhere, at the British Triathlon Championships at Strathclyde Park, Kerry Lang, who does her road running sessions with Kilbarchan Athletic Club, got her season off to a great start with a superb second place.

In other news, Buddies are being urged to get their running shoes on later in the year.

For the 2009 Great Scottish Run supported by Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland, takes place on Sunday September 6.

Scotland’s greatest race returns with Half Marathon and 10k race distances to suit all levels and abilities and gets underway at George Square and finishes at Glasgow Green.

For those who want to enter telephone 0845 270 0166 or e-mail run.glasgow@csglasgow.org