It was a victorious night for Scotland in Grangemouth on Tuesday, as local athletes swept the board at the Bank of Scotland Cup. 

The annual athletics meet, that pits some of the UK’s top athletes against British, Irish and American up-and-comers, was dominated by Scotland’s track and field stars.  The Scotland senior squad won the event, while the Bank of Scotland Development Team finished third, just behind the USA Juniors.  Ireland and Wales placed fourth and fifth respectively.

Also competing was Sweden’s Olympic champion heptathlete Carolina Kluft, and English middle-distance runner Andy Baddley. Kluft was a guest long-jumper, while Baddley ran in the men’s 800m, finishing 2nd.

The most thrilling race of the night was the men’s 400m hurdles.  Coming into the final bend, it looked as though Chance Casey of the US was going to coast to an easy win, but Scotland’s Francis Smith, in the neighbouring lane, mounted a fight-back in the final 100m.  Neck and neck at the finish line, the pair close to passing out with exhaustion, Casey prevailed, just, by 7/100ths of a second.

Scotland claimed first place in nearly all of the events, though.  Team captain Eilidh Child got her squad off to the best of starts, emphatically winning the women’s 400m hurdles in a time of 57.97, nearly two second faster than her closes rival.

In the women’s 300m, Carey Easton finished 1st in a time of 38.11, closely followed by Gemma Nicol, who ran 39.09, making it a one-two for Scotland.  Meanwhile Scottish champion Joanna Ross outstripped compatriots Lynsey Sharp and Jenny Tan in the 800m, finishing with a time of 2.07.58.

In the men’s track races, Olympic prospect Andrew Lemoncello put in a fine performance to win the men’s 2,000m steeplechase, finishing 6 seconds ahead of his nearest rival in 5.35.53.

Nick Smith also ran 10.68 in the men’s 100m to earn Scotland a few more winning points.  Smith joins Lemoncello at the Olympic trials next weekend.

Between the tracks in field events, Edinburgh’s Jayne Nisbet won the high jump after a count-back, jumping 1.81m, just 1 centimetre off her PB, while Nony Mordi and David Watson won the team triple jump event.  Later in the evening Scottish champ Gillian Cooke won the long jump, though she was still some way off the distances Carolina Kluft was covering. 

James Campbell won the javelin, closely followed by the Development Team’s Chris Smith.  Campbell was the only athlete to throw above 70metres, hitting 70.14m with his second trial.

Former Scottish Olympian Brian Whittle praised the impact that an event like the Bank of Scotland Cup can have on young athlete. 

“This is the kind of event that young people need.  It teaches them to race.  The young athletes need to race against GB and Scotland level athletes to get that experience.  We need more meets like this in Scotland.”