Scottish Athletics League Match 4, 30th August 2015

A 3rd place finish in the 3rd match of this year's Mens League left Whitemoss lying joint 3rd in Division 2 on 20 points, level with Inverclyde who edged us only on match points (683 to 637). Lasswade were 2nd on 21 points with Arbroath already promoted and crowned champions with a match to spare with 26 points. We had it all to play for in the last match at Edinburgh's Meadowbank Stadium on 30th August. We needed to do 4 things on the day:-

 

1. Finish 2nd.

2. Finish ahead of Inverclyde.

3. Finish ahead of Lasswade.

4. Better Lasswade's points total by at least 8.

 

I pulled out all the stops, spreading the net far and wide for a winning team. I managed to entice lapsed team members Michael Brennan and Paul White to return and secured the services of Whitemoss under 17 multi eventer Scott Connal and his older brother Fraser. They joined the more regular participants, myself, Ian Smith, Craig Whyteside, Iain McEwan, Craig McEwan and Mark Holliman. One or two others had withdrawn the day before due to wear and tear injuries at the end of a long summer but it was still a strong squad. I had made an audacious approach to honorary Whitemoss member and former UK international hurdler Alan Scott which alas came to nothing. One can only try.

 

Personally, I took some risks in unfamiliar events to secure extra points. The 400m hurdles had huge potential to go horribly wrong but I shocked myself with a time of 69.94 seconds, well within the 75 seconds points standard. I followed up with 3000m steeplechase (10:01.39), 400m (59.12 seconds, B string to Scott Connal) and 10,000m (32:19.87). I took the following night off!

 

An injury to Iain McEwan during high jump proved a blow but we juggled a few things and secured minimal points loss. He had at least secured a points winning jump before his misfortune. Alas, despite a gallant effort, we fell short in the end. Lasswade made home advantage count, producing just that little bit more than us. The match result was as follows:-

 

Top 4
Lasswade, 304
Arbroath, 253
Whitemoss, 242
Inverclyde, 227

 

This left the final table looking like this:-

 

Arbroath, 34 (1,001 match points)
Lasswade, 30 (948)
Whitemoss, 27 (879)
Inverclyde, 26 (910)
Pitreavie, 20 (708)
Giffnock, 13 (529)
Corstorphine, 12 (515)
Clydesdale, 9 (323)
East Kilbride, 5 (213)

 

This still constitutes an improvement on 2014's 5th place and shows how thin the margins of error are. For example, at Inverness we were less than 10 points from finishing 3rd and at Kilmarnock 2 points from finishing 2nd. Had both those things happened, we'd have gone to Meadowbank in 2nd place as the team for Lasswade to catch. Them's the breaks I guess.

 

I owe huge thanks to a number of people.

 

Firstly, those who came to Meadowbank to support us- Iain McEwan Senior, Anne McEwan, Michael Brennan's wife (sorry her name escapes me), Barry Connal, Karen Connal, Lee Wilson and Catriona Lockie.

 

Secondly, all the athletes who competed this year- Michael Brennan, Paul White, Scott Connal, Fraser Connal, Ian Smith, Craig Whyteside, Iain McEwan, Craig McEwan, Mark Holliman, Alistair Stewart, Zach Bryson and Kyle Jackson. If someone competed in one event at one match, as far as I'm concerned, they've contributed.

 

Finally, to our officials- Mark Stringer, Willie Sutherland, Susan Gatens and Steven Whyteside. At every match, we must provide 3 officials. Without them, we are not permitted to compete.

 

It's been a memorable year, the jaunt to Inverness being a particular highlight of mine. Maybe we'll get there in 2016.