Teenager races to New Year win

Had they done so they would surely have been encouraged by the quality of the young athlete it attracted.

Five of the eight finalists were teenagers, including the three medallists, the oldest of whom was the winner Martyn Paterson, who only turned 18 last Friday, while, in the youths' events, some startling talent emerged, the most notable of whom was 11-year-old Kingsley Cunningham, a primary seven pupil at Stockbridge in Edinburgh, of Nigerian stock of whom much, much more will be heard.

In fairness, only the hardiest of the hardcore supporters, probably fewer than 200, braved the bitter chill of a second day which was robbed by the weather of its scheduled partner, the National Hunt horserace meeting.

Had that meeting gone ahead, then there would have been a bumper crowd to give the athletes the kind of support they deserved.

Those who did come along saw the 4-6 favourite Paterson (Clackmannan) come through from his handicap start of 6.5 metres to claim the 4,000 first prize in 11.91 seconds, the official electronic time as opposed to the hand times announced initially for the cross-ties.

Paterson surged past the 17-year-old front-runner Fiona Cleat (Edinburgh, 22m) in the final ten metres of the 110m handicap, to prevent a first female triumph in the historic race, with another 17-year-old, Sebastian Harrison (Jedburgh 7.75m) clinching third place.

Paterson is coached by the Kirkcaldy-based former Edinburgh headteacher Eric Simpson and they both have their sights on greater things:

"Now I want to go on and represent Scotland in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow," said the Central AC member, a second year Stirling University accountancy student.

Simpson, who also coaches the Scottish high hurdles and former 400m hurdles and 200m champion Francis Smith, a promising 16-year-old hurdler Ewan Dyer and the sprinter Hope Robertson, believes that at least three of them could make the team for 2014.

"We've got a good group and Martyn's worked very hard for this, he's put in a lot of mileage travelling to train with us five days a week at Pitreavie."

Paterson had nearly gone out on the first day, going through only as a fastest loser, but he certainly made the most of his second chance the next day:

"I was a different athlete, it was such a turnaround."

With the backmarker Craig Fleming (Greenock) pulling out, Paterson won his cross-tie in brilliant style in 11.99 secs into a headwind. But Cleat, a Scottish internationalist at 400m hurdles, also impressed, holding her form to win her cross-tie in 12.13 secs, the second fastest of the four ties.Paterson responded to the threat and went even faster in the final, catching Cleat with a powerful surge, with Cleat timed at 11.99 and Harrison 12.01.

There was one female victory on the final day when the 48-year-old Wendy Nicol (Dunfermline), mother of Scotland's Commonwealth Games 400m runner Gemma, captured the consolation 90m handicap and a first prize of 300. Nicol just held off the 60m winner Ross McGill (Kilbarchan) in a time of 10.21 secs from a handicapped start of 25m.