HomeAnother PB For Gregor
Added on 06 July 2010
Gregor McCarthy was the only RCAC athlete to compete for Team Hippo in Sunday's SYAL. Congratulations to him, here's his story of a very successful day. Photos can be found in the Photo Album, or follow the External Link.
On Sunday 4th July, American Independence Day, I joined the HIPPO coach at Inverness for the journey through to Aberdeen for a meeting of the Scottish Young Athletes League at a blustery Chris Anderson Stadium.
It was the first time I had been selected for Team HIPPO or competed outside Inverness, so was not sure what to expect. The bus journey was uneventful although we did see Elgin on more than one occasion as we forgot to uplift one of our athletes on the first visit.
Arriving at Aberdeen about 11 o’clock I found I had to wait until half past 3 before I was to compete in the Shot Putt. I took this time to look around the fantastic facilities they have in Aberdeen and even enjoyed a hot chocolate or two.
As I watched the other athletes competing I saw some sights that I have never seen before and one I don’t want to see again! During one of the girls race a HIPPO athlete was running around the bend when the wind caught the high jump mat, knocking one of the officials over and nearly knock our athlete over, thankfully she was quick on her feet and managed to miss the flying mat and finished her race safely.
Just before I started my warm up for the shot putt I was informed that I was required to run in the 4 x 100 metres relay as well. Following my warm up throws I had four counting throws and on my third throw managed a personal best of 5.01 metres.
I then changed into spikes for a quick baton changing practice before taking on the second leg of the relay. Just as the relays were starting there was a heavy downpour of rain which made the transfer of the baton even trickier. Following a quick first leg we lost a bit of time with an untidy transfer but were still in the lead. Following a second untidy changeover we lost more momentum which we were not able to pick up on the final changeover running home comfortably in second place.
At the end of the competition it was just the bus journey home and the visit to the chip shop in Keith to look forward too, that was until we found out that Team HIPPO had qualified for the Finals on 1st August.