It was a difficult start to the 2012 UKWAL for the Edinburgh team who managed to finish 8^th in their first league match of the year.  Having finished 5^th overall last year the team was hoping for a strong start but with a number of notable absences our progress was hampered and the girls were faced with a challenging day.  The team put in some gutsy performances with some athletes taking part in events that they do not normally do and some were rewarded with season’s bests.

The long jumpers got the day underway with debutant Emma Pringle jumping 5.58m (-0.0) to finish 6^th A and Faye Nicolson gaining 2^nd B with 5.38m (+0.2).  Emma also competed in her preferred triple jump where she finished 4^th A with 12.21m (+1.0).  Faye managed a 6^th place also in the B triple jump with 9.95m (+3.3).  An athlete with a busy schedule was Emma Lowry who jumped 1.65m to finish 3^rd A in the high jump.  She then ran a seasons best of 16.09 (+1.7) in the 100m hurdles finishing 6^th in the A race and putted 10.18m from standing in the shot put to finish 5^th B.  In the pole vault we had another newcomer,  Emmeline Rendell who cleared 3.10m to set a season’s best and finished 7^th A.

The first track event of the day was the 400m hurdles where Avril Jackson finished 8^th A in 70.84. Avril then had to rush over the high jump where she finished 7^th B with 1.35m.  She finished off her individual events in the 100m hurdles with a seasons best of 16.15 to finish 8^th in the B race. Another UKWAL debutant Fiona Trew ran a seasons best of 66.68 to finish 4^th in the B 400m hurdles.

Lauren Peffers was pleased with her run in the 400m of 57.51 gaining 5^th place in the A race.  Struggling with a slight back injury Mhari MacDonald managed 6^th in the B 400m in a time of 62.23 and 8^th in the B 200m in 28.12 (+1.2).  Elsewhere in the sprints, Stacey Downie is improving every time she steps on the track.  She was rewarded with two season’s best.  The first was in the 100m A race where she finished 8^th in 12.55 (+1.4) and then 25.29 (-0.4) for 6^th in the 200m A race.  Caitlan Froud, in her first UKWAL, ran a PB of 12.97 (+1.3) to finish 8^th in the B 100m.

The middle distance team were depleted due to the clash with the Watford BMC meeting however, Kathryn Evans got a much needed win in the 800m A race in a time of 2.10.54.  There was no representation in the 800m B race.  In the 1500m, after being out for 6 weeks with a chest infection Laura Dunn finished 5^th A in a time of 4.49.66.  There was no representation in the 1500m B race. We also had no representation in the 3000m or the 2000m steeplechase.

Over in the throws, Edinburgh AC newcomer and Austrian record holder in the hammer Julia Siart had a busy day in the throws.  She kicked off with an excellent win in the B hammer with a throw of 54.43m.  In the shot put she set a season’s best throw of 13.61m and finished 4^th A.  A fine throw of 37.07m in the discus got 7^th place in the A event.  Elsewhere in the throws, Susan McKelvie finished 3^rd A in the hammer with a throw of 58.17m.  Nicki Falconer was pleased with her 31.59m seasons best in the discus to earn 8^th in the B.  We had two 4^th places in the javelin with Nicki throwing 30.40m in the B and youngster Paula Gass throwing a brilliant 40.10m in the A having driven down from Edinburgh that morning.

At the close of the day, the 4x100m team (Fiona Trew, Caitlan Froud, Emma Lowry, Stacey Downie) finished 7^th in a time of 50.31 and the 4x400m team of (Lauren Peffers, Avril Jackson, Caitlan Froud and Kathryn Evans) finished a credible 3^rd in 3.52.7.

The athletes would like to thank our management team of Anne Scott and debutant assistant Jen Dudgeon for their help and support throughout the day.  We would also like to thank our coaches and officials who played an important role on the day: John Scott, Lynne Jackson, Elsie Morris, Helena Black, Alistair Aitchison, Jean Robertson, John Robertson, Moira Nisbet, Brian Nisbet.

The next UKWAL match takes place at Eton, London on Saturday 30^th June 2012.  We are confident that we will have a full team out on force to try and elevate us up the league ranks.

Thanks

Susan McKelvie (Captain)