Athletics: Glasgow edge Edinburgh to SSS outdoor crown

On a day of such intense competition, it was fitting that events should conclude with a tour de force by the Glasgow 4x400m men's relay team. Their time of 3 minutes, 32.44 seconds was the last of a total of 12 championship records broken at Grangemouth Sports Stadium, and Glasgow's athletes had to maintain that high standard from the first event to the last in order to beat back the charge of a depleted yet spirited Edinburgh team.

The ultimate demise of Edinburgh's hard-fought challenge was well summed-up by the misfortune which befell John Eicher in the men's 4x100m relay. Though Edinburgh were only sparsely represented at the sharp end of the men's sprints their relay team had looked set to snatch a dramatic victory before Eicher, running the anchor leg and rapidly bearing down on leaders Stirling, went down with a nasty hamstring injury a mere 50 metres from the line.

Though the crown goes home with Glasgow, many of the universities with smaller squads turned in equally strong performances. Stirling may have been a distant third overall, but their lack of depth in the women's events masked the significant achievements of their men's team. Strathclyde and Edinburgh Napier were well amongst the medals, both in the track and on the field, impressively securing ninth and eighth place respectively.

The scope of Glasgow's achievement is only enhanced in light of the fact that five championship records were broken by four Edinburgh athletes. Kirsty Barr, Julia Siart, Claire Taylor and Courtney MacGuire were part of by far the strongest women's team on the day. MacGuire set the new standard of 3.30 metres in the Pole Vault, while Barr followed-up her record High Jump of 1.60m with another gold in the Long Jump, and a race-winning anchor leg in the 4x100m relay.

Claire Taylor was part of that relay team, having earlier run a record 15.56 in the 100m Hurdles final, won gold in the 200m, and narrowly missed out on the medals in the Shot Put.

Julia Siart was arguably the most successful athlete of the day, however; she brought Edinburgh three golds, in the Hammer Throw, Discus and Shot Put, and a silver in the Javelin - achieving two new records of 12.90m and 54.53m in the Shot Put and Hammer Throw respectively.

Other outstanding performances came from Elish McColgan of Dundee University, who took both the 1500m and 3000m championship records in times of 4:26.01 and 9:15.72 respectively, and Edinburgh Napier's Donald Tod. Tod took gold in the Long Jump with a championship-record-breaking distance of 6.58m, having earlier taken silver in the 100m behind his Napier team-mate Oliver Lawson. Lawson himself went on to take silver in the 200m as well, while Holly Belch was similarly strong in the women's sprints to earn Napier another 100m gold and 200m silver.

Edinburgh continued collecting points, particularly through the admirable 400m exploits of David New (gold), Claire McNicol (bronze) and Steph Lawrie (fourth), but Glasgow roared on. Sam O'Kane's sequence of three golds in the men's Discus, Hammer Throw and Shot Put - not to mention his fourth place in the Javelin - secured a vital stock of points; strong runs in the steeple chase from Lewis Renton (bronze) and Rhian Dawes (silver), added to that 4x400m relay win, meant that even Edinburgh's own remarkable relay exploits could not sway the final result.