The national sports agency, sportscotland, and Scottishathletics have moved to plug the funding black hole which threatens to suck away the hopes of aspiring Commonwealth Games athletes.
Just five Scots were among the 132 British competitors named last month on the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) by UK Athletics. This underlines the scale of the task facing Laurier Primeau, Scotland’s new head coach, who will ultimately be judged on Glasgow 2014 results. However, Delhi next year is a critical stepping stone, and 26 Scots have been offered support in a new initiative.
Transparent flaws in WCPP (fixated on London 2012 to the exclusion of the Commonwealths) are exemplified by the exclusion of Mark Dry, Scotland’s only athlete ranked in a Delhi medal-winning position, and Arizona-based Andrew Lemoncello, Britain’s fastest half-marathon performer in over a decade and fourth European at last month’s World Championships.
Dry and Lemoncello are among the 26 in line for Commonwealth support. New inclusions are Lennie Waite, the US-based steeplechaser, Stephen Lisgo, US collegiate steeplechase bronze medallist, and Henrietta Paxton, the pole vault record-holder.
The list leaves questions unanswered. Laura Kenney and Allan Scott, dropped from UK funding, have been picked up by the new Scottish programme. However, UKA has axed Talent-level funding and plans to replace the 80 places shortly in a new “Futures” strand of just 30.
Three Scots (Jade Nimmo, Beth Potter and Lynsey Sharp) were on Talent support. A fourth, Glasgow’s Jo Moultrie, might reasonably have expected to be added after her seventh place in the European under-20 Championships.
Should the Futures group fail to support those four, sportscotland should re-examine their situation. It will be food for Primeau’s thoughts that of the 26, only 10 are Scottish-based. For whatever reason, the other 16 don’t consider it an suitable environment
Scots offered 2010 support
Chris Baillie (Victoria Park City of Glasgow, 110m hurdles), James Campbell (Cheltenham, javelin), Mark Dry, Andy Frost (both Woodford Green, hammer), Nicola Gauld (Aberdeen), Kris Gauson (Edinburgh, both 1500m), Hayley Haining (Kilbarchan, marathon), Alastair Hay (Central, 1500m), Scott Huggins (Blackheath), Richard Hurren (Newham, both pole vault), Laura Kenney (Sutton Coldfield, 5000m), Andrew Lemoncello (Fife, 10k), Stephen Lisgo (Mansfield, steeplechase), Nony Mordi (Shaftesbury, triple jump), Chris Mackay (Newham, 1500m), Susan McKelvie (Edinburgh, hammer), Freya Murray (Chester-Le-Street, 5000m), Jayne Nisbet (Edinburgh, high jump), Henrietta Paxton (Birchfield, pole vault), Alison Rodger (Sale, shot), Allan Scott (Shaftesbury, 110m hurdles), Roger Skedd (Sheffield, decathlon), Jamie Stevenson (Newham, shot), Lennie Waite (Rice University, steeplechase), Martin Williams (Tipton, marathon), Gemma Werrett (Rugby, 100m hurdles)
