Over a hundred Linlithgow Athletic Club members, past members, friends and family gathered on Saturday evening in the Burgh Halls to celebrate the Club's 40th Anniversary. The Club was inaugurated back in November 1979 (in the very same room as Saturday evening’s event).
Club President Angus Gallie shared news of the Club's recent Scottish Athletics award nomination for 'Impact Club of the Year' and went on to describe how the nomination was not only down to the efforts of current membership, but that the Club owed a debt of gratitude to all founder and past members.
Among the guests was former Olympic 1500 metre finalist Frank Clement, who recalled his involvement at the first meeting which came about through a Scottish Sports Council initiative and how he also joined the Club after moving to the town. Jack Adair (former Linlithgow Provost and founder member of the Club) also recalled 'How it All Started' and paid tribute to past and present members. There was also another former provost, Norman Cummings, in attendance who provided guests with some humorous anecdotes from the Club's early days. However, it was with some sadness that members learned of the very recent passing of Tom Wood, who gave thirteen years of sterling service to the Club. Sadly, Tom and his wife Sylvia had planned to attend the event.
Moving on to the present day, Angus was delighted to also inform guests of the vastly expanded Club membership in the last 18 months, almost one hundred adult members and over sixty youth and junior members. A very large proportion of the senior members actively compete in a huge variety of events throughout the year and this was evident in the number of trophies to be presented for the annual awards.
Onto the awards. In the overall Club Championship standings, John Redding was once again male champion for the 6th consecutive year, a fantastic achievement. Whilst in the female competition, Mairi Watts became the 6th different female winner in as many years. In the Handicap competition, which recognises the most improved runners over the year, Scott Hyslop picked up the male prize (who also won the monthly Handicap race competition) and Mandy Cazes the female prize. Cross Country prizes went to Paul Dudchenko and Frances Wood. This year’s WAVA age-graded awards, in memory of the late Arnie Mouat, were awarded to Angus Gallie and Siobhan Coleman.
The ‘Athlete of the Year’ voted by Club members went to Frances Wood for her much-valued contribution to the Club both as an athlete and the time she invests in coaching fellow members. The ‘President’s Award’ this year had joint winners in the shape of Roddy Simpson and Alex Wood for their commitment to supporting the Club’s couch-to-5k initiative, Let’s Go Linlithgow.
This week was the last week of the couch-to-5K programme on Friday. The 'Graduation 5K’ will be at Falkirk parkrun on Saturday 21st December where the group will be joined by all current and previous participants of the Let's Go Linlithgow Jogscotland Group, as well as a few Club regulars.
At parkrun this week, the Club had 13 runners across 4 different runs.
At Edinburgh, Malcolm Hughes ran in 24:17 and Alex Wood in 28:35. At Falkirk, Ian Boxall ran in 20:52, Paul Dudchenko in 21:26, Lynsey Hay in 23:32, Ian Lockhart in 23:40, Mandy Cazes in 24:57 and Rhiann Ferguson in 28:23. At Queen’s Park, Neil Anderson ran in 23:09, Ian Fyfe in 23:16, David Main-Reade in 25:28 and Jill Horsburgh in 27:01. Scott Cumming ran Oriam in 26:06.
Photo credit: Paul Dudchenko
