Annual Track & Field prize giving, Thurso Club, Janet Street, Thurso - 06/11/2009

Sandy was presented with a life membership from Gordon McIntosh

Caithness Amateur Athletic Club (CAAC) held its annual prizegiving last Friday night.

Chairman Gordon McIntosh opened the evening to a full house at the Janet Street Club by praising the efforts of all involved with the clubs success over the past year. He had the honour of introducing and welcoming Sandy Gunn as the guest speaker for the evening. Sandy is the founding member of CAAC initially starting a running group in 1957 before seeking affiliation to the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association as CAAC. Sandy successfully led the Club to become a very dominant force, not just in the North of Scotland but at National level. When he retired from athletics in 1995, Sandy was awarded 'Master of Coaching' by the Scottish Athletics Federation, the top honour in coaching which is bestowed on only a handful of the very best coaches.

Lead Track & Field coach Linda Ross then gave a resume of the season, highlighting some of the many successes this year.

The season kicked of with the first round of the Highlands and Islands Open Graded meeting in Inverness. This competition is open to all and the athletes get to select which events they compete in. The highlight came in the second meeting, when CAAC took over 40 athletes across the Pentland Firth to compete in Orkney in June. From these events, athletes are selected to compete for a Highland Team, competing in the Scottish Young Athletes League in the South. Several athletes from CAAC were selected, helping the Highland Team take 3rd place in Scotland behind Glasgow and Edinburgh teams.

In the Grampian Athletics League, all 8 age groups qualified for the final in Aberdeen, with the U17 Women's team coming 1st place in the North section. One of the leagues highlights came in May for an U11 athlete, Conor Cormack, setting a new league record in the 200m with a time of 30.41s.

Athletes also compete at a variety of championships throughout the year, and the first of these championships is the North District Championships in Inverness. Top performers on the day were Shannon Eyers, taking home 3 gold medals in the U15 age group with PB's in the Javelin, Discus & 75m Hurdles, and Natasha Morris, taking home 3 Silver medals in the U17 age group in the Discus, Shot Putt & Javelin.

At the Scottish Schools Championships in June, Sam O'Kane, Natasha Morris & Emma & Oonagh Dunnett competed in Thurso High School vests in what is always a very tough competition.

Also in June, Shannon Eyers was the only Thurso High School representative in the Scottish Schools Inter Area Match in Grangemouth, where she achieved a very credible 2nd place in the Javelin with a PB of 26.28m.

At the Scottish Championships in Grangemouth, 3 athletes took part and came away with a Silver medal each in their respective events. This is the one of the main events of the season with the best athletes from all over Scotland competing. Natasha Morris threw 29.55m in the U17W Discus, Sam O'Kane threw a PB of 40m in the U17M Discus and Andrew Raeburn achieved a PB in the U17M Triple Jump with a distance of 13.64m.

Natasha Morris finished her successful season on a high when she was selected to represent Scotland at the Celtic games in Wales. In her first Scottish vest, Natasha threw a PB in the Discus placing her 3rd with a throw of 31.48m, just 50cm short of the winning throw.

Sandy Gunn was then called upon to present the trophies as follows;

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