Scotland successfully defended the Bank of Scotland Celtic Cup at Grangemouth last night, but the wind denied everyone apart from Craig Mottram, who dramatically smashed the four-minute barrier for the mile. The hosts won with a total of 37 points, seven clear of Ireland, with Wales third on 17.
The Scots reeled off a series of dramatic victories, and James Campbell smashed the native record twice as he took the javelin, but Scotland still needed to keep Ireland at bay and avoid disqualification in the final event, a mile medley relay, to be certain of victory.
They won that by more than 50 metres, and the trophy was piped on to the infield where Lee McConnell, the team captain, accepted it for the second successive year.
Persistent gusts, regularly over the legal limit of two metres per second, thwarted the sprinters and jumpers. It was easy to see how Nat Muir's stadium record for the mile, 4min 02sec, had survived for 25 years and two weeks.
Muir, a Shettleston Harrier who ranked No.3 in the world at 5000m in 1980, was finally written out by Mottram. The man brought up in Bannockburn, New South Wales, put his rivals to the sword, defying the conditions as he finished in 3min 56.89sec.
The Aussie, whose mother is from Aberfeldy, covered the final circuit in 56.33, then confided this was just a warm-up for an attempt to break eight minutes for two miles in the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on Friday. He had claimed it would "take a gale to stop me" breaking four minutes, and lived up to the boast.
Andrew Lemoncello's target of being the first Scot to break the barrier in Scotland for 21 years went by the board. The man who was named for the World Championship steeplechase just hours earlier, was third in 4:03.22. "I felt really strong, and it was good as I beat a lot of 1500m runners," he said. "With my background, conditions would needed to have been been perfect, but I'm happy with that. I was trying to be as aggressive as possible."
He now plans to race the 1500m at the Scottish championships, and his schedule will need to be spot on then. Six hours after he races at Scotstoun, he is due in London to board a flight for the world event in Japan.
McConnell, also named in the team for Osaka yesterday, won the 200 metres in 23.37, holding off guests Ciara Sheehy and Jessica Ennis, but the wind of 3.2 metres per second was over the legal limit, and would have negated the Scottish native best. Ireland's Sheehy and heptathlete Ennis were both timed at 23.54.
Glasgow's McConnell was drawn a lane inside Sheffield's Ennis, but was past her before she hit the straight.
Ennis, the Commonwealth bronze medallist chosen for the heptathlon in Japan, came back in the long jump, though, and edged past Scotland's Gillian Cooke by just three centimetres, with her final attempt, reaching a wind-aided 6.30m. "I still felt the 200 in my legs, so I'm really pleased," she said.
McConnell confirmed she has no intention of chasing the hurdles qualifying time for Japan. "I need to train in order to cope with the relay at the Worlds," she said. "I would rather do that than go out unfit.
She said she had declined a hurdles run in London on Friday. "It was a really hard decision, but I feel a lot better having made it. A lot of thought went into it, and hard-talking with my coach. I was pain free tonight. That was okay, but it isn't when I hurdle."
Campbell, just 19, and a world junior finalist last year, set four national senior records last summer. Last night he reached 73.00 metres - it is just 18cms short of his national mark - to add 4.40 metres to the 15-year-old native best set by Roddy James at Crownpoint.
Nicola Gauld, an Aberdeen accountant, drew a line under the career of multiple world champion Sonia O'Sullivan when she won the 3000 metres. Gauld dropped O'Sullivan, running as a guest, and then duelled shoulder to shoulder with Ireland's Maria McCambridge for three laps before breaking clear in the final 200m. She finished in 9min 11.62sec, just two seconds outside her best, no mean achievement in the conditions.
Beth Potter, the Glasgow 15-year-old, looked as if she might claim O'Sullivan's scalp, and showed great maturity as she ran for the Bank of Scotland development squad.
O'Sullivan confirmed it was her final track international. "This is it, but I'll never stop running. I can do better, but I'm never going to match my best, and you have to stop sometime."
Another with retirement on his mind was Jason Gardener. The Olympic relay gold medallist clocked 10.42 as he held off Scotland's Nick Smith. "I still hope to be added to the relay squad after I race at the Palace. But this is my last season."
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