The UKWAL Premier League match at Meadowbank basked in glorious sunshine yesterday in front of an enthusiastic and sizable crowd, for many of which was probably their first live viewing of an athletics event. Which can only be good for the sport! Despite the late withdrawal of Jessica Ennis-Hill, there were plenty other top level UK athletes on show to excite the crowd.

Emily Dudgeon

EAC were represented in the sprints ‘A’ string by Stacey Downie who finished 6^th in the 100m with a time of 12.57 and 7^th in the 200m in 25.22. It was tough into a -2.1 headwind. Kathryn Christie showed up well in the ‘B’ string finishing 3^rd in both the 100m & 200m in times of 12.32 and 24.93. In the 400m both Kathryn Evans ‘A’ string and Lauren Peffers ‘B’ string  achieved season’s bests times of  56.30 and 58.03. Emily Dudgeon’s strong finish in the 800m saw her also get a season’s best time of 2:06.29 and a great win in the ‘A’ string.  This was well backed up by Ashleigh Kennedy in the ‘B’ string with yet another EAC athlete achieving a season best time of 2:13.15.

In the 1500m  Madelaine Murray ran a great race into 4^th place in the ‘A’ string and was rewarded with a PB of 4:30.96 Laura Dunn didn’t finish much behind her to pick up a 2^nd place in the ’B’ string with

Lauren Stoddart

a time of 4:37.09. In the longer stuff (3000m) the evergreen veteran athlete Sue Ridley ran a season’s best, finishing 7^th in the ’A’ string. Meanwhile youngster Rachel Dunn finished a creditable 4^th place in the ‘B’ string. Lauren Stoddart pulled off a great win with a gutsy front running effort in the 2000m steeple chase with a time of 7.30.24.

Over the 100 hurdles there were 7th & 6th places in the A & B  String respectively for Catriona Pennet and Yasmin Milne in times of 14.68 & 16.16. In the 400m hurdles Samantha Coleby came 4th with a time of 59.90 with Avril Jackson finishing 2nd in the ‘B’ string in a time of 62.99.

Jayne Nisbet

Sarah Warnock

There were some great EAC results in the field events. Jayne Nisbet continued her recent good form with a season’s best in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.85m and her 3rd Commonwealth Games Qualifying height. Emma Nuttall picked up valuable team points by coming 2nd in the ‘B’ string with a jump pf 1.65m. Horizontal jumpers Sarah Warnock and stalwart Gillian Cooke did the double by winning the ‘A’ & ‘B’ string respectively with jumps of  6.11m and 5.94m. In the Triple Jump our pairing of Emma Pringle and Sarah Warnock picked up good points with jumps of 12.43m and 11.74m  to finish 3rd in the ‘A’ and 2nd in the ‘B’ strings. In the Pole Vault, youngster Hannah Lawler in her debut for the senior ladies team, achieved a creditable 6th place with a leap of 3.30m

Meanwhile out in the centre of the arena team captain Susan McElvie led by example with another Commonwealth Games Qualifying distance throw of 61.47m in the 1st round of Hammer competition. That was good enough for a 2nd place finish in the ‘A’ string and was greatly supported by 2nd place finish in the ‘B’ string for Hannah Evenden with a thow of 51.68m In the Discus the  Hannah Evenden achieved a throw of 41.51m in the ‘A’ string while young Kimberley Reed managed a distance of 32.93 to finish 4th in the ‘B’ string. At the Shot Putt, the ever reliable Hannah Evenden picked up a 4th place in the ‘A’ string with a throw of 13.13m. This was backed up with throw of 9.57 from Emma Lowry in the ‘B’ string . In the final throws event of the day Paula Gass saw her javelin soar to a distance of 36.83m while stand in thrower Gillian Cooke picked up team points with a throw of 17.91m.

4 x 400m team

To round the day off  the 4 x 100m relay team of  Sarah Warnock, Beth Finlayson, Stacey Downie and Kathryrn Christie came in 3rd in a time of 46.75. Now to the last event of the day the 4 x 400m relay. The first three runners; Avril Jackson, Samantha Coleby, Emily Dudgeon powered their way round the first three legs to leave Kathryn Evans with a good lead for the final leg. As she stormed down the home straight to maintain that lead the partisan Edinburgh crowd were on their feet cheering ecstatically as she crossed the line for a great EAC win.

To cap it all there was a huge roar when the final team results & placings were announced and Edinburgh Athletic Club had secured a famous victory with 186 points, 2nd were Trafford AC with 181.5 points, Birchfield Harriers were 3rd.

Despite the initial misgivings about all the hype around Mrs E-H, and the selling of tickets, the event was a great afternoon’s entertainment for the spectators, and for the athletic purists there were quality athletes on view.

Team Manager, Anne Scott was delighted with the performance of her team. “It’s the first time I can remember our team winning a home match. There was some great individual performances out there with seasons bests and personal bests. I am so pleased and proud of them. This result sets us up nicely for the next couple of matches”

The next match is on Saturday 6th July, 2013 at Sports City, Manchester, followed by Saturday 3rd August 2013, at Norman Park, London.

Above Photographs are courtesy of Edinburgh Sports Photography. A full library of match photographs are available >>>HERE