Month: February 2017

28/02/2017

Para Bowlers Selected for Home Nations Championships

Scottish Disability Sport is delighted to announce a team of twenty seven bowlers, directors and coaches that will compete in the upcoming Home Nations International in Newport Wales from Friday 21 April to Sunday 23 April. The event is one of two Home Nation international fixtures in 2017, with preparations for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 starting to gather pace.

The best of Scotland’s para bowlers will compete against the leading players from England and Wales, to be crowned champions. In addition, the event serves as an opportunity for coaches and selectors to try differing combinations and analyse team and individual performances against top level opposition. Furthermore, it will allow the squad the opportunity for much needed team building, as several new players and coaches will be involved.

Commenting on the team selection, SDS Performance Manager Gary Fraser said:

“SDS are delighted to announce a strong team of players to represent Scotland at this Event and having been involved in the programme over the past 6 months, it will be great to see the players compete at this level. It is an exciting time within the sport as we head into a busy competition period.”

Performances at this event will go a long way in determining who will be selected for the Multi Nation Event and Training Camp in Broadbeach, Australia in May. This event has a major significance on our programme as it contributes to qualifying the nation for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

For a full list of players please see below.

	Name	Classification	Town	Local Authority
Player	Billy Allan	B6	Cowdenbeath	Fife
Player	Gary Clelland	B6	Linlithgow	West Lothian
Player	Mike Nicoll	B6	Jedburgh	Scottish Borders
Player	Garry Brown	B7	Kirkmuirhill	South Lanarkshire
Player	Don Chalmers	B7	Buchlyvie	Stirling
Player	John Hughes	B7	Stewarton	East Ayrshire
Player	Martin Hunter	B7	Burntisland	Fife
Player	Barbara McMillan	B7	Cowdenbeath	Fife
Player	Michael Simpson	B7	Auchtermuchty	Fife
Player	John Wardrope	B7	Ayr	South Ayrshire
Player	Brendan Handling	B7	Stranraer	Dumfries & Galloway
Player	Robert Barr	B3	Glasgow	Glasgow
Player	Billy Edgar	B2	Saltcoats	North Ayrshire
Player	Irene Edgar	B2	Saltcoats	North Ayrshire
Player	Maria Spencer	B3	Dunfermline	Fife
Player	Mary Stevenson	B2	Barrhead	Renfrewshire
Director	Sarah Jane Ewing		Dunfermline	Fife
Director	Ron McArthur		Falkirk	Falkirk
Director	Christine Morrow		Dalmuir	Clydebank
Director	Doreen Strachan		Glasgow	Glasgow
Director	David Thomas		Ardrossan	North Ayrshire
Head Coach	Bob Dick		Cupar	Fife
Coach	Chris McGready		Perth	Perth & Kinross
Coach	Eric McMillan		Cowdenbeath	Fife
Coach	Nigel Walker		Dalgety Bay	Fife
Coach	Bob Christie		Brechin	Angus

28/02/2017

Get Out Get Active Regional (GOGA) Forth Valley Launch

The official launch of the GOGA Project in the Forth Valley was held on Monday 20^th February 2017 at the Stirling Albert Hall. The Forth Valley Launch was held on the same night as the Forth Valley Disability Sport AGM and Awards evening in front of Forth Valley’s three local authority Provosts, local and national partners representatives and FVDS participants, supporters, coaches, volunteers and family members. During the regional GOGA launch attendees were shown a short video explaining the back ground of GOGA and project main areas of development over the next three years. Please see below link to our website where the Forth Valley GOGA launch video can be viewed, www.fvds.org.uk

The project’s main focus will work around the physical activities of Walking, Cycling and Swimming and will implement research undertaken at Stirling University on FVDS’s intake and will look at improving FVDS gender balance. However through engaging many new individuals, partners and organisations we will hope to see an increase in both male and female participation numbers. The project will involve improving existing activities and developing new provision to support the needs of our participants.

From the start of the project FVDS will be looking at recruiting a new bank of volunteers during the project and will provide training for all volunteers to upskill and improve their knowledge and understanding of the needs of people with and without a disability and the ways of engaging both groups together.

GOGA is funded by Spirit of 2012 and driven by a consortium of 18 UK wide local partners and 15 national partners. The lead organisation in Scotland is Scottish Disability Sport. In this project FVDS will work with many partner organisations including Scottish Disability Sport, Stirling Council, Clackmannanshire Council, Falkirk Council, sportscotland, Active Stirling, Falkirk Community Trust, NHS Forth Valley, Forth Valley College, University of Stirling, Women in Sport, 2e-volve, local community clubs and classes, support agencies, Blazing Saddles, Paths For All, Braveheart and Scottish Swimming. From the project, partnerships will have strengthened and FVDS work will be recognised by partners. Good practice and learning from this project can be circulated around Scottish Disability Sport Branches, local authorities and other organisations.

Graham Harvey, FVDS Branch Coordinator, said:

“The Get Out Get Active project will give Forth Valley Disability Sport the chance to grow and strengthen the opportunities the charity provides to engage new participants from our hardest to reach groups, as well as bringing individuals with and without disabilities together.”

For more information please do not hesitate to contact FVDS GOGA Lead Officer Eva Finlayson by email on: goga@fvds.org.uk or Info@fvds.org.uk

Like us on facebook and Twitter at Forth Valley Disability Sport.

28/02/2017

YPSP February Update – Ross Foley

2016 was a great year for me, going to different badminton tournaments around the UK and also working with Lothian Disability Sport Branch (LDS) and helping out at Scottish Disability Sport National events. The highlight of the year was winning the Princess Diana Award for inspiring people into sport. This was a great end to the year as it demonstrated that people were encouraged by me and understood what I was trying to achieve. I volunteered to give a speech at the end in front of everyone about what I do and why I won the award.

2017 started off a quiet year and our local club, Lothian Disability Badminton Club, worked in partnership with SDS to create the first National Badminton tournament as a pilot on the 28th of January. I played well and succeeded to the semi-finals of the singles and continued to win the doubles with my partner, Andrew Davies. In February I competed in the Scottish Four Nations ParaBadminton tournament in Ravenscraig, playing both singles and doubles competition. Although I didn’t win any of my matches I am happy with the way I played especially as gaining experience was one of my main objectives going into the competition. I’ve still got a lot of potential I just need to find more time to training and improve my skills.

More recently, I have been asked to speak in Parliament in front of college students to talk about inspiring others – something I have been spending a lot of time doing over the last three months. This topic is a big passion of mine as I work and play sport to inspire others. I aim to show people that whatever I am or who you are, everything is possible, nothing is impossible, it’s all about you inspiring others and yourself to achieve goals, that you would never thought would happen.

For the rest of 2017 I am going to be focussing training and also motivating and inspiring people. I will mainly be focussing on inspiring young people to believe in themselves and not to be scared about what lies ahead, use it as the future, something good and worthwhile to look forward to in life and inspire others to do the same.

28/02/2017

Fife Coaches Assemble for Sports Coach UK Workshop

22 coaches from a wide variety of sports attended the fourth learning and development course/workshop organised by Disability Sport Fife (DSF) this year. The sports coach UK Workshop (How to Coach Disabled People in Sport) was held at the Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre on Monday 27th Feb and attracted interest from 22 coaches from east, west and central Fife. Sports represented included bowls, hockey, tennis, gymnastics, cycling, water skiing, athletics, golf, archery, basketball etc. There was a particularly strong representation from the Enigma Gymnastics Club in Leven and students from the University of St Andrews.

Sports Coach UK tutor Richard Brickley led the workshop with invaluable support from DSF lead coach Pamela Robson. Delegates addressed inclusion through sport; the Sports Inclusion Model (SIM); divisioning within disability sport; challenges to participation; key principles of effective communication; appropriate activities for participants with different impairments and how to adapt or modify content and/or delivery style.

The workshop was delivered in an interactive, engaging and friendly environment. DSF will host the next Sports Coach UK How to Coach Disabled People in Sport Workshop on Monday 25th September. Interested participants should contact the DSF office on 03451 555 555 extension 444 989 or norma.buchanan@fife.gov.uk for further details.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

27/02/2017

Everybody Active Team’s Match Day Action at Pittodrie

Registered charity Sport Aberdeen, in partnership with AFCCT, run the Everybody Active Football Team for people with additional support needs. Everybody Active, facilitated by Sport Aberdeen is an exciting and extensive programme aimed at opening up sport and physical activity to adults with a learning disability.

The Everybody Active Football Team had an action packed night to remember on Wednesday 15^th February when they were invited to attend the AFC v Motherwell match at Pittodrie.

Fourteen players were joined by their coaches, supporters and family at the match where everyone enjoyed an exciting first half, which saw the Don’s go 4-0 up with a flurry of goals. The team got the chance to take to the pitch themselves at half time where they played two small sided games, led by their coaches Andy Will and Scott Duncan from AFCCCT.

For the players, many of whom are Aberdeen FC fans, the chance to play at Pittodrie in front of a 10,500 strong crowd was a once in a lifetime experience. Everyone did themselves proud with some excellent play, Adam Rooney certainly wasn’t the only player to score a hat-trick in the stadium on the night!

The final score saw a 7-2 win for Aberdeen making it the highest scoring match of the 2016/ 17 domestic season. An action packed night for all.

Everybody Active Football sessions are open to male and female players aged 16 years and over with a physical, sensory or learning disability. Sessions take place at Sheddocksley Sports Centre on Fridays from 1:30 – 3pm during school term time. In addition to weekly training, the players have the opportunity to play in local and national festivals and tournaments.

For more information, please contact Andrinne on ACraig@sportaberdeen.co.uk or 01224 047926

27/02/2017

Brilliant 2016/2017 East Series Results by Fife Athletes

The East Cross Country Series is organised by Scottish Athletics and Scottish Disability Sport and run over four rounds. Three rounds are held at Peffermill in Edinburgh and one in Fife at the Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy. The Fife event is organised by Disability Sport Fife and Fife AC with support from Kirkcaldy Rugby Club and Sports Leaders from Kirkcaldy HS.

Throughout the East Series, separate sections are offered to athletes with a physical, sensory or learning disability and athletes have the choice of competing over 500 metres, 1K, 2K or 3K. Overall Series Champions are presented with Scottish Athletics medals at the conclusion of the fourth round and this year Fife athletes recorded their best Series results to date. To be considered athletes have to compete in at least three rounds of the East Series.

Sophie Coughlin from Bell Baxter HS was the outstanding S1 athlete of the Series with three wins from four for a total of 30 points. In her first outing Sophie completed the course in 6.37 for second place and in the fourth and final event she set a personal best time of 5.58. An improvement of almost 40 seconds. In the equivalent event for boys Nathan Smith from Woodmill HS won the gold medal with 29 points and Stephen Davies Lochgelly HS and Richard Myers Woodmill HS finished second and third with 26 and 24 points respectively.

Three Fife S2 pupils won the girls 1k Series medals with 30, 28 and 24 points. Amy Dignan Lochgelly HS won the gold medal and demonstrated an improvement from first to fourth race of 35 seconds. Chloe Ramsay Lochgelly HS and Saskia Taylor Woodmill HS won silver and bronze. The boys S2 1K was won by Edwin Barron Woodmill HS with 30 points and a personal time improvement over four rounds of 26 seconds. Landon McKinnon and Reece Philip from Lochgelly HS won silver and bronze with 27 and 22 points.

The girls S3 Series over 1K resulted in another clean sweep of medals for Fife athletes. Megan Wilson Woodmill HS won gold with 30 points, Billie Lowe Balwearie HS won silver with 28 points and Kayshaleigh Lambert Lochgelly HS won bronze with 24 points. The 1 K Series for S3 boys with a physical impairment was won by Connor Brown from Woodmill HS with 30 points. Connor set the fastest time of any S3 boy in the 2016/2017 Series. Owen Handley Woodmill HS and Shakeel Ul-Haq Lochgelly HS finished second and third in the Series for athletes with additional support needs with 23 and 21 points.

Derry Reilly Lochgelly HS and Kerry Kotlewski Bell Baxter HS finished second and third in the S4 girls 1K Series with 26 and 20 points. Arran Howe from Bell Baxter HS was the outstanding S4 boy over 1K with a total of 30 points and a personal best time of 4.40. Arran’s PB was the fastest time recorded by any athlete over 1K in any year group at the 2016/2017 Series.

Taylor McDowall from Balwearie HS won the S5/S6 girls 1K with a total of 27 points. Reece Dickson Balwearie HS won the boys S5/S6 Series with 30 points and improved over four races by 35 seconds. Scott Combe Woodmill HS won bronze with 22 points.

Twins Louise Harley (30 points) and Michelle Harley (28 points) from Lochgelly HS finished first and second with 30 and 28 points in the S3-S6 girls 2K Series. Fife pupils collected gold, silver and bronze in the boys S5 Series with 28, 23 and 20 points. Mathew Blair Woodmill HS won gold, Callum Harrison –Jones Balwearie HS silver and Gary Fraser Lochgelly HS bronze. Brandon Eason Balwearie HS was second overall in the boys 3K Series of races with a total of 16 points.

These were the best East Series results recorded by Team Fife since the event was first established. Disability Sport Fife hopes to field a strong team for the Scottish Championships (Thursday 23 rd March) when the leading athletes in the East take on the West and the North at the National Championships organised by Scottish Athletics and Scottish Disability Sport at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow. In addition Fife athletes are also looking forward to the Fife Championships organised by Disability Sport Fife and Fife AC at the Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy on Thursday 18^th May. Cross country has become one of the most popular activities on the DSF calendar of events.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

24/02/2017

Para Bowlers Compete with the Best

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) entered two triples for the inaugural East Lothian Indoor Bowling Club ProAm triples event. The event provided SDS with an opportunity to field two different combinations as preparations start to ramp up in the lead into the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 in Australia.

The selected teams included a combination of players from the B6/B7/B8 classification groups and all players are members of the Scottish Disability Sport para bowls Commonwealth Games Extended Squad. They were supported by two of our leading coaches, Nigel Walker and Chris McGready.

The teams were as follows:

Billy Allan (Fife)
Garry Brown (West)
Michael Simpson (Fife)

AND

Barbara McMillan (Fife)
Mike Nicoll (Scottish Borders)
Martin Hunter (Fife)

The event attracted entries from many of the country’s leading mainstream bowlers, including the Alex Marshal MBE, Willie Wood MBE, Darren Burnett and Stewart Anderson, which provided a stern test for our players.

Allan, Brown and Simpson qualified from their pool winning each of their three matches to reach the quarter final, where they lost out narrowly. However, McMillan, Nicoll and Hunter struggled in their pool and failed to progress. The experience was of benefit for all the players involved, with all players gaining more playing time in the two bowl triple format, which will be the format used in Gold Coast 2018. A further plus point from an SDS perspective, was Mike Nicoll making his Scotland debut.

Throughout this year our leading para bowlers have major events to prove their worth, including the SYIBA Test Match in Falkirk in March, the Home Nations in Wales in April, the SDS/SIBA Indoor Bowls Championships in Falkirk in April, Multi Nation Event and Training Camp in Broadbeach Australia in May, Bowls Scotland National Championships in July and the Home Nations Championships in Nottingham in October.

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24/02/2017

Scottish 4 Nations ParaBadminton Tournament

Many of Scotland’s finest ParaBadminton players took to the stage at last weekend’s Scottish 4 Nations ParaBadminton Tournament. The annual event took place at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell between the 17 and 19 February. The Scots came up trumps once again with Fiona Christie, Aimee Allan and Karen Lyttle leading the way as the Scotland players topped the podium in 13 of the 28 categories. Well done to all the players, coaches and officials for hosting another successful 4 Nations event in Scotland. For full results and information please follow the link below

http://www.badmintonscotland.org.uk/index.php/latest-news-a-publications/4169-christie-allan-and-lyttle-show-scots-the-way-at-4-nations-para

24/02/2017

December 12, 2016

Minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2016

Caledonia House, South Gyle, Edinburgh EH12 9DQ at 1700

Attendees

Janice Eaglesham MBE, Chair
Catherine Goodfellow, Vice Chair
Gavin Macleod, CEO
Oliver Barsby, Director
Jay Runga, Director
Iain Smith, Director
Caroline Lyon, Company Secretary

Apologies

Gerry Milne, Director
Dave Rhoney, Director
Claire Morrison, Director
Jennifer Griffin, sportscotland Partnership Manager

1. Welcome and Apologies

2. Conflicts of Interest and Legal Register

There were no conflicts of interest and no matters on the legal register of which SDS is aware.

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting, 29 October 2016

P2 should be amended to indicate involvement in the strategic planning rather than participation.

4. Matters Arising

It was confirmed that the Articles of Association had been sent to Companies House.
Work on the new database has been delayed but is progressing.
The skills audit form is being updated. Action: Chair/Vice Chair
The Finance Manager’s work on Policies and Procedures prior to the development audit was acknowledged.
Positive feedback has been received on the office refurbishment.
Feedback is awaited from Bowls Scotland regarding the IBD Championships.
The Opportunities & Equality Manager is investigating the workload involved in achieving the higher level of the Equality Standard. Action: JL
The AGM date has been agreed as 17 September 2017 and the event will be combined with the Branch Conference. The staff team was thanked for their work on the previous combined event.
The sportscotland Team Scotland dinner had been held and the event was successful for SDS in terms of recognition of athletes and the Legacy 2014 award for the UKDIT. The date for next year’s dinner will be 21 September.

The accounts had been presented and accepted by the finance sub group. Paperwork has been circulated and discussed and it was agreed all was in order. The next meeting will see the next quarter accounts presented.
All staff are now in post and the position with Lothian Disability Sport has been filled.

The Chairs’ forum has started.

5. Sub Groups

Finance

The Chair had met the CEO to discuss how best to develop the position of the Finance Director.
Preparation was under way for the development audit which will be held from 30 January to 4 February 2017. An email had been sent to sportscotland to request a note of the information which will be required. The CEO would follow this up and circulate the information once received. Action: CEO

Governance: Policies

Policies had been circulated for agreement and two for information.

The Risk Management Policy and IT Strategy were outstanding at the last audit and were now produced. Kim Atkinson of Scottish Sports Association had been asked to conduct the review of the Chair.
The Risk Management Policy was agreed with suggested amendments. The Vice Chair will feed back to the CEO and the CEO will amend accordingly. Action: Vice Chair, CEO
The Risk Register had been updated by the CEO. Iain Smith offered to share this with the risk department at Standard Life for comments and the offer was accepted. The policy was agreed with amendments.
The Financial Procedures Policy had been written by the Finance Manager and CEO. The Chair will ask Gerry Milne for comments. The CEO and Finance Manager will review and Gerry Milne will be asked to notify any amendments before the next Board meeting. Action: Chair, CEO, GM
The IT Strategy may require to be updated, for example where social media is mentioned, and should be linked to the Social Media Guidelines. It was suggested that consideration be given to encryption, data protection, password strategy and the strategy should also cover tablets and mobile phones. Oliver Barsby and Jay Runga offered to pass suggestions to the CEO. Iain Smith offered to look at data protection issues. Action: OB, JR, IS
It was agreed to circulate the IT Strategy to Branches as part of the MOR once updated. Iain Smith will provide a summary on new legislation and the CEO will ask Harper MacLeod for copies of documents. Action: IS, CEO
The Health & Safety Toolkit had been reviewed by Iain Smith and feedback will be provided. Action: IS
It was suggested that the Volunteer Policy be developed in future.
sportscotland had circulated template documents regarding Child & Vulnerable Adult Protection and encouraged all governing bodies to be prepared for any allegations. Advice was to direct all enquiries to Safeguarding in Sport, who however only handle children and the question was raised about a support structure for vulnerable adults. It was agreed the Chair and CEO would shape a statement for the website and the Opportunities & Equality Manager would be asked for input. Action: Chair, CEO, JL

6. Board Updates

The Opportunity & Equalities Manager had contacted Jay Runga regarding attendance at a South Lanarkshire Branch meeting. The scheduled meeting had been postponed until 7 January 2017.
GB Boccia has received a 13% increase in funding.
The Board dates had been circulated. All Board members were requested to notify availability prior to each meeting as it would be possible to alter dates to accommodate maximum Board attendance.
Staff had been notified of dates of presentations to Board. The Board were requested to indicate the information they would like to be presented and all were asked to consider what aspects of work were of most interest. It was requested that all staff presentations be circulated in advance. It was agreed that Claire Morrison would liaise on behalf of the Board with the CEO to agree content. For the Performance presentation it was agreed that topics should include the Academy and talent ID, key strategic challenges, successes, an overview of the job, a focus on what has worked well, and key learning from 2016 including Rio.
Feedback from the staff away days will be circulated. Action: CEO

7. Partners Updates

SDS had sent apologies to the BPA AGM on 9 November. No elections had been held. Four members are up for re-election including the Chair. Tim Reddish will be standing down and two more members will not be standing again. Nominations open on 16 December and elections will be held on 28 February. The Board were asked to give consideration to nominations. Action: All
The UKSA is now running on a minimal budget. The remaining staff member has been made redundant and is currently working on a voluntary basis. A meeting had been held with the BPA regarding classification.
The Chair and CEO had attended the CPISRA AGM and General Assembly. There had been a good attendance with 23 nations represented. The new strategic plan is progressing and Peter Drysdale and Craig Carscadden had been elected as President and Coaching Manager respectively. The World Games will be held in 2018, probably in Spain. The General Assembly of the International Federation of CP Football had been held at the same time where a new strategic plan had been presented. There is the aim of football being back on the Paralympic programme. A new president has been elected and a member at large for America and Asia but no secretary general or member at large for Europe or Africa. A commitment was made to bringing the committee to full strength.
GBDFA membership was discussed. Football has been withdrawn from the Paralympic programme other than blind football and there was a question over membership in the meantime. The Board agreed to suspend membership until there is a visual impairment football programme in Scotland or cerebral palsy football is back on the programme.

8. Sports/Events

Highlights from 2016 include:
- Targets have been met for event attendance.
- SDS is confident of meeting targets for 2017.
- Events have been influenced by the international situation.
- The Scottish Boccia Championships will be held at Inverclyde as an open event, a three day residential with singles, pairs and teams.
- The curlers have qualified for the Winter Paralympics and World Championships.
- The CEO had recently had a meeting with the CEO of RYAS. A bid had been submitted to host the World Para Sailing Championships next year at Inverclyde and Cumbrae.
- GB Boccia are bidding to host the 2018 World Championships in the UK.

9. Board Training Days

Legal input from Iain Smith was agreed to have been very helpful and a document had been prepared for Board members and circulated at the meeting.

10. Updates and Information

The CEO had had a meeting with Jay Runga regarding potential commercial partnerships. The CEO had provided JR with the presentation previously created.
The Vice Chair had attended a conference on behalf of SDS. The CEO had also attended and workshops including legal updates had been attended.
The Vice Chair had also attended equality and child protection workshops.
Several members had attended the Coaching and Volunteering Awards where Eddie McCluskey and Karen Ross had received recognition.
The Chair had met with Gerry Milne, and attended the National Learning Disability Swimming Championships as well as a meeting in London with UKSA and the CPISRA General Assembly in Barcelona.
SDS was represented at the Sunday Mail Awards where winners included Gordon Reid and Maria Lyle.
Notes from the Board training days had been circulated.

11. DONM

30 January 2017

24/02/2017

Outstanding Performances by Fife Athletes in Edinburgh

Disability Sport Fife (DSF) considers the East Series Cross Country programme organised by scottishathletics and Scottish Disability Sport as one of the major successes in the development of athletics in the east of Scotland. DSF member organisation schools entered over 90 athletes for Round 3 of the East Series at the Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy and for round 4 at Peffermill in Edinburgh on 21^st February, around 50 athletes from Bell Baxter HS, Woodmill HS, Balwearie HS and Lochgelly HS made the journey across the Forth. Athletes are awarded points over the four rounds of the East Series to determine the overall year group champions. In round 4 there were once again many fine Fife athlete performances.

The introduction of the 500 metres race has encouraged a number of novice performers to take up the sport. Eilidh Lennox (S2) and Richy Stacey (S2) from Bell Baxter HS fell in to this category and they recorded winning performances in the girls and boys S2 races.

In the girls 1K, Fife schools produced all but one of the fastest year group times. Sophie Coughlin Bell Baxter HS S1 – 5:58; Amy Dignan Lochgelly HS S2 – 7:39; Megan Wilson Woodmill HS S3 – 6:45; Kerry Kotlewski Bell Baxter HS S4 – 7:23; Taylor McDowall Balwearie HS S6 – 8.58. Sophie is only a first year pupil yet she ran the fastest time of all the year group winners.

Once again in the boys 1K races it was a similar story. There were year group winners from Fife schools from first year through to sixth year. Nathan Smith Woodmill HS S1 – 7:21; Edwin Barron Woodmill HS S2 – 4:58; Owen Handley Woodmill HS S3 – 5:55; Arran Howe Bell Baxter HS S4 – 4:41; Reece Dickson Balwearie HS S5 – 5:08; Cameron Healy Balwearie HS S6 – 6:22. Connor Brown S3 Woodmill HS recorded the fastest time of the day for an athlete with a physical impairment and the seventh fastest overall time of any 1K athlete – 5:18. Well done to Arran Howe S4 who recorded the fastest 1K time of the day.

Twins Louise and Michelle Harley from Lochgelly HS S4 finished first and second in the girls 2K race with Louise crossing the line first in 14:56. In the equivalent event for boys Mathew Blair Woodmill HS S5 ran the fastest overall 2K time of 10:32 and Alex Evans from Balwearie HS the fastest S4 time.

All the Fife athletes then waited anxiously to find out the overall results for the 2017 East Series Cross Country. Team Fife headed back to the kingdom reflecting on another successful east Series and looking forward to the Fife cross Country Championships at the Beveridge Park and the Scottish Championships at Bellahouston Park later in the year.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife