Lanarkshire 2011 International Children's Games

Going for Gold in Athens - final round-up

Monday 29 June 2009

Team Lanarkshire, Scotland's only representatives at the Games in Athens, has come home with a magnificent seven medal haul.

The hightlight for the team came on the Friday when East Kilbride's Rachel Whittle, 14, Hamilton's Mhairi Hendry, 13, Cambuslang's Arlene Barr, 14, and Emma Brown, 14, from East Kilbride, destroyed the field to win gold in the 4x100m relay in 49.7s.

And on the final day on Saturday the boys' football team narrowly missed out on a second gold when they picked up silver after agonisingly losing in a penalty shoot-out against Pesnica of Slovenia in the final.

The team, consisting of 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, had also seen controversy in the semi-final against Bangkok, Thailand when their captain Dean was the victim of a horrific stamping while lying on the ground. As a result, the team were denied the option of using a substitute in the final.

The boys' effort was enough to secure a second silver for Team Lanarkshire, bringing the final total to seven.

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 Rachel Whittle, - daughter of Scottish track star Brian - scooping three medals. Along with her gold team medal in the relay, Rachel took bronze in the high jump, clearing 1m 59cm and put in a 12.46s in the 100m final to take silver.

The final tally was:
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

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
Rochelle Callan, swimming - Coatbridge
Lynn Macarthur, swimming - Cumbernauld
Leanna Marshall, swimming - Cumbernauld
Emily Lauder, tennis - Bargeddie
Charlotte Walker, tennis - Bothwell

Team Lanarkshire was Scotland's only representatives at the Games in Athens, where more than 1500 athletes from 36 countries took part. Highlights of the Athens 2009 games can be seen on the council's online SLTV channel (this link will open in a new window).

Lanarkshire will host the 2011 International Children's Games.

For more information on Lanarkshire 2011 please go to the ICG-Lanarkshire 2011 website (this link will open in a new window) or email info@ICG-Lanarkshire2011.com.