Edinburgh Athletic Club

Scottish Schools Track and Field Championship:
12th/ 13th June 2009

Congratulations to Alan Hamilton on winning the Scottish School Championships in the 100m and the Triple Jump.

Scott Reed has given an excellent report on Alans exploit’s

I’m writing  regarding the extraordinary performance of Allan Hamilton over the weekend. The Scottish Schools Championships took place on Friday and Saturday in glorious weather. Allan got off to a great start, winning his first event, the over 17 boys 100 meters in a time of 11.30 seconds and was presented with the Bishop Trophy.
 
However, it was in the triple jump on the Saturday that he really excelled. I had noted the previous day while reading through the event program that the oldest record of all the events was that for the over 17 boys triple jump, a distance of 14.45 meters set by Hamish Robertson from Hutcheson’s Grammar School in 1965. That’s actually older than me!
It was clear from the outset that Allan was going to win this event, but by how much?
With two jumps remaining, he decided to involve the audience in the stand, clapping his hands rhythmically above his head ‘til the crowd joined in. He sprinted down the runway and jumped an enormous leap of 14.35 meters. The event announcer then let Allan and the crowd know that he had missed out on the record by 10cm and proceeded to inform the audience of how old the record was.
I have to say that most people thought that he probably wouldn’t have anything left after that enormous effort, but once again he stepped up to take his jump, clapping steadily, while the crowd joined in enthusiastically. He ran down the runway and jumped 1, 2, 3…. It was an enormous leap and he knew straight away that he had beaten the record by and enormous 28cm. he had jumped a competition best of 14 meters 73 cm.
At this point both he and the assembled audience went completely mad. I’ve never witnessed such an enthusiastic ovation from an Athletics audience, whilst Allan ran about the track dancing and punching the air.
 
Allan’s performance earned him the Eric Liddell trophy, named after the Scottish sprinter made famous in the movie Chariots of Fire. This trophy is for “THE MOST MERITORIOUS PERFORMANCES” by a male athlete and is THE most prestigious of trophies awarded at the Scottish Championships, won previously by the likes of Elliot Bunney, Allan Scott and Sandy Sutherland. This is the first time that anyone from Drummond has won this trophy and is a great honour.
 
His performance also puts him into the top 5 of the All-time list for Scottish under 20 triple jumpers.