Team Lanarkshire, Scotland's only representatives at the 43rd International Children’s Games in Athens, has come home with a magnificent seven medal haul.
Team Lanarkshire's first medal came on Thursday (Day 2) when Cumbernauld's Lynn MacArthur, 15, took bronze in the 100m backstroke in 1min 8.74sec.
Day 3 saw the greatest haul of medals starting in the pool where Callum Baxter, 15, from Airdrie took bronze in the 400m freestyle while Lynn MacArthur, 15, of Cumbernauld also scooped bronze in the 50m backstroke.
But even better was to come later on the Friday in the track and field which saw East Kilbride's Rachel Whittle, 14, - daughter of Scottish track star Brian - scooping three medals. First, she took bronze in the high jump, clearing 1m 59cm. Then she ran 12.46s in the 100m final to take silver. And along with Hamilton's Mhairi Hendry, 13, Cambuslang's Arlene Barr, 14, and Emma Brown, 14, from East Kilbride, they destroyed the field to win gold in the 4x100m relay in 49.7s.
And on the final day the boys' football team (Darren Brownlie, 15, Bellshill; Dean McLean, 14, Carluke; Craig Moore, 14, Uddingston; Ciaran Johnston, 14, East Kilbride; Jack Smith, 14, Carfin; Ross Burnett, 15, Airdrie; Anton Brady, 15, Coatbridge) scored silver to bring the overall team tally up to seven.
1 Gold - girls 4x100m relay
2 Silver - boys' football, girls' 100m
4 Bronze - girls' 100m backstroke, boys' 400m freestyle, girls' 50m backstroke, girls' high jump
Highlights of the Athens 2009 games can be seen on the council's online SLTV channel (this link will open in a new window).
Team Lanarkshire consisted of:
Rachel Whittle, athletics - East Kilbride
Emma Brown, athletics - East Kilbride
Mhairi Hendry, athletics - Hamilton
Arlene Barr, athletics - Cambuslang
Darren Brownlie, football - Bellshill
Dean McLean, football - Carluke
Craig Moore, football - Uddingston
Jack Smith, football - Carfin
Anthony Brady, football - Glenboig
Ross Burnett, football - Airdrie
Ciaran Johnston, football - East Kilbride
Euan Alston, swimming - Cumbernauld
Jonathan Stuart, swimming - Blantyre
Callum Baxter, swimming - Airdrie
