IN THE RUNNING THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER

Issue 2

The official CERF Newsletter

In The Running

March 2014
THE CITY OF EDINBURGH RUNNING FESTIVAL PRO RUNNING AS IT SHOULD BE IN THIS ISSUE

The March CERF Newsletter

by Andy Cullen

Planning for the 2014 event is in full flow. The organizing committee meets regularly th and everything is looking good for the 4 of July.

more events then we need more sponsors. This year we have the ladies invitation and potentially a footballer versus rugby players race so new sponsors are vital. Its great to have Onyx and Insureness on-board.

Pre-event Dinner
We are still evaluating the feasibility of holding a dinner a month or so before the event but were still unsure as to interest so if you would be interested in coming along to a dinner where you would be entertained by a couple of well-known after dinner speakers please let one of the organizing committee know or contact us via Facebook. If there is enough interest we will go ahead and organize it.

Transition from Football to Athletics

Our Chairman Graeme Armstrong tells us of his journey from pro footballer to successful games athlete

Venue
Having already had our first meeting with Claire Corrieri of Boroughmuir Rugby Club they are happy to accommodate us again this year and will work with us to refine the use of their clubhouse to best suit our event. The venue has also been booked with Edinburgh Leisure who were fantastic in their enthusiasm to prepare the track and ground for last years event and are looking forward to helping again this year now that they have a better understanding of what is required.

Spotlight on Athlete
We have an insight into an athletes preparation from last years winner Graeme Scott.

Technical Corner
Bob Inglis discusses Speed What is it? in the first of hopefully many thought provoking articles on all subjects associated with running and performance. He knows.been there, done that!

On-line Entry
We are looking at offering athletes the opportunity to enter on-line this year as well as the traditional paper based entry. Still in the planning but hopefully it will be available in time for this years event and make entry simple and easy for all. We have to thank Graeme Lister for his assistance with this. And you never know, if we are successful maybe other meetings will follow suit

Sponsors
We are very fortunate to have the majority of our sponsors with us for the second year. Without sponsors there would be no event so we are extremely grateful for their continued support. We are also happy to welcome Onyx Building Services and Insureness as new sponsors. As we innovate and potentially add

IN THE RUNNING THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

My Journey from Footballer to Sprinter

by Graeme Armstrong

Many people dont know that Graeme was a successful professional football player with a Scottish record of 910 league appearances and continued playing until he was 44. Here he shares his journey from football player to sprinter, not as easy as you would think.

The footballer
As many of you will know, football was my number one sport, but what most of you wont know is that I didnt do any running till I was twenty three years old. As a schoolboy I had always been too small to compete against the guys with long legs and in any case I was always mad keen on football. So what changed?

Although my running season was short, as football training restarted in late June I couldnt help notice that I had gained a couple of yards in speed which helped me on the football pitch. Although I competed in a few events after football training had started I soon learned that training for two completely different sports at the same time was impossible.

commitment to a sport where only the winners are paid Although I was a pretty fit footballer I was learning about strength and conditioning work for the first time and it struck me that I might have been a better player had I been given better advice as a youngster.

Combining the two

So for next twenty years I finished the football season, trained for a few weeks and then competed in the early summer events. Although I gained a few successes at the smaller meetings it became clear that I was never fit enough to win a borders sprint. On many occasions I would win my heat, but as I would find out later I never had the strength and conditioning required to get the three runs required to win. For me the transition took quite a while. I reckon it took me three years training, strengthening and stretching to get fit enough where I could compete for the big sprints. As a football player your body becomes very inflexible with tight hamstrings and hips due to endless kicking a football, and this is the opposite of what a sprinter needs. At my age I couldnt get rid of all the tightness and still cant but I can nearly touch my toes now! I consider myself lucky to have competed in two great sports for so long and only wish I could start all over again!

Hooked on Sprinting
I had already been a professional football player for four years when George Wilson from Macmerry joined our work at Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. By this time I had grown a bit and was a reasonably quick winger with Stirling Albion so when George explained the sport to me I needed no second invitation to join him at Meadowbank for a training session. That was me hooked and within a few weeks I was making my debut in a novice heat at Peebles.

Life after football

At the age of forty four I retired from football and decided to try proper running training for the first time, joining the Affleck squad at North Merchiston gym. At that time two of the squad, Geoff Keen and David Lauder were in training for the New Year Sprint and their regime was a shock to my system. Six days a week, three in the gym and three on the track, week after week they never faltered and I could only admire their

IN THE RUNNING THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

TECHNICAL CORNER
by Bob Inglis

Speed what is it?

Some aspects of speed are learned (more later). Its talent inherent from birth. Its derived from teaching/training within a coaching process that is athlete specific and systematic and progressive. Environment and culture play a part there is nothing unless the athlete is within an encouraging circumstance, has a sense of their own worth, there has to be fun, trust in those around, a sense of their place in the past and current history of their community, personal motivation and the quality competition. The matter of past/current history and competition is best demonstrated by a view I have expressed many times that the best teenage sprinters in the USA takes for granted they will break 10 seconds in the UK that which is taken for granted will likely be well short of 10 seconds. It is what the USA teenagers have been brought up with. Likewise the Jamaicans teenagers are part of a history that drives ambition. There will those out there who will say I have not mentioned technique in my experience it comes with talent. There are variations from the 60m runner who toils to get the trip over 100m all the way through to the long striding 400m runner. It will be a struggle for any reader to convince me that coaching has much of an impact on these variations. I said I would return to speed is learned. Get the next newsletter I have run out of space. My best bit of advice forget an adult sprinters weaknesses, to make them better at sprinting improve their strengths always!

Scottish Masters Indoor Championships

by Mike Clerihew

Several other runners from the circuit have competed with distinction at Masters Indoor Championships in the past notably David Grieve who still holds Scottish Masters Best Performances for the 60m and 200m set at Kelvin Hall in 2002, Lee Notman who holds the Scottish Masters Best for the M35 400m set last year at the Emirates Arena, Andy Cullen, the current Newsletter editor, and Bruce Scott both multi medal winners in sprints. As you will all know Bruce is the father of Graeme Scott, winner of the 2013 Ortholink Sprint. There are some great Masters sprinters competing on the circuit and it would be great to see more of you competing at Scottish Masters Indoor/Outdoor Championships. One final word Don Campbell was at the meeting checking out performances prior to the summer events I trust that all sprinters gave 100%.

Several familiar faces from the Borders Athletics circuit took the opportunity to tread the boards at the magnificent Emirates Arena and some exceptional performances were recorded in the sprint events. In all twelve Championship Best Performances were recorded and three Scottish Masters Best Performances set. Pride of place must go to Walter Hunter who, in addition to winning the M70 200m in the excellent time of 29.37s, set a new Scottish Masters Best Performance in winning the M70 60m in 8.64s and to John Ross who bettered the current British Record with his winning time of 72.46s in the M75 400m. Special mention also to Cameron Smith who completed the 60/200m double in the M40 age category and Douglas Donald who did the same in the M50s. Regular circuit performers monopolised the medals in the M50 60m with Douglas winning, Ronnie Hunter second and Alan Crawford third. Other medal winning performances came from Wendy Nicol who came second in the W50 60m, John Steede second in the M70 60m, Tom Finkle third in the M45 60m and 200m and Eric Smart third in the M55 200m.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Info on anything to do with the City of Edinburgh Running Festival please email [email protected]

Walter Hunter (wearing bib 4) has retired more times than Frank Sinatra but still astounds us with his performances.

IN THE RUNNING THE OFFICIAL CERF NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

Spotlight on Athlete
by Andy Cullen

OUR NEW SPONSORS

A warm welcome is extended to our two new sponsors who have recently joined us to help us continue to bring an exciting event to athletes and spectators alike.

Graeme Scott, the winner of the 2013 Ortholink Sprint has been kind enough to give us an insight into his thoughts on and preparation for last years event. Even more interesting when you read what Graeme does for a living We look forward to welcoming Graeme back this year to attempt to defend his title

Working Away
The build up to CERF was a challenge in that I had just departed the vessel two weeks previously. My weeks away from the track were replaced with many gym sessions, focusing a lot around the use of plyometrics. We feel that the incorporation

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On the Event ..
First and foremost I would like to congratulate all of the committee involved in organising such a great inaugural event. I could only see positives created that evening which have gone a great deal towards further development in the sport we all love. Id also like to thank the sponsors without whom there would be no event and especially in my case thank Jim Malcolm for his generous sponsorship and enthusiasm.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact Andy Drummond

A Wonderful Surprise
To compete at the first CERF event was exciting, but to win the final event of the night was an absolute privilege, for myself and the coaches at TLJT! To win a high profile event such as this came as a wonderful surprise, not due to lack of training, but due to my circumstantial training

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of box jumps and various single leg stability exercises allowed us to maintain, and even improve, the specific power in the legs whilst spending so long away from the spikes. This was not a full substitute, but it enabled me to be training ready as soon as I got home. With this limited training, three runs were always going to be a challenge but never underestimate adrenaline and competition!

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Not many athletes are aware I work five week rotations onboard vessels that just cannot accommodate your standard sprint training for this we need some creativity. A great deal of credit has to be given to my father, Bruce Scott, who has worked tirelessly on training methods that work around my constraints. Jock Steede always says There's no substitute for racing! and he is certainly not wrong there, but over time we have managed to work around this to some extent.

Well done to Graeme and thanks for the insight to the effort and dedication it takes to win an event like CERF.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact Ken Davie

Phone: 0131 665 2536