Athletics Round-up
A MAD scramble, and failure to follow the pace-maker, made a dent in the European Cup 800 metres aspirations of Edinburgh's Paul Walker yesterday in Slovenia, writes Doug Gillon.
Walker could finish only fifth in Ljubljana, beaten by England's Bradley Donkin, and under severe pressure from fellow-Scot Grant Graham. He now needs an emphatic run in Stockholm tomorrow, or Prague next Monday, to convince selectors he is the right man for the one-per-event match in St Petersburg, where Britain will try to qualify for September's World Cup final in Johannesburg.
Pacemaker Gary Cadogan took the field through in 51secs, but nobody followed. Graham found himself leading the pursuit, but was cut down in the final 300m.
Ireland's Jim Nolan won in 1-47.40, followed by two Hungarians. Donkin, whom Graham beat to take the Inter-county two-lap title last weekend, was fourth in 1-49.01 with Walker, battling past Graham for the second time, recording 1-49.32, .28 ahead of the Motherwell runner.
Walker, a member of Britain's world team last year, has run faster in Australia over the winter, and is confident he can regain the initiative.
Moray House student Cath Garden, experimenting for the first time in competition with four turns, in an attempt to find the elusive extra distance that will give her the Commonwealth qualifying mark of 55.00 metres, was well short.
She reached 49.94m to win the contest with her final throw, but will need to perfect the extra turn quickly if it is to give the required result.
The hot but blustery conditions were scarcely ideal for 400m running, but Ian McGurk (third, 47.57) and Chris Carson (fourth, 47.67) performed creditably. However, the gulf between them and leading UK runners was exemplified by Athens world finalist Iwan Thomas, who won in 45.27, with Jarred Deacon second in 46.70. Meanwhile Mark Hylton was clocking 46.82 in Seville.
Morocco's Salah Hissou had the best performance of the Spanish meeting, winning the 3000m in 7-36.97, fastest in the world this year. Russian world champion Lyudmila Galkina won the long jump with 6.92m and Swede Ludmila Engquist showed good hurdles form with 12.72.
Bank of Scotland Scottish Women's League second round. Division 1 (Meadowbank): Cancelled due to flooding. Division 2 (Inverness): 1, Inverness 351.5 match points (12 league points); 2, Central 298 (10); 3, Arbroath 257.5 (8); 4, City of Edinburgh 252 (5); 5, Kilbarchan 248 (4); 6, Falkirk 219 (3). Division 3 (Pitreavie): 1, Dundee Hawkhill 438 (11); 2, Fife 345 (11); 3, Lochgelly 269 (8); 4, BP Black Isle 183 (4); 5, Cumbernauld 113 (5); 6, East Kilbride 106 (3). Division 4 (Coatbridge): 1, Kirkintilloch Olympians 391 (16); 2, Law 333 (14); 3=, Livingston (11.5) and Airdrie (8.5), both 269; 5, Lasswade 259 (8); 6, Perth Strathtay 246 (8); 7, JW Kilmarnock 212 (4); 8, Inverclyde 136 (2).
Edinburgh & District League, Second round (Livingston): 1, Kwik-Fit Corstorphine 837 points; 2, Lasswade 712; 3, Scottish Borders 597; 4, Harmeny 234; 5, Livingston 177. Overall: 1, Corstorphine 1406; 2, Lasswade 1336.5; 3, Borders 1320 (holders); 4, Harmeny 764; 5, Livingston 731.5.South Highland Schools Championship (Inverness). Section 1: 1, Crown 71.5; 2, Drakies 67.5; 3, Millbank 67. Section 2: Holm. Section 3: Cradlehall. Section 4: Cawdor. Section 5: Plockton. Section 6: Balnair.
Muckletoon Doctors Run (Langholm): 1, D Cavers (Teviotdale) 42-28 (record); 2, A Douglas (Victoria Park) 43-41; 3, C McCann 45-56. Veteran: J Buchan (both Annan) 52-53.
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