Editorial apologies for not producing a copy of the herald for a couple of months, but with league meetings, holidays, the day job, a dodgy printer and the grass growing a bit more quickly this year, things have been pretty busy over the last couple of months. Anyway, we're now beginning to catch up with all the news.

We will be holding the Annual General meeting in Balerno High School on Monday 27 September, 7.30. We'd like to see as many interested parents and senior athletes coming along as possible. There are a couple of vacancies on the committee, so we do need a couple of new faces to help on the organisational side.

Some of you will be aware that the Scottish Athletic Federation (SAF) has been undertaking a lengthy review of all aspects of league, championship and international competition in Scotland. A very lengthy document was sent out to all Scottish clubs in April and at a special meeting of club representatives held in Stirling on 14th May, a lot of the proposals were rejected by the clubs. A further review has been carried out, but details are only being released to league organisers, and not, it appears to club secretaries.

Some of the things we're unhappy about include:

A single league for senior men: Clubs would be allowed to combine forces in order to compete, but very tight performance standards may be introduced before competitors could score. There does not seem to be any meaningful competition that sits below this single league to allow smaller clubs to compete and advance.

The introduction of four regional leagues (all age groups) with National Finals: There would be no promotion or relegation within the regional leagues. It may still be two competitors per event. This would probably mean an end to the Scottish & North West League, and would almost certainly mean the end of EDAL.

Some things we would be happy about, if SAF get it right:

• A league competition that allows more competitors to do their preferred events – if four people in the same age goup want to do the 100m and no-one wants to do the 1500m then introduce a structure that allows it.

• A run, jump & throw structure for younger age groups.

• Better timing of the District and National championships.

• More Open Graded meetings during the season.

Some things that may not change: The continuation of the Forth Valley League and the Young Athletes League (which Harmeny does not currently compete in).

Over the last five years we've changed the venue, format and time of year for the club championship and open day. For various reasons the numbers attending have dropped off, and the seniors do not find it a meaningful event. On any date we choose there are always a lot of people unable to attend, or are injured. The mix of events we can organise in an afternnon does not always suit everyone, and those joining the club after it has been held have missed a chance. For these reasons we are proposing to that from next year the club champions will be based on performances during the season (we have to calculate it this way for the U17 and Senior men this year as they were on league duty). The same basic principal would apply as now – based on Thistle points for the best performance in three event groups. For any age groups where there are sufficient numbers who have competed in aa event group (eg sprints, throws etc) we would also have an events champion. We'll put forward thoughts on how this would operate at the AGM.

We propose organising separate recruitment events mainly through the local schools, eg an inter primary sportshall competition, maybe an inter secondary match, and possibly a run / jump / throw challenge during Currie Fair or Balerno Children's Gala for those who are too young to compete on track and field. If anyone has thoughts, or strong views please contact your coach or any committee member if you can't attend the AGM

The Scottish Athletics yearbook for 1998 which contains the best peformances in each event for each age group from U13 upwards has recently been published. Several club members appear in the rankings:

Male

Seniors
Dave Hutchison 100m (10.9s), 200m (22.62s)
Ian Gibb Pole Vault (4m30)
Bill Stobie Pole Vault (3m70)
4x 100m Relay (44.4s)

U20
Gareth Hughes 100m (11.4s)

U17
Iain Jackson Pole Vault (3m40)
John Gibson 400m (53.9)

U13
Tom Watson 200m (28.0)

Veteran
Kevin Maguire High Jump (1m56), Pole Vault (3m12)

Female

Senior (U20)
Jenny Robertson 100m (12.7s), 200m (25.9)

U15
Gillian Kerr High Jump (1m47), Long Jump (5m07)
Claire Parkin Shot Putt (9m82)

U13
Carol-Anne Brash 100m (13.39), 200m (28.00), High jump (1m40), Long Jump (4m29)
Marbeth Shiell 800m (2m30.55), 1500m (5m26.30)
Rachel Laidlaw Shot Putt (7m13)
Christine Lyall Pentathlon (1,435 points)
4 x 100m Relay (57.8)

Veteran
Christina Graham Long Jump (4m24), Tr Jump (8m33)
Norma Mitchell High Jump (1m40), Tr Jump (7m92)

Congratulations to veterans Christina Graham and Gerry Starrs for their exploits in the Scottish Veteran Championships. Christina won gold in the long jump, and silver in both the 100m and 200m.Veteran youngster Gerry won gold in the M40 800m in the very fast time of 2m0.9s (just a couple of seconds outside the Scottish Record). Gerry actually beat the record holder (Alistair Dunlop) who has moved up an age group. Needless to say, Gerry smashed the club veteran 800m record, and the mathematicians amongst us have calculated that he must also have smashed the 400m record – the next time he does this we'll need to get the split times for each lap!

Cangratulations also to Iain Jackson who won silver in the U17 high jump (1m75) in the Scottish Championships. Carol-Anne Brash, Jennifer Robertson and John Gibson all reached the finals of their events but just missed out on the medals.

The tree-topped grassy banks of Coatbridge is one of the more attractive settings on warm sunny days. Unfortunately this was not a warm sunny day and the first challenge was to find a spot sheltered from the wind....... which whistled down the home straight in the wrong direction, so we knew times wouldn't be quick.

We got off to a flying start with Karen Whiteford and Erin McIntosh leading the rest home in a combined A+B Hurdles race, Gillian Kerr & Eilidh McIntosh both won their hurdle races, and Catherine Graham & Lynsey Douglas survived theirs (4A/1B). Siobhan Russell was well clear winning the 100m and there were good runs from Stephanie Lyall winning the U11 800 (2m46.4) and Amy Clancy (2m36.6) 2A in the U13 800. In the relays a scratch U11 team of Stephanie, Emma Mitchell, Karen Milligan and an "import" from Victoria Park made up a large deficit from the first leg to finish second, the U13 girls came a close second and a acratch U15 team with Eilidh replacing the injured Carol-Anne came a good second. Apart from Carol-Anne's argument with the high jump bar, which the bar won, all the girls jumped well; Siobhan and Karen Whiteford were 1A/1B (1m20/1m15) in the U13's, Gillian Kerr and Eilidh McIntosh were 2A/1B (1m50/1m30) in the U17's, Carol-Anne and Catherine Graham were 4A/1B (1m35/1m30). Lynsey Douglas and Christine Lyall left the warmth of the café long enough to record 2A/1B in the U15 javelin (15.25/14.87). Stephanie Lyall maintained her good form in the long jump with a winning jump of 3m68. Norma Mitchell (17.3s) justified her selection as A-string over Monika Wilkinson (17.6s) with 3A/2B in the vets 100m, but Monika turned the tables on Norma in the senior women's discus for 3A/2B (18.34/16.77). There's only one way to settle this rivalry, a 400m run-off! It was good to see Jenny and Sheila Brown on the track again, and father Ken's comments on the effect of "soft living" at university were quite unjustified......

The "boys done good" in the 100m sprints in all the age groups; Dave Hutchison and Mike Langford, making his debut, were 2A/2B (11.5/12.1) in the seniors; Willie Lyall and Kevin Maguire 2A/4B (13.3/14.9) in the vets; Iain Jackson 3A (13.0) in the U17's; Claudio Monaco (having to make up ground after his starting blocks slipped) and Tom Watson 3A/1B (13.8/13.6) in the U15's; Scott McCormick and Bradley Hyder (making his debut) 2A/1B (14.5/15.3) in the U13's; and Paul Brash and Calum Wright 4A/2B in the 80m. Tommy Ashby won the U13 1500m in style (5m8.7s) with Scott taking 1B (5m22.8). The U11 boys 4x100 relay with Alistair McIntosh, Paul Brash, Calum Wright and Dale Clancy won a good race with Kirkintilloch; the U13's (Tommy, Scott, Bradley and Andrew Wright) were second to a strong Victoria Park squad, but once they've had a bit more baton practise they'll close that gap! We played a nasty trick on Willie Lyall, putting him into the first leg of men's 4x100 relay. The second runner, probably used to the baton arriving like an express train, set off slightly quicker than Willie really wanted, but the baton eventually got passed on....

Our guys also did well in the Shot Putt; Kevin and Willie were 2A/1B (9m80/8m81) in the seniors; Claudio and Tom were 1A/2B (9.79/6.89) in the U15's; Iain Jackson and Stephen Milne 2A/2B (9.22/7.49) in the U17's. Kevin and Willie completed their afternoon with 2A/1B in the discus (21.43/20.55). Paul Brash and Dale Clancy vied for the better long jump with Paul (3m35) edging ahead of Dale (3m30) for 4A/1B. Iain Jackson maintained his good jumping form with 5m55.

Fianl result: 1 City of Edinburgh 1185; 2 Victoria Park 1126.5; 3 Kirkintilloch Olympians 1107; 4 Harmeny 994.5; 5 Corstorphine 959.5; 6 Dunfermline & West Fife 770.5; 7 Irvine 666; 8 East Kilbride 352

League position after two meetings: 1 CofE 16 points; 2 Kirkintilloch 13; 3 Victoria Park 11; 4 Corstorphine 9; 5 Dunfermline 9; 6 Harmeny 8; 7 Irvine 4; 8 E.Kilbride 2

PS: It did eventually rain at the very end of the afternoon

We've still to get all the details, but the provisional results (to be confirmed) are 1 CofE 1140; 2 Kirkintilloch 1052; 3 Victoria Park, 793; 4 Harmeny 733; 5 Corstorphine 629; 6 Dunfermline 583; Irvine 507; 8 E Kilbride 307.

Positions after three meetings: 1 CofE 24; 2 Kirkitilloch 20; 3 Victoria Park, 17; 4 Harmeny 13; 5 Corstorphine 13; 6 Dunfermline 12; Irvine 6; 8 E Kilbride 3.

We're looking for another good performance on the 12th September to hold onto fourth position.

What a flying start Harmeny got off to in this second meeting at Pitreavie! Boosted by several new members from Charlie Russell's squad making their first outing for the club in a league meeting, we started the evening by winning the first five races on the track. There were comfortable wins for Karen Milligan and Emma Mitchell in the 200m, Dale Clancy and Paul Brash doing likewise for the U11 boys with Dale winning in a fast time of 32.9s. Siobhan Russell followed this with an equally impressive 30.0s in the U13 girls. Scott McCormick was equal to the task for the boys winning in a time of 28.6s, and his partner Jonathan Lockhart coming third. Catherine Graham stuck in well in her 200m to finish 2nd in a pb of 29.3s, whilst Christine Lyall ran a very competitive 31.1s for second place. Also making his debut in winning style was Claudio Monaco, partnering Tom Watson in a closely contested race.

This was followed by the 800m and again there were many fine performances. Stephanie Lyall led the field all the way in her race and won with many metres to spare. Alistair McIntosh showed fine form to come third while Calum Wright partnered Alistair to win the B race. Amy Clancy had a very comfortable win in her race with a time of 2m 46.5, as did Tommy Ashby. And a special mention for Lynsey Douglas who, due to unforeseen circumstances, found herself having to run her first 800m for a long, long time. But she judged her race to perfection to finish first. Perhaps this will convince the U15 girls that they can do the longer distances! (Catherine, your turn next...)

As ever the relays proved to be very exciting. The U11 boys won their race well even with a dodgy changeover, as did the U13 boys with good changeovers!! Although some age groups didn't have a relay team due to lack of numbers, Harmeny entered two scratch teams. Both the "U13 Girls" (containing two U11's) and the "U15 boys" (containing an U13) had fine wins. And the awesome foursome who make up the U15 girls squad had a convincing win.

Our athletes performed just as well in the field events. In the Long Jump there were PB's for Carol-Anne and Christine with 4m46 and 3m99 respectively, whilst Amy and Siobhan did very well in theirs. In the High Jump Karen took second place with 1m15 and Emme 1B with 1m05. Another first place was gained by Paul in the B event, with Alistair partnering him to jump 1m10. Claudio and Tom partnered each other to record a fine 1A /2B in the Shot Putt. Claudio's distance of 10m38 equalled the club record! Scott and Andrew Wright Putted their way to 2A/2B with 6m57/6m36 respectively.

All in all it was a fine night far all the athletes participating, and many excellent performances which put us into first place just ahead of Falkirk Victoria harriers. Thanks to everyone who helped officiate – June and Jim Duffy, Gena Wright and Mr Booth.

Harmeny continued their success in this league in the third meeting. Many fine performances were recorded in the sprints. Siobhan Russell and Erin McIntosh had impressive wins in the U13 girls; U11 Catriona Boyle ran well in her first competitive 100m to record 17.6s. In the U13 boys Oliver Kerr showed a lot of determination to finish second while there was another sprint double for the U15 girls from Carol-Anne Brash and Catherine Graham. In the longer distances Jenni Young had an excellent second place in the 800m on her debut, whilst Karen Milligan came in first – showing that she is not only a talented sprinter and jumper. Amy Clancy had a wonderful head to head clash in one of the best races of the evening and refused to be beaten, winning by 0.3s in a time of 5m33.4. Her partner in this event, Lauren Hyder was running her first 1500m race – almost four laps – and duly finished first in the B race. Tommy Ashby had a confident win in the 400m, smashing the U13 club record by over 3 seconds with a time of 63.5s! Not to be outdone by his sister, Bradley Hyder completed the double in the B race. A second new club record was set on the night when Claudio won the U15 400m in a time of 57.7s.

Harmeny continued the success in the relays winning four out of six and coming second in the others. There were some excellent change-overs, so practise does pay off!!

On the field Harmeny were just as impressive with wins for Karen in the Shot putt, Paul Brash and Alistair Booth in the Long Jump, and Oliver Kerr in the High Jump. We noticed that Lynsey Douglas and Christine Lyall were so involved in the High Jump that they were unable to compete in the 1500m. They were so-o-o-o disappointed...

The final result on the night was a close win over Central, and a good lead in Division two going into the final meeting: 1 Harmeny 328; 2 Central AC 296; 3 Falkirk Victoria H 251; 4 Dunbar 210; 5 Edinburgh Woollen Mill 118.

We've just completed an exhausting weekend in the sunshine, with a magnificent performance from all concerned to win the last League meeting and finish top of Division two. We also won both trophies for the track and field events, making a total of three trophies which will be doing the rounds over the winter months. Cangratulations to everyone who took part in the four meetings, and we look forward to renewing friendly rivalries in Division One next year. Details, and hopefully, some pictures will appear in the next Herald.

Final positions after four meetings (provisional): 1 Harmeny 23; 2 Falkirk 20; 3 Central AC 16; Dunbar 13; EWM 8. Harmeny and Falkirk are promoted to Div 1 next year.

The lack of any cover in the middle distrance and endurance events took its toll on us in the third match. As usual we had a strong sprint squad out, winning the 4 x 100m relay in 44.41s, and good performances from all the guys in their individaul events; Dave Hutchison 1A 100m (11.2), Euan Dale 2A 200m (23.0), Mark Wilson 3A 400m (53.0) and Stephen Blane 4A 400mH (65.1). Kevin Maguire spent nearly the whole afternoon in the field, competing in the Pole Vault (3A), Javelin (4B), Shot Putt (6A) and High Jump (3B), but he did get break(?) from the field to run the 110mH, finishing 4A. Our best event on the day was the Long Jump, with Mike Langford and Iain Jackson 3A (5m80) and 2B (5.48).

Final result: 1 Kirkintilloch 318; 2 Victoria Park 276; 3 Central 263; 4 Perth 194.5; 5 Cumbernauld 184.5; 6 Harmeny 178; 7 Inverness 130; 8 Dundee HH 10 (yes, ten)

Our senior men were back to something approaching full strength for the final match in Division 3 of the Scottish Athletics League. Dave Hutchison won both the 100m (11.6) and 200m (22.6), and with Euan Dale 1B in the 200 (23.0), Gavin McMurray 2B in a blanket finish the 100m (12.2) things were looking promising for the relays. Normal service was resumed in the pole vault with Ian Gibb, back from injury but not quite back to top form, and Kevin Maguire 1A/1B. Lee Newton and Kevin Maguire spent most of the afternoon throwing things in the field between short bouts of sunbathing; Hammer 3A/2B (26.83/21.51); Shot Putt 5A/2B (9.22/9.20) and Discus 4A/3B (25.61/24.00). Thanks to Richard Sharp, Andy and Ian Purves we had a lot more cover in the distance races. Andy won the battle with Ian in the 3000m Steeplchase (6A/3B), and Ian now knows how punishing the second lap of the 800m can be after a pacey first 400!

The highlight of the afternoon (after the downpour which caused the evacuation of all the sunbathers scattered around the field into the stand) was again the 4 x 100m relay. With Mark Wilson, Euan Dale, Gavin MacMurray and Dave Hutchison all in top form and three good baton changes, the guys won in 44.0s – one of the fastest times in recent years.

Our thanks to Bobby Robertson, Will Kerr and Monika Wilkinson for helping out with the task of convening the meeting which we shared with Kirkintilloch.

Match Result: 1 Victoria Park 303; 2 Inverness 265.5; 3 Harmeny 262; 4 Central 243; 5 Kirkintilloch 227.5; 6 Perth 193; 7 Cumbernauld 177; 8 Dundee 131

Final League Positions: 1 Victoria Park 30; 2 Kirkintilloch 26; 3 Harmeny 22; 4 Central 19; 5 Perth 17; 6 Inverness 13; 7 Cumbernauld 10; 8 Dundee 7

Stephanie Lyall set a new club record for the U11g 600m at a Hamilton Open Meeting in June with a time of 1m51.7s, beating her old record set last year by more than 3 seconds.

We are all painfully aware of the limitations of the league structure which restricts the number of places per event to two (something SAF might sort out for next year??) especially when a club is much stronger in one or two disciplines, which in our case is the sprints. Where everyone can get a chance is in the relays, and this year we’ve got some pretty useful sprint squads in several age groups. There have been several cracking performances and some tight finishes. We've also caused some problems with the organisers at some meetings who seem to be unaware that it's common practice to field composite (or mixed) non-counting relay squads to give as many people as possible a run!

Marbeth Shiell was selected for the Scottish team which took part in The Black Forest Teenage Games Trail Hill Races at Sasbachwalden in Germany in early July. Other countries competing were England, Slovakia, Slovenia, Germany, Ukraine and Moldovia. In the 800m race, Marbeth was 4^th in 2m 50s and 5^th in 14m 33s in the 2500m race.

Gillian Kerr, Iain Jackson, Carol-Anne Brash and former member Claire Parkin were part of a small group of athletes selected for a multi-sport international jamboree in Aalborg, Denmark, featuring groups from several European countries. Whilst the competition was a bit mixed (and some of the rules for the field events were a bit odd) they came across some very good athletes in all the events. Gillian set new a new PB of 5m22 in the Long Jump in winning bronze. Iain won gold in the Long Jump, also setting a new PB with 5m85, bronze in the high jump (1.75 again!), and was a member of the boys 4 x 100m relay squad that won gold. Carol-Anne won gold in the 200m (approx 27.1s) and silver in the 100m (13.2). Claire was throwing a slightly lighter than usual shot putt, which therefore went for miles, and won silver. Gillian, Carol-Anne and Claire were three members of the 4 x 100m girls relay squad which won bronze.

As to anything else they might have got up to while they were away, you better speak to them yourselves!

Several of our members from Charlie's Russell's group were in superb form in the Inter Region match between Scottish Borders and Belfast. Siobhan Russell won the U13g 100m in 13.30s, Claudio Monaco won the U15b 100m in 12.26s and Tommy Ashby won the U13b 800m in 2m27.2 – all new club bests! There were second place finishes for Scott McCormick in the U13b 100m (13.31 – another very good time), Amy Clancy in the U13g 800m (2m40.91) and Paul McDougal in the U15b 800m (2m25.85). The relay squads also put in some excellent times, with the U13 girls winning their race in a time of 55.42s, slightly faster than the U13 boys, (56.06s) who also won their race. Borders won a close contest by 152 points to Belfast's 139.

An Inter-Region match between Borders and Lothians would be an interesting proposition – we'd be cheering on both sides!

Brian off to America