IN THE RUNNING -THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER Issue 10 In The Running The official CERF newsletter July 2015 THE CITY OF EDINBURGH RUNNING FESTIVAL OPEN RUNNING AS IT SHOULD BE The Sun Shone! IN THIS ISSUE by Andy Cullen OrthoLink How lucky were we with the evening we got for the 3 rd staging of CERF? It was on a beautiful summers evening that we gathered for the 2015 running festival and we weren t disappointed by the racing or the tight finishes thanks to the efforts of our two handicappers Don Campbell and Lesley Bruce and of course the athletes themselves. A big thank you also has to go to Jim Malcolm of OrthoLink (pictured above with Craig Knowles) for his continued support as the main event sponsor. Jim has supported CERF since we started and we really appreciate his enthusiasm and support. Jim suggested an innovation for 2016 so watch this space and remember Jim it was your idea! Sports Massage 2015 Event Review We review the 2015 running festival, from the great racing through the heats to the spectacular finals and the climax of the OrthoLink Sprint Sponsors A big THANK YOU goes out to all of the sponsors who made the event possible. Without sponsors we have no event. Many came along and enjoyed the evening as well as presenting the winners with their spoils. Special thanks again to Alba Beverage and Britvic who provided free water and Gatorade for the athletes. A special mention for Nicola Urey of NU-U- Massage for volunteering to provide free sports massage throughout the evening. We appreciated Nicola dedicating time to come along and help. You can make appointments with Nicola by calling 07729 242 012 or e-mail nuufitnesspt@gmail.com Officials and Volunteers A final word of thanks has to go to all of the officials and volunteers who worked tirelessly to make the event run smoothly and on time, and also to our MC Craig Dunbar the walking encyclopaedia of all things running. Thank you all. Photographs All photos courtesy of Sharon Toni and Charlie Campbell. Fantastic job as usual. Ernie Blair Lifetime Achievement Award This year s recipient of the City of Edinburgh Running Festival Lifetime Achievement award was Ernie Blair. Craig Dunbar tells us why. FEEDBACK If you have any feedback about the 2015 event good or bad, or any suggestions on how we can improve please e-mail your thoughts to andrewtcullen@hotmail.com or contact any of the CERF committee. We d love to hear from you.
IN THE RUNNING -THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER Issue 10 2 2015 Event Review by Graeme Armstrong A warm sunny evening greeted the big crowd at Meggetland, setting the scene for what was to be an exciting evening of foot racing, OrthoLink 110m Sprint The main event of the evening was as always the OrthoLink sprint and the event started with two joint favourites in Greg Turnbull of T.L.J.T. and Craig Knowles of Corstorphine A.A.C. After the heats everything became clearer with David Brand of Pitreavie A.C., Cameron Tindle of T.L.J.T and Turnbull running impressively but they were outshone by Knowles who ran 11.62 and was now clear favourite. The four cross ties confirmed that position although there were great runs from Brand and Tindle. The atmosphere in the ground was electric for the final with a great hush around Meggetland as the runners went to their marks for the final, back marker Tindle, Brand, Knowles, Ben McCulloch Young of Edinburgh, Jack Beattie Rosyth and Jazmine Tomlinson of T.J.L.T. Quite quickly it was evident that it was going to be closer than the market suggested and even more surprising was the closest challenger. Jazmine Tomlinson a 10/1 outsider produced the run of her life to cross the line with Knowles. A photo finish was called and after a tense wait Knowles was announce the winner in a time of 11.66 by the narrowest of margins. What a great race! 800m sponsored by Evans Halshaw Ford Competition for the 800m was intense with three full heats and a final testing the fitness of the athletes. In the end it was three regulars of the borders circuit who fought out the finish with Kobe Stevens - Moorfoot, Andrew Thompson Jed A.C. and Rory Anderson - Hawick entering the home straight with nothing between them but it was Anderson who had enough in the tank to win the huge 1000 first prize. 200m sponsored by Wayne Fueling Systems Winner Craig Knowles (3) in the OrthoLink final with second placed Jazmine Tomlinson far left Open 1600m sponsored by Davidson Chalmers There was another female triumph in the 1600m where the race was dominated by three new athletes on the Borders circuit with Cath Ferry of Kirkliston leading from gun to tape from London s Christian Poulter and Edinburgh s Andrew McDonald. C est Si Bon Ladies 110m Invitation Amy Clancy of Peebles produced her best run of the season so far to lift the first prize in a keenly contested sprint winning in 12 seconds dead with Ellie McGinty Edinburgh and Emily Dagg T.L.J.T. second and third. Amy Clancy in the C est Si Bon Ladies Invitation Cathy Ferry Female power prevailed in the 200m where Jenna Gillan T.L.J.T. won her heat in fine fashion and showed great fitness in what turned out to be an exciting final, repeating the effort of the heat and holding off a fast finishing Geoff Keen of Selkirk. Jenna Gillan wining a close 200m from Geoff Keen
IN THE RUNNING -THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER Issue 10 3 Sandy Jardine Memorial Race In the second running of the Sandy Jardine Memorial Race it was Rugby that triumphed with home man Bourghmuir s Gavin Welsh putting in a surge down the back straight and shooting to the front leaving the others trailing in his wake. Running a 38.32 300m he was never going to be beaten. Thanks again to the friends of Sandy Jardine for sponsoring the race and we look forward to seeing if the footballers can dethrone the rugby players next year. Gavin Welsh on his way to victory (above) and lining up for the start (right) Youth Events 90m Youths A & B Races sponsored by Alba Beverage Youths 200m A Race sponsored by Albatrans (UK) Ltd William Darling of Galashiels Harriers won the final of the youth s A 200m just edging out Australian Casey Buchanan in a photo finish. The Youth sprints were all very competitive and great to watch. In the A 90m Murray Blair of Lasswade AC won in fine style with Samantha Dagg (left) of T.L.J.T taking the B race. Youths 200m B Race sponsored by Bruce Collie Building Company Ron Crawford of Albatrans UK with William Darling Youth 800m sponsored by Indigo PR It was great to see a number of newcomers taking part this year and one of them, young Freddie Carcas of Edinburgh impressively won the Youths 800m. Youth 1600m sponsored by Clarity IFA Jack Amos was rewarded for his consistency on the Borders circuit by willing this event. He was followed in by Michael Swinton of E.A.C. and Jai Patterson of Teviotdale Harriers. Elaine McKean of Indigo PR with 800m Winner Freddie Carcas The Youths B 200m was won by defending champion Charlie Rae of Hawick having won the same race last year in his 1 st year of competition. Jake Houten, Cardrona was second with Leah Ainslie of T.L.J.T. third. Charlie Rae and above being presented by John Wood representing Bruce Collie Building Company John Murphy of Clarity IFA with Jack Amos (above) and (left) Paula Jones of Alba Beverage with Murray Blair
IN THE RUNNING -THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER Issue 10 4 The Michelle Henderson Novice Sprint The first running of this event at CERF was split into two heats with the final closely contested by Steven Perry- Clyde of Pitreavie AC who just beat Cal McLennan of Edinburgh to take the victory. This has been a fantastic addition to the race program throughout the five meetings it is being held at and is all thanks to Michelle s former coach Bob Inglis who had the idea and also put up the prize money. A fitting tribute to his former athlete who sadly died on her 28 th birthday of cervical cancer. Michelle with her dad Willie Henderson Lifetime Achievement Award-Ernie Blair by Craig Dunbar The second Lifetime Achievement Award by the CERF Committee was Ernie Blair now a resident of Wooler in Northumberland. This was presented to him for his lifetime commitment to open athletics in Scotland and the North of England. Ernie and I became acquainted first in the late 1990 s when I became a judge on the track at various games run under the banner of the Scottish Games Association. Ernie himself was at that stage the handicapper for a significant number of games in the Borders and also those which took place at Ambleside and Whittingham. He had taken over in that role from the legendary Ossie Sword who had passed away and was also, when the occasion arose and need required it, assisting with timekeeping, judging and the occasional commentary. Ernie s involvement with open athletics goes way back into his youth. He was a sprinter of much renown and although originally from the North East, lived for a period of time in Markinch in Fife, the home of the first Fife games of season. He ran under the Markinch banner for some time and was trained by that other sprint legend, Bob Swan and under his tutelage achieved many great results principally in the Border games. As far back as the mid-70 s, Ernie was picking up prizes at the games at Grasmere Egremont and Yetholm, sadly none of which now feature on the open athletics calendar. While Grasmere still continues, it does so without open athletics unlike its near neighbour at Ambleside, a move which was regretted by many when it cancelled athletics from its programme in the early days of the current century. Ernie s win at Egremont in the 90m invitation handicap on scratch followed his win at the same meeting in the handicap race on a mark of 11.5m. Prizes were not what they are now his haul for the 90m handicap was just 12.00! Ernie also coached a number of runners and in particular David McAllister of Cramlington who was the 100m and 110m British Champion and won many races on the Borders circuit. Ernie was still winning races into his forties and won the 200m at the also now defunct Ashington meeting in 1988/9. A certain young Mr Gillie of Kelso was able to confirm this result to me as he has come second! Second place seems to be Mr Gillie s favourite position. After retiring from active competition, Ernie became involved in the organisation of several meetings and remains to this day a member of the Morebattle Games Committee. He continues to promote the sport at the Ambleside meeting held on the last Thursday of July and is the handicapper there. He represented the Borders area on the Council of the Scottish Games Association for a number of years and put forward a plethora of proposals for the improvement of the sport including standard pulls in relation to prize wins and a formula for novice marks and other handicapping ideas which, regrettably, the SGA rejected. He was also keen to promote the introduction of training programmes for future handicappers and other officials and was well aware that he, along with the rest of us, will not be here forever and that the future of the sport requires a younger generation to take over. He was instrumental in the setting up of Borders Athletics in 2006. That involved the breakaway of all of the running meetings in the former Borders region of the SGA. As an immediate past President of the SGA I regretted this decision, but I did then and do now understand the basis upon which that was seen to be of benefit to the running fraternity in the Borders and, looking at how BA has blossomed since its independence, I cannot feel that the decision was the right one. It was a brave and bold decision and the type of which Ernie is so capable of making. He continued in the role as handicapper of the whole of the Borders meetings until the decision was taken to split it into adults and youths when Ernie took on the latter role. He took a step back a couple of years ago and I had the pleasure of being asked, at very short notice, at Lauder to make a presentation to him in gratitude for his years of unstinted service. I was delighted to be able to do that. The lure of the sport, however, was just too much and Ernie continued as the youth handicapper for the season in 2014 although has now taken a step back to be replaced by Lesley Bruce in her debut season. It would be wholly remiss of me not to mention that throughout this period he has had the unswerving support of his wife, Jean. As with so many of the roles which are undertaken on the games circuit, these could not be undertaken without the dedication and support of the person s life partner. Jean has been there undertaking many of the administrative tasks to assist her husband and, as a team, they have been invaluable contributors to the continued success and indeed flourishing of the Borders Athletics scene. The CERF Committee was delighted to be able to call upon Ernie Blair to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was perhaps typical of the man that while the dedication to him was being broadcast on the night, he had not actually realised that I was talking about him. I was: it was a pleasure to do so
IN THE RUNNING -THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER Issue 10 5 Craig Knowles with OrthoLink MD and main sponsor Jim Malcolm Rory Anderson winner of the Open 800m with Craig Knowles, OrthoLink Sprint Winner Ernie Blair receives the lifetime achievement award from Graeme Armstrong Amy Clancy, Ladies Invitation winner with sponsor Sarah Gilchrist of C est Si Bon Rory Anderson with Jillian Caughney and Jan Vasilikova of Evans Halshaw Cath Ferry, winner of the Open 1600m with Gail Wood of Davidson Chalmers Jenna Gillan, Open 200M Winner with Maureen Conlin of Wayne Fueling Systems
IN THE RUNNING -THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER Issue 10 6 The City of Edinburgh Running Festival is supported by