Edinburgh AC put on a dominant display in the final match of the UK League to be crowned Premier Division champions, earning the right to represent the UK in Europe for the second year in a row. Winners on the day by almost forty points, the club had ten event wins backed up by a host of top three performances and athletes showing real team spirit, fighting for every point.

Club captain Susan McKelvie and vice captain Sarah Warnock led by example, winning the first two events of the day convincingly. Susan’s 63.08m throw to win the ‘A’ hammer competition  was close to her season’s best and almost four meters clear of her nearest rival. Sarah took the ‘A’ long jump, almost 30cm clear of second place. Both athletes will be in action at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and their performances this weekend bode well. Another Glasgow 2014 bound athlete was also in fine form; Jayne Nisbet winning the ‘A’ high jump at 1.80m before three close attempts at 1.85m.

Laura Dunn took an impressive middle distance double, winning the ‘A’ 3000m in 9.34.30 before also going on to win the ‘B’ 1500m. In fact the club were victorious in all four 1500m/3000m events with Madeleine Murray clinching the ‘A’ 1500m event in 4.23.67 and Amanda Woodrow impressing once again with a win in the ‘B ‘3000m, her 3rd personal best over this distance of the season and the first time she has broken the 10 minute barrier.

Kathryn Christie ran close to her season’s bests to take 2nd in both the ‘A’ 100m and ‘A’ 200m, both behind UK 100m record holder Montell Douglas and there was a return to form for Stacey Downie, her 24.75 to win the ‘B’ 200m her quickest since May 2013.

17yo Katie Purves stepped up to senior level in style with a personal best 60.20 for 3rd in the ‘A’ 400m hurdles while Hannah Evenden and Gillian Cooke were kept multi-tasking throughout the day. Hannah took 2nd in the ‘B’ hammer, 3rd in the ‘B’ shot putt and 5th in the ‘A’ discus while Gillian picked up a pole for the first time in 8 years to take 3rd in the ‘A’ pole vault, also taking 2nd in the ‘B’ long jump and 6th in the ‘B’ discus.

Throughout the day valuable points were being accrued right across the team. U/20 Rosie Wilson finished 4th in the ‘B’ 400m and 2nd in the ‘B’ 800m. Meanwhile Samanth Coleby came a creditable 3rd in the ‘A’ 400m. Seasoned campaigner Kathryn Evans again demonstrated her ‘Gladiator’ spirit with a 3rd place in the ‘A’ string 800m. In the high hurdles Catriona Pennet was 4th in the ‘A’ string with a seasons best time and Yasmine Milne 2nd in the ‘B’ string. More good points were collected in the ‘hop, skip & jump’ where Emma Pringle finished 4th in the ‘A’ string and Rachel Dinsdale 3rd in the ‘B’ event.

As the end of the match approached the points kept pouring in courtesy of a 2nd place for the 4x100m relay team, 2nd place for Lauren Stoddart in the 3k steeplechase and a win for Paula Gass in the ‘B’ javelin. The day was rounded off with victory for the 4x400m team, Kathryn Christie producing a fantastic last leg to hold off Thames Valley’s fast finishing Zoey Clark.

After collecting the league trophy, captain Susan McKelvie said,

” It’s an outstanding achievement from all of the athletes, management and officials. It was a true team effort and to retain the league title is very special.”

Team manager Anne Scott summed up what the title meant to the club,

“The team had a taste of Europe this season and were determined to repeat that experience – it was a superb team effort in all three matches. The rivalry between us and Birchfield could be seen when Gillian Cooke picked up a pole and finished third in the vault for us and World junior triple jump champion Laura Samuels ran an 800 metres for them. 

“Now we’ll have to get down to some serious fundraising to get the team to the European Champion Clubs Cup next season.”

 MATCH RESULT 1  Edinburgh AC.                     247 2  Thames Valley Harriers      209.5 3  Birchfield Harriers.              206.5 4  Windsor, Slough E & H       192 5  Blackheath & Bromley.      159 6  Swansea Harriers                158 7  Trafford AC                           126 8  Southampton AC                 112