Indoor event entries up 68 per cent

Published on 11/01/2013 00:00

Athletics chiefs in Scotland are toasting an “Olympic bounce” again as the first national event at the new Emirates Arena enjoys a 68 per cent rise in entries.

Scottishathletics will stage the McCain National Indoor Track and Field Open at the £113m venue in Glasgow on Saturday 19 January. And the governing body for the sport in Scotland has received 1,144 event entries from hundreds of athletes desperate to experience the facilities at the Glasgow 2014 venue.

Entry numbers are up by 68 per cent on the pre-event numbers registered for the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow for the National Open last January. The rising interest reflects an increase in participation and membership across Scotland’s 130 athletics clubs recently – with London 2012 clearly a factor.

“To say we are delighted with the response for the McCain National Indoor Open would be an understatement,’ said Scottishathletics chief executive, Nigel Holl. “It is a great feeling for us as event organisers when we get the support of the athletics public and we’ve had that emphatically.