Athletics 17.9.07
Grangemouth hosts 2007 ChampionshipsThe listing was posted by Scottish Disability Sport
For the first time the Grangemouth Stadium was the venue for the National Track and Field Championships for athletes with a learning disability. The first event was held back in 1981 at Ingliston when the Lothian and Borders Police Community Section worked with SDS to establish the first national athletics championships on the annual calendar. Since that first event the championships have grown in quality largely due to the input from Janice Eaglesham and her team from Glasgow City Council. The system for classification used was developed by SDS and is based on time and distance banding for specific athletics disciplines. As a consequence athletes with a learning disability of all levels of ability are offered the opportunity to compete for national titles and team points with a reasonable chance of success.
At the championships of 2007 over 250 athletes were entered from Annandale & Eskdale, Borders, Fife, Forth Valley, Highland, Scotland West and Tayside. Unfortunately on this occasion there was no team from Lothian but the event benefited from a second appearance of an Annandale & Eskdale team and a welcome return for Forth Valley. There was strong support from officials from Scottish Athletics and as always a large contingent of volunteers from the 2496 Air Training Corps made a significant contribution to the smooth running of the event.
The advantage of the SDS classification system is that it offers the opportunity of high performance athletes to compete alongside novice and intermediate performers in sections appropriate to their level of ability. Appearing at the national championships were Scotland’s leading athletes with a learning disability, Laura Kinder and Allan Stuart who were due to head off to Brazil for the INAS World Championships. Laura set a new championships record in the long jump of 4.42 metres, improving on her previous mark of 4.30 metres. She went on to complete a sprint double in the 100 and 200 metres and collected three gold medals on the day. We wish the two Scotland West athletes well in their efforts against the world’s leading athletes with a learning disability in South America.
Other notable performances were the sprint double in the 200 and 400 metres by John Bradley from Scotland West and also a triple gold medal performance in javelin, shot and discus by Scotland West’s Bryan Curdie. Tayside won the tug-o-war with the Highland team taking runners up spot and Fife and Scotland West sharing the bronze medals. The Scotland West team amassed most points in the track events with 74, 1 ahead of Fife and 10 ahead of Tayside. The Fife team won most points in the field events with a total of 49, 13 ahead of Tayside and 14 ahead of Scotland West in third spot.
As always the team trophy is keenly contested and for the second occasion in three years Disability Sport Fife members won the Bob Mitchell trophy with a total of 125 points, 13 ahead of Scotland West with the Tayside team taking third spot. The full list of team placings were as follows:
Fife 125 pts
Scotland West 112 pts
Tayside 108 pts
Highland 61 pts
Annandale & Eskdale 37 pts
Scottish Borders 19 pts
Forth Valley 11 pts
The Great Britain team travels out to the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai, China and there are almost 100 Scots included in the team of 212. A number of athletes who competed at the championships in Grangemouth will be making that memorable trip overseas and we wish them well. It has only recently been announced that SOGB National Games will be held in Leicester in 2009 between 24 July and 1 August.
Results Field / Results Track