A trip to Aberdeen didn't seem to set the juices of many flowing. Despite asking around quite a number of people, I headed north with 4 athletes, including myself, and the required 3 officials with another official meeting us there. Once the culture shock of a 7am rise on a Sunday wore off, I looked forward to my 3rd visit to the Granite City. Our minibus got us there safely. We even had time for a breakfast stop at Asda in Dundee. No sightings of Oor Wullie or the Broons and no jeely pieces though my roll and sausage went down well. I also didn't find Wullie's bucket which, according to that day's Sunday Post, had gone missing.
I had devised a plan to maximise the number of points a long distance athlete (me), 2 middle distance athletes (Alistair Campbell and Craig Whyteside) and a thrower (Ian Smith) could earn the team. To my relief and surprise, the other 3 adhered to my plan. Personally, I felt a 10,000m wasn't enough so pencilled myself in for an 800m and 400m as a warm up. The less said about my long jump, the better. Suffice to say, my personal best of 4.89m, set in 1998, remains unthreatened.
I've found Aberdeen rather cold on my 2 previous visits. This time however, conditions were humid but the lack of wind made for reasonable running weather. I lined up in the 800m A race and duly found myself at the back of the 6 man field with 61 seconds for 400m. With 200m to go, I was in the same place before I found a bit of strength. 29 seconds for the last 200m brought me a time of 2:04.80. I lay 5th with about 10m to go but a dip on the line earned me 4th and 2 extra points by only 0.05 seconds. Stuart Campbell of Corstorphine was 3rd in 2:04.54. The tightest of tight finishes. I was well behind the winner from Inverness (1:55.56). Still, an encouraging start. Craig had a great run in the B race, 2:08.81 for 2nd place. He had also fitted in long jump with more success than me.
The 400m was my litmus test. A minimum points standard of 60 seconds to achieve. 4 runners became 3 as I experienced a career first, being part of a race with a false start. Thankfully the Inverness athlete beside me was the offender. My prayers were answered as, despite finishing 3rd out of 3 in the B race, 58.17 seconds ensured I earned points. Similar to the long jump, my personal best of 55.6 seconds from 1999 is intact. All my personal bests up to and including 400m were set in the last millennium. Before me, Alistair had clocked 51.18 seconds for 3rd in the A race.
Alistair and Craig did me proud in the 1500m, scoring maximum points, Craig with a personal best. Highlight of the race was the announcer's excitement at the sight of 3 athletes called Campbell taking the first 3 places. Happily for me, the one in the Whitemoss vest emerged victorious then finished a whirlwind of racing with 5th place and 24.85 seconds in the 200m A race.
Meanwhile, Ian mopped up a clean sweep of 2nd place finishes throughout the afternoon in the hammer, shot putt and discus. This complete an excellent summer where, with Craig, he has been an ever present at all 4 Mens League meetings, earning more than his fair share of points.
After my earlier successes, I lined up for the combined Divisions 1 and 2 10,000m in a relaxed mood. Only 11 athletes toed the line. A group comprising Alistair Hay, Robert Russell and Dermot Cummins broke away. With 3 laps of the track behind me in 2 previous races and another 25 left, I let them go. I settled into my own rhythm but unfortunately soon found myself in no mans land. It would be a long, isolated effort. No wind at least which was a blessing. I hit a decent but unspectacular pace, completing 5000m in 15:57. I was a bit disappointed with this and upped the effort. Alistair, Robert and Dermot were bunched then I was several metres back with a gap behind me in turn. Racing 10,000m on the track is far different from the road. Your mind plays tricks on you. I started mixed up laps and distances in my head. In the second half, I got something to chase as Robert dropped off the group. Over a period of 3-4 laps, I slowly closed the gap then made a break past him. I'd never beaten Robert so it would be a good scalp if I could hold on.
As the laps ticked by, I appeared to be on for around 32 minutes. I wanted better than this. I found enough to finish 3rd overall in a new track personal best by 25 seconds of 31:50.55. Dermot and Alistair had too much for me on the day, clocking 31:03.26 and 31:14.52 respectively. Robert finished in 32:14.11 followed by an impressive young Max McNeill in 32:37.71.
After a very gentle jog from the track to Pittodrie Stadium and back, that was more than enough for one day. Our quartet exceeded my expectations to take 4th on the day and 4th overall. Fantastic! As well as this, our officials, Mark Stringer, Willie Sutherland, Susan Gatens and Steven Whyteside, ensured we satisfied the league rules and could compete. The final league table looked like this.
Inverness Harriers, 31 points
Arbroath, 28
Giffnock North, 24
Whitemoss, 18
Pitreavie, 14 (531 match points)
Corstorphine, 14 (493 match points)
Clydesdale Harriers, 8
Fife, 5
The top 2 earned promotion to Division 1. Maybe one day.
I was tired but content on the trip home and, after my fish supper dinner, even with work the next day, relived my holiday a little and treated myself to a couple of San Miguels. There are times when running is a great sport. This was one of those times.
