In preparation for the upcoming outdoors season, Glasgow University Athletics Club recently played host to numerous universities from all over Scotland, in a Freshers’ match at the Kelvin Hall arena.
As one of the semester’s earliest competitions, the event provided newcomers to the club with a chance to compete against some of Scotland’s top flight university clubs as well as a taster of the upcoming Scottish and British championships later on in the year. The club’s existing members were also given the opportunity to compare their timings and distances and had the chance to network with competitors from across the country.
This year’s men’s captain, Duncan Macrosson, who was runner up in both the 60m and one of the two 200m finals, emphasised the importance of the winter match for the club:
“The freshers’ match prepares us for the season ahead on a personal level and lets each individual know where they stand against their other competitors.” He added:
“It also allows us to gain knowledge on areas to train on and improve. On a team level, it lets everyone get to know each other better, which is good for the morale and also allows us to see how quick our relay teams will be against the other squads in the coming months.”
The overall results were evenly spread between the universities with Edinburgh, Glasgow and Strathclyde notably all gaining positive outcomes from the competition. Cameron Clark, a fresher for Glasgow, made a promising start for the club in the field events, securing second in the triple jump and narrowly missing out on the runners up spot in the long jump to Edinburgh’s Max Stich.
Siobhan Coleman was the highlight for Glasgow’s women’s team, winning the 3000m event in a time of 10mins 41 seconds. It was Edinburgh, however, who dominated the main track events of the day for the women with Avril Jackson comfortably winning both the 60 metres and 200 metre events.
Glasgow’s long distance runners showed encouraging early season pace; Danny Clark winning the second final of the 200m and Kevin McCloy winning the 400m event by a comfortable margin. Matthew Gillespie also secured third in the 800 metres final, and Daniel Bradford and Thomas Fay clinched second and third respectively in the 1500m event.
Stirling, who proved to be Glasgow’s most notable opponents in outdoor competition, still remain the team to beat this year. Macrosson is confident of an indoor advantage over their rivals, and feels that with a few more competitors in both the male and female squads, Glasgow will be on equal ground going into next year’s BUCS competitions.
