Successful day as 150 athletes mark the Official Opening of East Lothian Athletics Arena, Meadowmill
Vision became reality last weekend with the official opening of the new athletic track at Meadowmill, Tranent. The construction of the East Lothian Athletics Arena at Meadowmill is another positive and welcome addition to the facilities on offer across Scotland which in due course will hopefully ‘Inspire a Generation’. It is all part of part of East Lothian Council's ‘Capital Plan Legacy Project’ linked to the sporting events of London 2012 and Glasgow 2014.
The official opening event on Saturday involved track and field athletics for the Juniors, a fun run, wheelchair races for athletes with a disability, a 3k event for Seniors and an invitation one mile handicap event. More than 130 athletes took part with many outstanding performances. Gemma Bolton from Dunbar was awarded the Best Female athlete with three golds and Harry Bell also with three wins was chosen as Best Male young athlete for the afternoon. Ben Sandie from Haddington won the Mile handicap off 80 yards and Callum Reid from HELP won the 3k open event with Nicola Duncan was first female to finish. In the T54/T53 Wheelchair 400m Ross Low edged out Samantha Kinghorn and Meggan Dawson-Farrel
Medals were presented to all Champions throughout the afternoon by The Provost, George McNeil, Mary Anderson, Betty Steedman, plus representatives from Scottish Athletics and the East Lothian Athletic Group.
‘The timing of the East Lothian Athletics Arena at Meadowmill could not be better – on the back of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and now with the build up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games,’ said Eamon John, Healthy Living Manager at East Lothian Council.
‘It is an exciting time for sport, particularly for athletics and Meadowmill will play its role in developing talent in anEast Lothiancontext. The second phase of development at Meadowmill Sports Centre, which is currently taking place, includes a new strength & conditioning suite, coach education classrooms as well as a dedicated sports injury and physiotherapy suite.
'The combination of these new facilities and the new athletics track lend themselves well to cross-sport training and fostering a strong talent development pathway for sport inEast Lothian.'
Provost Ludovic Broun-Lindsay officially opening the East Lothian Athletics Arena at Meadowmill on Saturday said -
‘This facility has been a long time in the making and I know our friends involved locally with athletics have been patiently waiting over a number of years,’ .
‘The £887,000 contract for the construction of a new floodlit 400m all-weather running track and grass sports pitch at Meadowmill makes up the second phase of the council’s 2012-2014 Legacy Project, which will pave the way for talent development in East Lothian and will inspire the generation of sportsmen and sportswomen in East Lothian.’
Joint convenors Jamie Bowie, the Athletic Development Officer and Henry Muchamore Vice Chair ELADG said afterwards that they felt the event had been a huge success and thanked the corporate effort of all the officials from various clubs in Lothian for their contribution to a memorable afternoon.
Enjoyleisure will manage the new facility.
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