Ross County Athletics Club

Scottish Young Athletes League, Caird Park Dundee 5th July 2009

Added on 08 July 2009

Report from Tracy Tamijmarane

For the second year in a row TEAM HIPPO have been crowned Champions of the North East Division of the Scottish Young Athletes League and will compete in the Scottish Final in Grangemouth on the 23 August as one of the top 8 teams in Scotland. Inverness Harriers have also qualified and it will be great to see so many athletes from the Highlands and Islands compete at this top event.

In what turned out to be a roller coaster of a day at Caird Park in Dundee, it was the TEAM HIPPO athletes who shone through to win. After the first two races all events were halted for over 1 hour due to torrential rain and with discussions of match abandonment athletes’ hopes of a good day of competition were hanging in the balance. This was especially nerve racking as some athletes had travelled in from Shetland, Orkney, North Uist and Stornoway but as weather assessments and negotiations continued it was decided to continue with the day as the rain eased. Within 15 minutes of the rain stopping, steam was rising from the track, not only through evaporation but as the athletes resumed competition racing down the 100m straight. Within an hour of the rain ceasing, the sun gloriously came out for the rest of the day and dried everyone off! More drama was to unfold later as the team bus wouldn’t start for the return journey but once we finally left Caird Park in Dundee it was with a bus full of tired yet triumphant athletes!

Ross County Athletics Club was proudly represented in the U11 age group by Rebecca Dennoon, Long Jump, 800m & Relay & Logan Mathieson, 75m & Relay.

Drew Spark, Javelin (2^nd), 100m (2^nd), & Relay (1^st), Thomas Day 200m (2^nd), 800m (1^st) & Relay (1^st) and Stuart Michael, High Jump (2^nd) helped Team Hippo U15 Boys to a convincing 1^st place.

In what will be a long remembered match for the events of the day, Sunday will hopefully be the platform from which TEAM HIPPO and Inverness Harriers move forward together to promote athletics on the national stage by providing a quarter of all athletes at the Scottish Young Athlete’s League Final – proving that athletics is very much alive and kicking in the Highland’s and Islands.