Edinburgh AC boosted by captain's commitment

Edinburgh AC team manager Anne Scott has praised her team captain Susan McKelvie for turning down an invitation to the Cork City Games in order to compete for her club in the UK Women's League Premier Division at Meadowbank tomorrow (12.30pm field, 1.00pm track).

"Susan's chosen to lead from the front," said Scott, who hopes her team can follow up their opening effort at Manchester with another strong showing in their home match against the top clubs in Britain.

"Fifth was a very good result for us, especially as we weren't covered in every event and top half would be brilliant tomorrow," said Scott, a veteran of some 20 years of national league campaigns.

McKelvie has already thrown a personal best of 63.76 metres this season with the hammer and, like many of the Capital athletes, will be hoping the weather is kind to them tomorrow.

High jumper Jayne Nisbet has also achieved a personal best this season of 1.83m and feels that, in the right conditions, she can hoist this still further, even though she will not have clubmate and close rival Emma Nuttall to push her tomorrow.

Both athletes have cleared 1.83m this year, Nuttall, who jumps for the Great Britain Juniors in Mannheim tomorrow, having cleared that height to beat Nisbet for the Scottish Indoor title in February and Loughborough-based Nisbet winning the Midland title with that height two weeks ago.

Nisbet does face two top-notch English rivals tomorrow in Manchester's Steph Pywell (best of 1.90m) and Birchfield's Beth Partridge (best 1.80m).

Another of Edinburgh's leading lights this season, Lynsey Sharp, is also available tomorrow, though the new AAA Under-23 800m champion, who has been picked for the European Under-23 championships in Ostrava later this month, will contest the B 400m as well as contributing a leg of the 4 x 400m relay. EAC's Laura Dunn will run the 800m A race and Emily Dudgeon, fifth in Bedford last weekend, will also compete.

Former Scottish champion and Delhi Commonwealth Games runner Kathryn Evans takes the A 400m slot and the sprints also look reasonably strong with Stacey Downie, Lynsey Sharp's elder sister Carly, and Beth Finlayson all pencilled in.

One Scot who will not be facing Evans in the 400m is Dunfermline's Gemma Nicol, another of Scotland's Delhi team, whose English club Shaftesbury Barnet were relegated to division two at the end of last season and compete at Barnet tomorrow.

Nicol will warm up for her defence of the Scottish 400m title at Scotstoun later this month by running the one lap and the 4 x 400m relay.