It was a mixture of youth and experience that earned Edinburgh Athletic Club a creditable 5 place finish in the opening match of the 2018 campaign in the Premier Division of the UK Women’s league in Eton on Saturday. The outstanding performances of the day came from the sprinters, who rewrote the records book in near perfect conditions. First up was Alisha Rees, who clocked 11.59 for a new PB in the 100m. That’s an improvement on her existing 11.62 time which was the current U20 Women’s 100m Record outdoors and was also a World Juniors qualifying standard time, being inside the 11.60 being asked for GB selection. Beth Dobbin recorded a superb new PB of 22.84, which broke the Scottish National 200m record of 22.98, which had been set 34 years ago by Sandra Whittaker at the Olympics in Los Angles. In addition, it was a British Women’s League record and inside the European Champs qualifying times being asked for by British Athletics for GB selection.
There was a win for Emily Dudgeon in the women’s 800 A string in a season’s best of 2.07.1 and Emily also recorded a win in the B1500 as well as contributing a strong leg in the 4x400M relay. Newcomer to the team Nakita Grey took second place in the A string high jump with a season’s best of 1.75 while there was a second place and a new PB of 55.88 in the A string Hammer for Natalie Robbins and Stephanie Fowler, still an U20, marked her debut for the team with an excellent 2nd in the B string Hammer. Another new member to the team Kirsten Mullen acquitted herself extremely well recording a new PB of 3.50 on borrowed poles for a strong 4th place. In her third event of the day Lauren Stoddart had a good win in her actual event the 2000 S/chase and her attitude epitomised the team spirit that these Senior Women have developed over the years. Gillian Cooke in her 18th year of representing Edinburgh in the UK women’s league summed it up nicely in her team speech when she commented “There must be a reason why I am still doing this after 18 years and it is because it is fun and I enjoy the family like atmosphere within the team”, a sentiment echoed by the athletes, officials, coaches and team management, who work hard to ensure that this excellent competitive pathway continues to support future generations of Edinburgh athletes. Next match is a home match on July 7th hosted by Edinburgh AC and the organisation for this is already well advanced but if you feel you would like to help in any way do not hesitate to get in touch with moira.nisbet@blueyonder.co.uk, who is pulling together the details.
Moira Maguire
Birchfield Harriers. 239
Thames Valley Harriers. 203
Blackheath and Bromley. 195.5
Windsor, Slough E &H. 176
Edinburgh AC. 173.5
Trafford AC. 163.5
Southampton AC. 151.5
Swansea Harriers. 125
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