Polaroid Race -Clydebank
Shettleston athletes continued their good form into the second race of this series with Tsegai Tewelde claiming victory in a fast time of 29.44mins. Helensburgh winner Amanuel Hagos had to settle for 2nd this time ( 30.28) but he is in the lead in the overall series. In finishing 4th, Mike Deason ( 31.41) helped the club to a easy team victory. Just behind Mike in 5th position was Paul Sorrie ( 31.48) and vet Denis Williams finished 22nd in 35.50.
Making her return to the racing scene Amleset Tewelde finished 7th lady in 39.12 and Clara Ursitti continued her improvement when running 46.27.
Young athletes had a successful time during the week at the Linwood Open Graded meeting with Ahmed Hassan moving to the top of the UK rankings when running 4.07.81 and Nicola Mackay securing a PB in the Shot with 8.99m.
Meanwhile this weekend our athletes have been chasing Commonwealth Games Qualifying distances. Angus McInroy just missed the Discus distance when throwing 53.72m at the CAU intercounties at Bedford on Sunday. Ally Strange competed in a street PV event in Germany, where his team-mate Richard Hurran broke the National Pole Vault record (5.21m), with Ally jumping 4.95m.
This weekend also saw the second of the YAL meetings, with the club finishing 5th overall- full results to follow. Highlights included a 5.16m from Lisa Thomson in the U15 Long Jump.
Gothenburg Half Marathon, 22 May
Glasgow Athletic Association supported four athletes from Shettleston Harriers who all competed for Glasgow in the world's largest half marathon in Gothenburg, Sweden this weekend. Unlike our races which normally start early in the morning the elite race started at 1.30pm. Record temperatures for Sweden of 27C ( 81F) in May greeted the athletes. 300,000 spectators lined the streets to cheer on the 58,000 athletes and 4 hours of live TV made sure the whole of Sweden had the chance of watching the race.
The race was won in a record time of 61.10 by Sammy Kirui of Kenya.The race organisors had assembled some of the best endurance runners in the world with 8 Kenya athletes all with sub- 62 minute PBs filling the top 10! Pre race favourite Wilson Kibet ( PB 59.15 !) could only finish 2nd.
Tsegezab Woldemichael was not fazed by the reputation of these world-class athletes when he was still in the leading group after 6km but he succumbed to the intense heat and fast early pace when he slowed to 70.40 for 15th place overall. Tsegezab was very disappointed with his run - nearly 6minutes slower than his record run in Alloa earlier this year. Just off the lead group during the first half of the race Teweldeberhan Mengisteab had the honour of being the first Glasgow athlete home when finishing 14th overall in 68.34 - again the intense heat had a major effect on his performance and he lost 4 places in the last 3km.
Perhaps the best run of the day came from Paul Sorrie who was the athlete nearest his PB. In recording 71.35 for 22nd overall he just managed to hold off first female athlete Amane Gobena of Ethiopia. The fourth Glasgow athlete struggled to adapt to the intense heat and he was glad to finish in 93rd position - Thomas Fay's time of 79.50 was nearly 10minutes slower than his PB.
All athletes had the opportunity to experience a truly world-class event and must have gained from this. Post race they had the chance to chat to some of the greatest endurance athletes in the world. The winner will be competing in the world famous Bislett Games later in June. Glasgow Athletic Association must be congratulated for giving these athletes the opportunity to compete in such a prestigious event. They are also grateful to the Gothenburg Athletic Association and especially Per Crona for making the event such a memorable experience.
Weekend Round-up, 22-23 May
Polaroid Race Helensburgh
Amauel Hagos won the first race in this popular series for the 3rd year in a row in 30.37. Denis Williams was 16th in 35.44. The main talking point from the race was the disqualification of 2nd place Shettleston athlete Mike Deason and the 3rd place athlete, Bellahouston's Robel Negash, who both went off course .
Loughborough International
Shettleston had four athletes selected to compete for Scotland in this first international of the year. Angus McInroy broke the club Discus record with a throw of 55.07m, less than a metre away from the Commonwealth Games Qualifying Distance. Meanwhile his club mate Mark Dry again put the hammer out to another qualifying distance (70.88).
Ally Strange, who is pushing for the qualifying distance in the Pole Vault, will have to wait for another day after he cleared 4.90m. The final athlete was 400m runner Sean Watson who clocked 48.65secs.
Early Gothenburg action
In Gothenburg Mark Dry again broke the Men's Hammer record when winning an international event in 71.88m on Thursday evening. Next weekend four of our athletes will represent Glasgow in the Gothenburg 1/2 marathon . This is the biggest half in the world with 50,000 runners expected to compete. The club is looking for Tsegezab Woldemichael, Tweleberhan Mengisteab , Paul Sorrie and Thomas Fay to place high in this international event. Keep up to date with the Gothenburg Half.....
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Wishaw -Lanarkshire Relays and U15 U17 closed champs
Club members had a busy week with the Lanarkshire Relays being quickly followed by the Bank of Scotland U/15/U/17 Closed Championships at Wishaw on Saturday.
Three Championships best were set by the young Shettleston Athletes -The first event saw Paddy O'Donnell setting the tone by clear 4.01 m in the Pole .V to record a PB and Championship Best . At the same time Shettleston athletes were claiming three silver medals in the throwing events -U/15 Hammer Ben Main ,U/17 Hammer Nicky Stone and U/15 Shot Nicola Mackay .
Lisa Thompson celebrating her selection for Team Lanarkshire to compete in the International Children's Games in Bahrain in late June with a victory in the U/15 HJ -1.53m
Throughout the afternoon many excellent performances were achieved without winning medals with Ashley Anderson , Alana Sinclair , Brogan Watt, Victoria McGloin , Jemma McQuillan, Ryan Flanagan , Callum Drummond , David Taylor, Andrew Taylor and Darren Daly all making finals or PBs in their various events. One of the best events for the club was the U/15 girls 800m with Shettleston placing 2nd Mhairi Hendry , 3rd Myrtle Breckenridge and 4th Laura Penrice . Mhairi has also been selected for Bahrain.
The final events of the day produce the final two CBP with multi Scottish and British Schools Champion Ahmed Hassan moving to 2nd in the UK rankings when winning the U/15 1500m 4.18.85 and Jack Bishop record a PB and CBP when winning the Javelin in 46.80m.
Sean Watson ( 400m -48.11 ) and Angus McInroy ( Discus -53.16 ) help West City finished 2nd in the Inter area, also at Wishaw.
Meanwhile in action down in Manchester at the BUPA 10km, Tsegai Tewelde was seen on TV setting off with a certain Haile Gebrselassie. Well he couldnt quite keep up but still posted an excellent time of 29.29 to finish 13th.
