We are pleased to announce that the club has received a Lottery Award under the Sport for all Scheme, which encourages sports activities in the community. The money will be used on equipment and training courses for current, and prospective coaches. If any parents would like to get involved in coaching, the club will pay the costs of the training courses held regularly at Grangemouth, or the Pacesetter activity leader courses held at a variety of venues. New parents who are interested in helping out will be most welcome.

With the season well and truly under way the regular phone-around to organise teams and transport for track meetings has been changed slightly. Committee members are now each responsible for an age group so we can see more easily if we have the right number of competitors available. Contacting you will be:

Seniors Betty Gibb 449 7128 & Dave Hutchison (Sprints) 556 5013
U17 Men, Women, Vet Men Bob Douglas 449 6105
U15 Boys Monika Wilkinson 449 6595
Monika will also check who is available from Charlie Russell's group (01896 830837)
U15 Girls Christina Graham 449 4181
U13 Boys Paul McIntosh 449 5227
U13 Girls Willie Lyall 336 2715
U11 Boys and Girls Norma Mitchell 449 6020

We'll try to make sure that families with members in different groups only get one phone call. The ranks of the veterans & seniors can always be increased by any reasonably fit mums or dads who are keen (or daft) enough to bring their kit along!

The team managers, ie those responsible on the day for team sheets etc are:

Scottish Athletics League (Sen Men) Betty Gibb
Scottish & North-West Bob Douglas
McDonalds Young Athletes Paul McIntosh (Boys), Willie Lyall (Girls)
Forth Valley League Christina Graham and Norma Mitchell

We'd like to remind everyone, younger members especially, that there are a couple of league meetings in the second half of July – McDonalds on Sun 23rd and Scottish and North West on the 30th. With so many folk on holiday it makes contact more difficult, so if you find you are available but have not been contacted, please get in touch with us.

The official SAF yearbook containing the rankings for 1999 is now available. These cover age groups from U13 to Veteran. There were several club individual and team performances included:

The first meeting of the Forth Valley league met on Thursday the 31^st after the wettest April experienced for many years. Torrential rain proceeded the few days before the meeting but thankfully on the night no rain was in sight!! A far cry from the glorious weather we`re now enjoying!! For many athletes this was their debut either on the track or in a new age group. Promotion to the first division last year ensured that the competition was going to be very tough and challenging.
    The 100m sprint was the first event on the track. Murray Muir, our only U11 boy, competed well and although finishing last picked up a PB of 16.6s. Hopefully we`ll have more support for you next time but the club would love to see any new members at this age group. So do come along and see what it`s all about! Debut runners Neisha Kilnour and Louise Campbell had an excellent win in 15.2s and a fine run in17.2s in the U11 girls age group respectively. In the U13s Amy Clancy and Karen Milligan had very fine wins in 14.2 and 14.9s respectively with a PB for Karen. Brother Dale Clancy ran very competitively for his 15.0s as did Paul Brash for his PB, both boys stepping up an age group. In the U15s Catherine Graham scored a fine win as well as gaining a PB in 13.4s while Anna Chrystal ran 15.5s in her debut sprint. Another athlete stepping up an age group this year was Scott McCormick who competed all the way to the line in his very tough race.
    The distance event at this meeting was the 800m - quite a long way especially for the U11s, although you wouldn`t have thought this with Murray`s strong finish!! In the girls Ara Grigor was running this distance for the first time and Louise gamely volunteered to keep her company. At one stage it looked like the girls might not finish but after a second wind the girls finished to the biggest cheer of the night!! The U13s Tommy Ashby and Stephanie Lyall had superb wins in their events the 1500m and 800m. Tommy running away from his closest challenger showing great judgement and determination while Stephanie leading from start to finish gaining a PB and new club record in 2min 33.1s at the same time. Erin McIntosh showed great determination and club spirit in competing in the long 1500m and managed a sprint finish to boot!! In the U15 boys Paul MacDougall was just pipped at the post in a close race while Alistair Booth finished strongly in his race.
    In the Long Jump U11s Kelsie Renwick and Holly Duncan recorded 1.95 and 2.21m and the U13 boys Neil Campbell and Alasdair Mcintosh 3.05 and 3.50m. The U13 girls had a High Jump where Kirsty Sangster in her debut jumped a very creditable 1.15m and Emma Mitchell a PB. Christine Lyall and Catherine gained PBs in their Discus throws with Christine only missing out on first place by a centimetre
    Relays concluded the evening with pride of place going to the U13 girls who will take some beating this season as long as the baton changing goes well. Well done to Ami, Karen, Emma and Stephanie. A special mention to Neil Campbell ( what you may lack in years you have in height! ) who ran in the scratch U15 boys relay – Paul and Alistair just couldn`t believe you were only 11!!
    Well done to all the athletes as this league will be a tough one. Although we finished last on the night there were many fine performances and plenty to build on.

The second meeting of the FVL took place at Livingston. The weather was much improved from the first evening but a breezy one none the less which made the track events for the evening the 200m, 800m, and 1500m tough going. However the wind didn`t seem to bother Tommy Ashby much who had very impressive wins in the U13B 200 and 800m in 28.2s and 2min 24.9s respectively. Stephanie Lyall was equal to the task in her 800m where she finished 8seconds ahead of her rivals. Paul MacDougall followed this with a great winning time of 4 min 38.5sec in the long 1500m. He was ably supported by Alistair Booth who won the B race – Alistair normally doesn`t like to run past 800m but with very little persuasion decided to give it a go!!! Murray Muir gained valuable points in the U11B 200 and 800m as did Alistair MacIntosh in the U13B.
    There were two new members from the borders Andrew Martin and Stacey Downie. Stacey ran 29.6s for 5A in the U15G 200m and jumped 3.30m in the Long Jump while Andrew gained a third and second place in U11B 200 and 800m. Welcome!!
    Amy Clancy finished in second place in her 200m and unfortunately had to retire for the night due to a sore toe – Hope you get better soon Amy – since then a broken toe has been diagnosed!!!! – a pretty impressive run though!!!
    Holly Hunter and Jennifer Conway ran well in their 800m and are gaining experience at this difficult event for this age group as did Anna Chrystal in the U15G.
    On the field it was the first High Jump competition for Mhairi and Louise Campbell (not sisters! ). They both cleared a very creditable height of 0.95m in the U11G. Brother of Mhairi, Neil Campbell , in his first Shot Putt competition threw a PB of 6.03m while Paul Brash came 2B with 5.41m.
    Christine Lyall had a good Long Jump of 3.81m for second place. Emma Mitchell and Kirsty Sangster both jumped 3.29 and 2.54m for PBs in their Long Jump while Bradley Hyder threw a PB in the Discus of 11m.
    We didn`t have many relays out however the U15G came in a very good third in their relay.
    Unfortunately due to various reasons we had a lack of athletes and came in last on the night but this is always going to be a tough division to compete in. Hopefully next time we`ll be back to full strength. But well done to those who competed and who all had a busy night!!

We made our return to the national cup competition for girls after an absence of several years. In spite of the unavailability of several members, and the fact that we were possibly the smallest club involved, our U13 girls (Stephanie Lyall, Anna Chrystal, Catriona Boyle and Emma Mitchell ) and U15 girls (Catherine Graham, Erin McIntosh, Christine Lyall and Jenny Boyle) were in the hunt for qualification in the top four of their group. Indeed the U15's were lying in a good fourth place until our absence of a runner in both the 800m and 1500m dropped us out of a qualifying position. We think the U13's were in fourth place coming into the last event of the day, the 4 x100m relay. In what must surely be a first for the club, thanks to a couple of highly dubious decisions made by the first changeover judge, BOTH of our squads were disqualified!! We've still to see the fully scrutinised results, but it looks like both squads just failed to reach the finals. We wuz robbed!!! However most of the girls achieved pb's in one or more events, so it was definitely a worthwhile venture.

Highlight of a good set of performances by everyone must be Stephanie Lyall's run in the 800m. In spite of a couple of challenges by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill and the City of Glasgow runners, she won comfortably in 2m30.4, setting her third personal best of the season at this distance.

We had our usual mix of successes and hard luck stories at this year's Championships. Pride of place goes to Tommy Ashby, winning two golds with a sprint double – 100m (14.0s) and 200m (28.59s) – plus a bronze in the 800m (2:23.4). Iain Jackson seems to be switching from "vertical events" (HJ and PV) to "horizontal events" (sprints) and won bronze in the U20 100m. Marbeth Shiell won bronze in the U15 1500m (5:00.2). Stephanie Lyall won silver in the U13 800m (2:31.30s). There were also good runs by Colette Shiell (U13 800m), Amy-Jo Shiell (U15 1500) and Catherine Graham (100m final).

Injuries and work commitments left us with a core of sprinters, jumpers, and throwers, but no middle distance runners. However our strength on the sprints, 110m hurdles (Bill Stobie 1A), 400mH (Ian Gibb 1A, Stephen Blane 1B), Pole Vault (Ian Gibb 1A, Bill Stobie 1B) and high jump (I Gibb 1A, I Jackson 1B) gave us just enough to finish 2nd in a very tight league. After winning the 4 x 100m relay in a useful 45.4s the same squad dragged themselves round again to finish third in the 4 x 400m so there were a few exhausted guys after a strenuous day. We believe Iain Jackson, making his track debut for the seniors, enjoyed his leg of the 4 x 400m so much........ We're going for promotion this year (!) although there appears to be further behind-the-scenes moves to restructure the Men's League.

1 Dunfermline & W.Fife 225; 2 Harmeny 223; 3 Lasswade 222; 4 Central 199; 5 Inverness H 194; 6 Cumbernauld 188; 7 Dundee Hawkhill 124; 8 BP Black Isle 101.

Most of the committee were back on duty on the Monday night (after a Sunday at Coatbridge) for the traditional races held as part of Balerno Children's Gala week. The overall winner of the Water of Leith Race was Ross Gibson (John's younger brother) in a time of 19min 5 sec. (This is over a minute faster than John's winning time of 20min 25 as a thirteen-year-old in 1996.). Philip Purves was third overall (20:27) whilst Alasdair McIntosh, claiming that the 3-mile WoL is easier than an 800m on the track, was 9th overall and first 11-year-old. Erin McIntosh was first girl and 11th overall in a time of 23:40.

There were 166 runners this year, and the detailed results are being posted up around the village. Congratulations to everyone who successfully completed the course.

In the Rigg race the main local interest was over which of the local groups would collect the "Harmeny Rigg Runners" team trophy, and who would win the battle of the Gibb family? The team trophy was won by "St Mungos Church" who finally ended the monopoly that the Keep-Fit Bunnies (men's keep fit class) have had for the last three years. The "Bunnies" are no longer the awesome force they once were, and were relegated to 3= behind the "Sunday Smilers" jogging group. In the battle of the Gibb family, young Ian (42min 35sec) muttering the words "...never again..." finished well ahead of not-quite-as-young dad Ian (45:30). The woman's race had the tightest finish ever and caused the judges a real problem with Anne Douglas (Lynsey's mum) and Paula Duncan matching each other stride for stride as they crossed the finish line. An official dead-heat was declared, along with a bookmakers enquiry onto race fixing ...........

Belated congratulations to Gerry Starrs who retained his Scottish indoors M40 800m title with a relatively comfortable time of 2:10.83. An attempt at the 400m or 1500m surely beckons. Kevin Maguire won the M45 (and overall) Pole Vault title with a clearance of 3m10, and was second in the shot putt with 9m81. With Bill Stobie recently qualifying as a young veteran, will we have three Scottish title holders in the near future?

As we receive results for the various leagues we compete in, they are updated on the club web-site – www.harmenyac.org.uk so you can follow our up-to-date positions at all times.

Dates and venues currently known. Changes to previously published info are shown in bold.