Fast fingers catch the athletes

The Glasgow Athletics Association is now on Facebook and Twitter!

Click “like” on their Facebook to stay up to date on all GAA activity – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Glasgow-Athletics-Association/131911086885981?ref=tn_tnmn

Follow them on Twitter -https://twitter.com/#/glasgowath or see the GAA website: www.glasgowathletics.org.uk/

Last chance to nominate Olympic flame heroes

There is still a chance to be one of the people to carry the Olympic Flame on its 8000 mile journey across the UK next year.

At Braehead Shopping Centre today (Thursday 26 September) Samsung will have the London 2012 Olympic Torch on display to encourage people to nominate someone they feel has gone ‘the extra mile’ and is worthy of carrying the Olympic Flame on a part of its epic journey to the Olympic Stadium in London.

The Torch relay will take 70 days to cover the UK and will pass through Glasgow.

One person who has been nominated already is 28-year-old Jonathan Mackie from Glasgow. He holds six Gold and a Silver medal from the World Special Olympic Summer Games.  Said his Mum Anne, ‘Despite the challenges Jonathan faces because he suffers from microcephaly, he has never let this get in the way of his dreams. He is a dedicated gymnast training four times a week and coaches young children in the sport.’

Jonathan has just returned from Athens with his latest medals. He also went to Delhi with the City of Glasgow to bring home the Commonwealth flag for the Commonwealth Games in 2014. He said: ‘The Olympic Games in London next year will be a huge event and hopefully, will inspire more young people into sport like gymnastics – which have been such a great focus for me all my life. To be part of those Games and to say I was there, would be the icing on the cake.’

Others who feel like this about the Olympic Games next year should get to Braehead fast as nominations must close on Friday this week – 30 September. Or nominate your local unsung hero by visiting the website: samsung.com/london2012 Alternatively, this can be done in local Vodafone stores where the Samsung Olympic Torch Relay nominations zones are available.

Commonwealth flag passed over and on course

As the Commonwealth Games flag was passed over this week to Glasgow’s Lord Provost Bob Winter, in Delhi – making Glasgow the official host city for the Games in 2014 – it sparked wild celebrations in Glasgow.

The countdown to the opening ceremony at Celtic Park in July 2014 has begun! The closing ceremony in Delhi heralded the end of the 2010 games and Glasgow came to life as it looked towards 2014.
In a display of dance in George Square, the pupils of Blackfriars and Oakgrove Primary Schools were among those who gave a stunning performance at lunchtime to kick off the festivities.
The closing ceremony in India was beamed live to the Fruitmarket, where Councillor Archie Graham, deputy leader of Glasgow City Council, summed up the excited anticipation in front of 700 local people. ‘It hardly seems like three years since we were awarded the Games. This is an invitation for the world to visit us, our world class facilities will be showcased to a global audience. We look forward to our time in the spotlight.’
In Glasgow, Robbie Rennick was on hand with his 200m freestyle swimming gold medal at the lighting of a ceremonial lamp – a Hindu symbol for a new beginning.
Scottish Clan Wallace drummers with Kay Affleck gave a vibrant performance as the fusion of Scottish and Indian music heralded the dawn of the run-up to the Glasgow Games.

A spokesperson for the games said: ‘All is on time and on budget at this stage. Many of our venues are already built and in use including the Opening Ceremony which will be held at Celtic Park, very close to the National Indoor Sports Arena & Velodrome and the Athletes’ Village. The closing ceremony will take place at the National Stadium, Hampden Park.’

City FC show 6 appeal in Hibs defeat

by Laura Montgomery photos; Lorraine Hill

It was business as usual on Sunday 24 October at Glasgow Green, in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, when Glasgow City crushed Hibernian 6-0, to move 3 points clear at the top of the table with just 2 weeks of the season remaining.
Within the first minute of the match the home team scored,  Katharina Lindner smashing a goal home at the back post.
 20 minutes later  Sue Lappin sent a header across the face of the goal and Lindner was first to react in the crowded box, sweeping in her and City’s 2nd.
The second half was more of the same from City who increased their lead on 51 minutes. This time it was Ruesha Littlejohn’s goal, meeting Emma Fernon’s cross with a fantastic glancing header across into the bottom corner of the net.
8 minutes later and Littlejohn doubled her tally with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box following samba-esque trickery from.
The fifth goal came from Rachel Corsie who had remained up the park following a corner and when a ball found Sue Lappin in the box she squared for the centre back to slot home with ease.
With 6 minutes left, the scoring was complete, after Emma McCulley upended Ruesha Littlejohn in the box. Up stepped Leanne Ross to fire home the resultant penalty for her 52nd goal of this campaign and round off a great day for the home team.
Manager Peter Caulfield was full of praise for the team after the game and said:“ We were quick to move the ball and set a very high tempo for the match right from kick off. There was a real incisiveness about our play today and we saw the real quality of Glasgow City in this match.”

Scotstoun gets off its mark

photograph by Stuart Maxwell

Glasgow’s £18m re-vamped sports stadium at Scotstoun got off to a flying start on Wednesday 7 July with the Super8 athletics meeting. And while the eight cities competing were welcomed by Councillor Archie Graham inside the stadium, Glasgow city workers were on picket duty outside.
Councillor Graham informed the sparse crowd in the 5000 capacity stadium, that Glasgow has invested more than £100 m in the city in the past decade. Scotstoun stadium was part of its plan to become the Scottish Capital of Sports and would be a venue during the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
A fun relay race launched the evening with Glasgow Warriors rugby Club, Scottish Rocks basketball club, Wildcats netball Club and the city’s own Athletics Club competing and the athletes winning the trophy.
But there will be no trophies – and no bonuses or overtime pay – for the Culture and Sport Glasgow workers who stood in solidarity at the gates. Four unions – Unison, Unite, GMB and BECTU – are taking strike action in a dispute over a wage cut of up to 10% for more than 150 of their members, a pay freeze for other colleagues and cuts in public holidays and overtime rates for all. Said spokesman Sam Macartney: ‘We are here to let the public be aware of the dispute. Some staff have lost between £1000 and £2000 a year. Glasgowlife, as Culture and Sport is now called, is prepared to spend thousands of pounds bringing in a security company for this athletics meeting, but it is not prepared to spend a few pounds to resolve this dispute.’
A spokesman for Glasgowlife said: ‘This dispute is not about job losses. We have promised to protect jobs and services at a time when many other staff in public and private sectors are facing redundancy. But Glasgowlife must make savings of £3.4 million in the current financial year. As a seven-day-a-week service, enhanced overtime payments – such as effectively triple time on a bank holiday – have been replaced with plain-time overtime payments.’

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