Rachael Mackenzie’s outstanding early season form continued at Aberdeen Sports Village yesterday when the Inverness high jumper soared to a new personal best height and achieved yet another Commonwealth Games qualifying standard
Mackenzie, who was competing in the opening Scottish women’s track and field meeting of the season for the Lothians select team, cleared 1.81metres, an improvement of 1cm on her previous best which she has achieved three times this year.
She had three unsuccessful attempts at 1.83m but was more than satisfied with her result which means she has now met the Glasgow Commonwealth Games requirements on four occasions.
She said: “I’m happy enough with that. I came in at 1.68, then cleared 1.74 and 1.78 before going for 1.81.
“I tried for 1.83 but by then I was tired and my knee was hurting a bit, but I can’t complain with how it went.”
Marie Dobson got the Aberdeen select side off to a winning start with a fine performance in the 400m hurdles.
Inverness athlete Anna Nelson, competing for Lothian, set a fast early pace but Dobson showed greater strength over the final 100m to come through to take maximum points in 65.70sec with her rival just 0.30sec behind.
Dobson was delighted with the outcome.
She said: “It’s the fastest time I’ve run for an opening race of the season. I am pleased as my hurdling technique has improved, although there’s still more to come.”
Aberdeen’s Scotland junior international Kelsey Stewart showed impressive form when winning the 400m ahead of Inverness athlete Kathryn Evans (Edinburgh AC) who competed for Scotland in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Stewart, 17, who was drawn in the inside lane, powered down the back straight and surged into the lead coming off the final bend.
The Stonehaven-based sprinter began to tire slightly over the final 100m as Evans threatened to come back at her but Stewart was able to respond and held her form well to cross the line in a season’s best off 55.76.
Evans, in her first race of the season, had to settle for second in 56.30.
Stewart said: “My legs were all over the place on the home straight but I was pleased I was able to hang in. Today was all about winning the race, not the time.”
Stewart and Dobson later joined forces with Emma Leask and Demi Ademuyewo to give Aberdeen an emphatic victory in the 4x400m relay in 3min 58.86sec.
Scotland international Catriona Pennet was in total control of the 100m hurdles which she won in 14.85, while her Aberdeen team-mate Lisa Humphreys was third in 16.74.
Great Britain cross-country international Rhona Auckland stepped down considerably in distance to tackle the 1,500m and proceeded to comfortably outpace her rivals.
The Aberdeenshire athlete led from the gun and quickly opened up a substantial lead which extended all the way to the finish.
Auckland, who is aiming to challenge the Commonwealth Games 10,000m qualifying time in May, knocked two seconds off her previous best 1,500m time when recording 4:31.96 and declared herself more than satisfied with her workout.
She said: “I’m happy with that and glad that I’ll be getting back to longer races soon.
“I’m used to running on my own a lot of the time in training so it was just a case of buckling down and doing it.”
Teenager Dionne Milne picked up valuable points for the Aberdeen team in the field events at yesterday’s meeting.
The 16-year-old Moray athlete, who holds the Scottish under-20 and under-18 titles, threw 41.67m to win the senior women’s discus.
That is her second best throw, bettered only by the 42.23 she cleared when winning an under-17 competition at the Werfertag TSG Mutterstadt meeting in Germany this month.
Alison Horne, who won the shot put at the same German meeting, improved her personal best in this discipline when winning the under-17 competition yesterday with a throw of 12.45m.
Aberdeen’s American thrower Emily Ruyle also made a major contribution to the team effort by winning the B string senior women’s discus with a throw of 34.85m after finishing third in the hammer with 36.66.
She also performed well in the shot.
Aberdeen’s Alisha Rees showed her class by winning the under-17 girls’ 200m in a personal best time of 25.04.
The Banchory athlete set off extremely quickly and seemed to have the race won within the opening 100m, but Cara Jay Murdoch (Team West) closed the north-east athlete down over the final 50m and finished inches behind in 25.13.
Rees’s time was almost half a second quicker than the winning time in the senior women’s race. She completed a successful afternoon by anchoring the Aberdeen team to victory in the under-17’s 4x100m relay with Saffron Cummings, Georgia Summers and Rebecca Matheson.
Rebecca, from Elgin, had earlier shown good form to win the 300m in a personal best 42.27.
Kate McKay cleared 1.55m to win the under-15’s high jump and she also took top spot in the B string 75m hurdles in 12.89.