Well, we did it! After much organisational effort to raise as many 4 x 100 teams as possible, we eventually turned out teams in seven out of the eight age groups, and were rewarded with spectacular performances by all the teams. The detailed results are given at the back of the Herald, but there were a couple of very special performances that are worth mentioning.

The time of 54.08s recorded by the U13 boys in winning their is, to our knowledge the second fastest in Scotland this year, and faster than any times run in the 1999 and 2000.

The time of 52.15 recorded by the U15 girls in coming second to Woollen Mill is to our knowledge the second fastest club time in Scotland this year.

A spate of injuries and call-offs in the U15 & U17 boys squads left us with two fit runners in each age group, so we combined them into an "U17" squad. We had the opposite problem with the U11 boys! Following a plea to the local schools to put forward talented athletes to join the two runners who were already confirmed, we had seven runners available on the Saturday! We managed a run-off race to decide the two places we needed to fill and they went on to run a very fast 61.50s. We're really sorry we couldn't find places for everyone in a relay team on the day, but hope to rectify that very soon. (If the administration at the Stadium hadn't been so officious we might have been able to find a reserve from another club to make up a team, as often happens at club events.)

The performances by all the teams made it worthwhile. But we have given Scottish Athletics a couple of real blasts for being so late in telling us of a change of timing (one day's notice!!!) which caused us, and other clubs real problems, and secondly for the rudeness shown by the event organisers to club management and to many of the athletes. We have received apologies from Scottish athletics for the organisational mess at the way we were treated, so if this event is repeated next year, the administration will be improved. They have also been reminded that we were promised prizes of some sort, and at the time of writing they are trying to sort something out.

The teams were:

U11 Girls:     Ara Grigor, Mhairi Campbell, Ashley Thomson , Louise Campbell
U11 Boys: Graham McInally, Murray Halliday, Roddy McLeod, Fergus McCorkell (plus Christopher Grassick, Philip Scott, Nick Tildersly)
U13 Girls: Claire Carmichael, Karen Milligan, Emma Mitchell, Stephanie Lyall
U13 Boys: Neil Campbell, Kerr Archibald, Glyn Desport. George McCorkell
U15 Girls: Stacey Downie, Siobhan Russell, Erin McIntosh, Amy Clancy
U17 Girls: Jenny Hutton, Lynsey Douglas, Paula Duncan, Catherine Graham
U17 Boys Oliver Kerr (U15), Shaun Desport (U15), Scott Nicholson. Alistair Dewar

We've been catching up with the Prize Draw, and the recent winners are:
April: George Ball; May: Gary Wilson; Jun: Christina Graham; July: Mark Wilson; Aug: Mrs Chambers.

The Club AGM is due to be held on Monday September 24th at Currie Rugby Club, starting 7:45. Which probably means that by the time you've received this Herald, the club AGM was held .........

The club has received a cash award of £250 under the Royal Bank of Scotland Community Cashback scheme. This is a scheme that recognises the efforts of Royal Bank of Scotland employees who devote time to community groups.

We spotted a few familiar names in a recent piece in the Peeblesshire News about Peebles High School athletics championships and the successes that the school has had in the Borders' school championships. It was a bit odd seeing everyone dressed smartly in school uniforms – but what about those ties!!!

In The Scotman's match report on the Currie v Stirling County rugby match there was a mention that Currie winger Simon May (who's been scoring a few tries this year) was a former Scottish Junior sprint champion. It didn't mention he ran for us though!

For all the parents who are "gently persuaded" to help out with officiating at league meetings, here is the opportunity you've been waiting for! There are courses being organised at Meadowbank Stadium on Sunday 7 October, 10:00 – 4:00 covering all aspects of technical officiating at Track & Field meetings. No longer need you be afraid of the clip-board, measuring tape or stopwatch, and you'll be able to work out if wee Jimmie can do a 100m sprint between throws of the Javelin!

But seriously, we DO need to provide assistance at all meetings, and it would greatly help the club, and ultimately all the youngsters, if more parents were willing to help out. It's definitely not as daunting as it first appears, and it can be very rewarding knowing you've contributed to a successful meeting. Contact the Scottish Athletics office on 0131-317-7320. If there is sufficient interest we will organise a local practise session for parents.

.. which means dark nights and rain outside, so training will be moving indoors. If there is sufficient interest we may add a bit more variety this winter by organising a monthly visit to the indoor facilities at Grangemouth or Meadowbank, possibly on a Sunday afternoon. As well as there being a much bigger running area than a school games hall there are also good facilities for practising High Jump, Long Jump, Hurdles etc indoors.

.. which also means that the new membership year will be starting (1 Oct) and membership forms will be included in the next Herald (and probably a few after that where we need to chase up fees)! The Club membership fees for 2001/02 will be set at the AGM, but one thing we now have to add in is a club levy which has been imposed by Scottish Athletics which now stands at £7 per club member. This is in addition to the Athletics Scotland registration scheme!

We have mixed feelings about many of the initiatives coming from the sports governing body, but there are a couple that are worth mentioning. There is now a scheme to support clubs bringing in specialist event coaches for training sessions. Secondly, as part of a series of five roadshows around the country, there will be a meeting at Scottish Athletics on Tue 2 Oct, 7.00 in their offices at Caledonia House, South Gyle, Edinburgh, to consider ways of developing the sport over the next couple of years. All are welcome to attend and voice any opinions.

We've still to see the official results, but it was a good all round performance from everyone, and we saw a new League record from George McCorkell in the U13 boys javelin. The U13 boys 4 x 100 relay squad of Michael Smith (on his debut), George, Neil Campbell and Kerr Archibald just missed out on the League record by one tenth of a second. We also had new club records from Fergus McCorkell in the U11 boys Long Jump and Chris O'Hare in the U11 Boys 800m (tbc). Given the lack of U11 boys at most meetings this year it was good to have a clean sweep of all the events competed in with Fergus and Roddy McLeod doing a 1A/1B double in both the Long Jump and the 80m.

We were decimated with holidays, and had to rely on Tony remaining on the track or virtually the whole afternoon!

With the responsibility of convening this match added to the logistical challenge of getting a team up the A9, we mounted a major operation to get our support organisation in place. This resulted in a total squad of five athletes, two non-athletic throwers, a team manager, and six supporters (husbands / wives / partners / parents) sampling Highland hospitality on the Saturday night and being fit enough to compete on the Sunday. Rather surprisingly (or not) we scored our highest total of the season, probably helped by reduced turnouts from some of the other clubs (and the weight gain programme that the throwers have been engaged in?). But the meeting will be very memorable for the two Stephens (Blane and Milne) who must have been taking baton juggling lessons from the UK Men's team..... Technically the 4 x 100m squad remain "unbeaten" at least in terms of no-one having out-run us, even if we didn't get the baton round this time.

* "Vet Men 4 x 100": We are aware that at one League match in 1994 the Senior Men's 4 x 100 relay team was made up of four veterans (the "real" athletes were at a Cup Match). If we can find the details, the oldies are claiming a record, which for health reasons may never be challenged!

The performances of Harmeny athletes representing the Lothians team at the first Railtrack Womens League meeting held at Scotstoun on the 27th May are:

Congratulations to everyone who won a total of 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze medals in the national U13 & U15 Championships. Hardest stint of the day must have Shaun Desport who had to run hard heats in both the 400m and 800m to get to the finals. George McCorkell was on fire with outstanding performances in the 100, 200 (setting new club records in both) and the Javelin. It took a new Scottish U13 record to beat George in the 200m!

"Youngsters" performing in the M40 age group were:

Stephanie Lyall has been recording some excellent times in the middle distance races at the local Open Graded meetings, just missing out on some very high quality club records.

Amy's time in the 300m will be a club (and possibly a Scottish) best at U15 as this event is not included in the programme at Amy's age in either Championships or League meetings. We look forward to see if it makes the official rankings for "U17" women!

Shaun Desport won the Shettleston Harriers Derek McLean Memorial 800m, held at Crownpoint, Glasgow on 4/9/01 in a time of 2m 7.5s, after winning his heat (held on 28/8/01) in 2m 8.9s. After Shaun's efforts in the U15 Championships (4 hard races in one day!), it must have been a real luxury to have a week between qualification and the final!

The winter fixture list has now been published, and everyone who is registered with Athletics Scotland should automatically receive a copy. We've extracted the most relevant fixtures for club members, but everyone should check it out to see what additional fixtures they are interested in. There will inevitably be amendments during the winter and we'll publish the ones which are relevant.

For Cross–Country races there is a single race for each age group at a time notified in advance. There is no limit on the number of competitors that a club can enter. Entry form and details are usually available about four weeks before each event. The best contact for further information is Ian Hislop, 0131-441-1604.

Atra Terme Italy: Marbeth Shiell has again been representing Scotland, this time as part of the Junior Women's team competing in the World Mountain Running Trophy. In her race Marbeth finished 28th in a time of 30min 57s, helping the Scottish team to twelfth place overall.

Brisbane: Gerry Starrs made it to the World Veteran Championships in Brisbane, Australia during July, where there was a seriously high level of competition, including several former Olympic competitors. Competing in the 800m Gerry ran a sub 55 sec first lap, but paid the penalty in the second lap and just missed out in progressing to the semi finals, finishing 4th in a time of 2min 05.89s

Amsterdam: Good luck to "Marathon Man" Richard Sharp who will be competing in the Amsterdam Marathon. This is probably the flattest marathon course in Europe. The next challenge will be to find a course which is downhill all the way!

Carlisle: Shaun and Glyn Desport recently travelled over the border to an open graded meeting in Carlisle. Shaun won both the 800m and 1500m (details of the exact times have to be obtained), whilst Glyn was second in both the Long Jump (4m36) and High Jump.

We'll be gathering together all the information that members need to help with the smooth running of the club, especially adults who help out with transport or administration. We'll put it all together in the "Essential parental guide for helping, finding venues, and answering all those difficult questions".

This month's bit is about why match results can change so much after scrutiny? And what exactly is "scrutiny"?

For team based meetings, such as the various Leagues we compete in, there is a team sheet which needs to be completed detailing the events that each athlete is doing. In some leagues there is other athlete info, such as Date of Birth and Athletics Scotland registration number which also has to be recorded. (The job of team manager will be covered in a future issue). These sheets are passed to the convening clubs who are responsible for the administration of the meeting. (All clubs take turns in convening and a guide will also be produced ..).

As the results come flooding in during the meeting, the convenors have to work out the points for each competitor in each event and transfer these to master score sheets. At the end of the meeting they will work out the overall match result. And that is what usually appears, in very small print, in The Scotsman or The Herald on Mondays (and in Athletics Weekly on Thursday). As those who have convened, or who come along to meetings regularly will know, compiling and processing all this information quickly and accurately can be a bit challenging. (Harmeny has a reputation as being one of the more reliable clubs.)

Scrutiny is the process which happens a few days after the meeting when all the paperwork – team sheets, event results and scoresheets etc are sent to someone who has time to sit down and check everything.

Inevitably in calculating the points for each club for each event and adding up all the scores there will be minor mistakes made on the day.

However, what usually causes the biggest changes in a club's score is usually mistakes that a club has made in compiling their team and entering the information in their team sheet. For example competitors might be put in the wrong age group, competitors are declared in too many events (points for all their events are lost), clubs might not provide enough officials/helpers (points are deducted for each official in their quota that a club fails to provide) etc etc.