Stornoway Running and Athletics Club

Home Page

Club Sessions

Club Events

Club News

SRAC Gazette

North District Track and Field

12 May 2007

Click here to view photographs

North Uist AAC and SRAC were well represented at the North District Track and Field Championships, with a total of approximately sixty athletes competing from the Western Isles. The medal haul from the clubs was proof of their success as thirty-two medals came back across the Minch! NUAAC took five gold’s, four silver and four bronze, while SRAC won three gold’s, ten silver and six bronze.

NUAAC’s Marina McDougal set a North Championship U20 best at 1500m and doubled her gold count by also winning the 800m. There was also a very interesting isles contest in the men’s U20 1500m as NUAAC’s Iain Paco MacDonald and Andrew Keggs MacKenzie once again renewed rivalries. Over the year’s the pair have had interesting tussles on the country, the roads and the track. The scores between the two are fairly even, although the isles athletes stand out in their age category and the margin between the two on the day was only one second as Keggs came out winner on this occasion.

There was further success in the 1500m as Jane MacIver set one of the fastest female times of the day to take silver in the girls U15 race in a very good time of 5mins and 22 seconds!
Robert Jones had double silver performance in the 800m (2.27) and the 1500 (5.09) and his achievements in the SRAC team were matched by Mark Logue’s in the 200m (26.6) and 400m (59.30). Mark is one of SRAC’s most recent members and has fine potential for a bright future in the sport. In the girls sprints newcomers Mairi Graham and Allison MacInnes qualified for the 100m final – an achievement in itself in their first year of competition! The 200m final also had a SRAC pair Kristina MacKenzie and Rebecca Munro, Rebecca after a hard 800m race got revenge on her Caithness rival’s, the Dunnett twins to out sprint them to take a well earned bronze medal.

The future of Isles athletics is looking promising and the provision of new athletics facilities at Lionacleit and Leverburgh will further strengthen the sport. Many thanks to Lewis and Harris Sports Council for supporting the trips and the coaches and parents, in particular Adrienne Stewart for all their work in making the trip possible and a big success.

SRAC last year campaigned for a late ferry service on a Saturday evening, departing Ullapool some time between 7 and 8pm to allow a full day’s activity on the mainland with a comfortable amount of time to return to Ullapool for the ferry. This had the support of the MP, MSP, Lewis & Harris Sports Council, Scottish Athletics, Scottish Rugby Union, L & H Football Association, L &H Youth Clubs, several Community Councils, Stornoway Rugby and Karate Club, local football clubs. SRAC also carried out a questionnaire asking two questions, 1. the status quo and 2. a sailing between 7and 8pm. 500 people returned a 96% in favour of a late sailing!

However this was not given a glimpse of hope from Cal Mac! This weekend to allow our club athletes to complete their day’s competition, fifteen of SRAC’s young athletes had to divert their return journey from Inverness, through to Skye, sail to Lochmaddy, drive to Berneray, and sail to Leverburgh before driving to Stornoway as the early (5.15pm) ferry departure from Ullapool would have curtailed activities in Inverness at 3.30pm! A full two hour before the event was scheduled to finish! While Comhairle nan Eilean Siar do their best to develop sport and provide sporting facilities we are challenged and disadvantaged by an inadequate ferry service on Saturday’s  by an uncaring service provider. Any comments or enquiries for support can be made through SRAC web site, www.srac.org.uk