Shining displays for athletics pair

Roger Graham • Published 1 Jul 2009 14:00

FOLLOWING on from their personal best runs on the previous Tuesday evening in Manchester, Inverclyde AC duo Chris Mackay and Mark Pollard recorded another two top displays at Stretford.

The pair had travelled south to contest the BMC Grand Prix. Both men were dropping down in distance from Tuesday night, Mackay to 800m and Pollard to his favourite 1500m distance.

First up was Mark in the men"s B race. As usual with these paced races it set off very quickly, Mark finding it difficult early on to hold his position. However, as the race progressed and the pace settled down into a good rhythm, Mark began to look more comfortable.

As they approached the bell Mark was still back in the pack but now began to make progress, running a swift 58-second last lap to surge through the field and finish in a new season"s best time of 3.49.16. That was his best time since 2006.

Mackay was next into action in the men"s A 800m. The pacemaker was asked to go through 400m in a very quick 52 seconds and, from the gun, Chris found this difficult to handle.

He was hanging onto the rear of the field as he went through 400m in 54seconds. Chris battled hard all the way through the second 400m, maintaining his form all the way to the line to achieve his second personal best time in five days running 1.50.14, improving his PB by 0.5second.

This short race workout augurs well for his return to 1500m racing next weekend.

Chris and Mark now travel to Belgium this weekend to contest the Flanders Cup as part of a small Scottish team.

Other members of Norrie Hay"s Endurance Group also achieved new personal bests recently.

At the Linwood OGM on Wednesday night Nynke Mulholland took 1.5seconds from her 800m PB, running 2.22.26. A few days prior to this, at the Scottish Schools Championships, Emily Pollock had the satisfaction of breaking the five-minute barrier for 1500m for the first time, running 4.59.6 to reach the Scottish Schools Ffinal in which she ran 5.01 to finish a creditable eighth overall.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 01 Jul 09

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