A top silver for Chris in 1500m

Roger Graham • Published 24 Jun 2009 14:00

CHRIS MacKay picked up an excellent individual silver medal for Inverclyde AC in the senior men"s 1500m final at the National Track and Field Championships on Sunday at Pitreavie.

In the final MacKay put up an excellent display to take second place behind winner and defending champion Collis Birmingham of Australia, running as a guest.

Birmingham clocked a winning time of 3.42.56. MacKay"s 3.46.60 was one of the quickest times recorded by a Scot in a National Championship 1500m race.

Third place went to Ian Williamson of Cambridge County in a time of 3.48.13. Inverclyde AC had the most athletes in this particular final with Craig Ruddy and Mark Pollard also qualifying from the heats. Ruddy took sixth place in the final in 3.54.96, just slightly slower than his heat time of 3.54.06.

Pollard came home in ninth place in 4.01.25. In his heat Pollard produced a much better time of 3.52.95 when finishing third to Birmingham.

Promising youngster from the club, Andrew Campbell, just failed to make the final, finishing eighth in heat one of the 1500m, clocking a time of 4.02.56.

Triple Beijing Paralympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius of South Africa was also a welcome guest at this year"s Championships.

Pistorius, who runs on carbon fibre blades, took third place in the senior men"s 200m final, clocking a time of 22.20.

The winner was Ryan Oswald of Sale Harriers in 21.94, with former Inverclyde athlete Craig Fleming of Harrow taking silver in second place in 22.10.

Chris and Mark will now head for the next BMC Grand Prix in Manchester before flying out to contest an international 1500m in Belgium on 4 July.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 24 Jun 09

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