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LINKS TO BLOG PAGES
MARK DRY LEMONCELLO GAUSON INSIDE TRACK MCCOLGAN CHILD ATHLETICOS RUNAWAY LAWYER SHARP
CANADA AND THE U.K.
THE UNITED KINGDOM follows a club system when it comes to track and field; athletes are developed through their associated club. However, Canada follows a Hybrid system where athletes are developed both through their club and their universities... Emma Nuttall, Scotland's leading high jumper, compares athletics in Canada and the U.K. read the full article.
STAYING IN THE SPORT
Nigel Holl, Chief Executive of scottishathletics writes: "So Arnold asked me to do a blog for the excellent Scotstats website. Given everything Arnold does for athletics in Scotland and especially to support scottishathletics, it’s the least I can do. He wanted controversy ....your judge as to if I have achieved that objective, but here goes! So I’m trying to link stats to what I see in athletics in Scotland, and get off my chest a concern that I have had for some time read the full article .
Hopefully, Nigel's thoghts will stimulate some comment and debate. We'll publish the best of the responses so send us your thoughts by e-mail to scotstats@aol.com
THE 2013 INDOOR SEASON
The current indoor season has produced many memorable Scottish performances, both in the marvellous new Emirates Arena, and also throughout the UK, Europe, the USA and Canada. But are there clear signs that there has been an improvement in the performances on past years? I’ve looked at the Scots in the World Rankings and British Rankings, performances at the UK Champs, and domestically with Scottish records and all-time lists. read the full article
BRING BACK THE REAL CROSS COUNTRY
says Brian McAusland, whose excellent website A Life in Athletics is highly recommended.. As we enter into a new cross country season, Brian longs for real cross country, instead of grass running for fearties.
"Two winters ago, when an athlete complained about a cross country course being a sea of mud, the organiser who happened to be passing said that it was just a traditional course and runners were too soft nowadays. Well, the runner was right – it was a sea of mud; the organiser was wrong – it was far from a traditional course. The course in question was basically a figure-of-eight shape with the loops being joined through a very wide gate (open) which became progressively muddier as the day went on. The fact that the trail was of one lap for the very young, two laps for the moderately young and four laps for the seniors it did become a real sea of mud by the end of the day. It was nothing like a traditional course... read full article
DONALD MACGREGOR MARATHON LECTURE
On 25 August, Olympic marathon runner Don Macgregor is presenting a marathon seminar. As a foretaste to that, you can read his 1984 Dunky Wright Memorial lecture on marathon running here.
IF IT AIN’T WORKING ... FIX IT!
We have now come to the end of an indoor season and with all endings, it is a good time to look back and to consider the future.
There have been clear successes in the season with Hen Paxton raising the women’s Pole Vault record by a significant margin, from 4.15 metres to an impressive 4.31, Nick Smith setting a new 60 metres record and Guy Learmonth consistently bettering the under-20 800 metres record. Scotland had a successful international match in Cardiff but no Scottish athlete was selected by Great Britain for an individual event at the World Championships. Read full article
DITCH THE SIDESHOWS AND RETURN TO CORE ESSENTIALS
By Charles Bannerman, athletics coach and journalist
Strangely enough it was a totally irrelevant offshoot to a thread on the Unofficial SAL Internet Forum which crystallised these thoughts. It all began as a constructive discussion of the many merits of this very SATS website before someone - trivially, inconsequentially and incredibly - began complaining about the Comic Sans font in which this site (and, I really hope, this article!) is written.
As inanity followed irrelevance, it steadily dawned on me that the manner in which the substance and vital content of this worthy SATS initiative had been sidelined by an inane discussion over how the letters were formed rather neatly epitomised the way that society, including the sport of athletics, has in the current era been disturbingly deflected by trivial peripherals from its core essentials. Read full article
A TIME OF CHANGE
Welcome to the new SATS website. After publishing the Scottish Athletics Yearbook since 1993 (although the first run of the yearbook was from 1960-1982), we are no longer in book form. The 2009 Yearbook was the last to be published for the time being, although Colin Shields and I are still committed to publishing a history of Scottish Athletics. Read full article
Yearbook Articles
Doug Gillon: The Lessons of History (2009)
Ron Morrison: The Vicissitudes of an Olympic Year (2009)
Gillian Cooke: Women's Jumping in Scotland (2009)
Colin Shields: A Trip Back in Time (2007)
My Most Memorable Race
The SATS are not just statisticians. We hope to act as a site that encourages all athletics devotees to put forward their views on the sport as well. We will publish articles on all aspects of the sport - present, past and future - even if we disagree with the content ourselves. The only proviso is that the blogs should be interesting and free from abuse! We will also use editorial judgement on the content. If you want an article to be considered for publication on this site, then email scotstats@aol.com