Youngsters get a chance to meet their sporting idols
EVER wondered what it takes to make it to the top in athletics?
Thanks to ScottishPower and the Daily Record, athletes spilled some of their secrets of success at an exclusive sporting event.
Hurdling heroes Chris Baillie and Allan Scott joined forces with the energy giant and Scotland's favourite newspaper at Meadowbank Sports Stadium in Edinburgh.
Fifty kids from across the country were invited to the one-off day of sporting madness, gaining tips from the cream of Scottish athletics.
Commonwealth star and national champion Glen Stewart also made an appearance alongside several other top athletes.
The event was part of a year-long calendar of athletic action with ScottishPower and scottishathletics.
The aim of the partnership is to promote a healthy and environmentally-friendly lifestyle among youngsters, encouraging them to switch off high-energy appliances, making use of the outdoors instead.
The young athletes, aged between 11 and 14, who took part in the event at Meadowbank were from South Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Dumfries and Galloway and Inverclyde.
Once the youngsters had a chance to settle in after the excitement of meeting their sporting hero, each group was paired up with an athlete and put through their paces for the first half of the event, gaining expert tips along the way.
After the intensive training sessions, the kids were eager then put their new found skills to the test, competing, against each other.
Hurdles, shot putt and everything in between was tried out, with each group gaining points as they battled it out against each other.
Chris Baillie, commonwealth silver medallist, said:
"Athletics is a fantastic way of keeping fit and having fun. The good thing is there's something for everyone and for all ages - if long-distance running is not your thing, try shot putt or even high jump.
"Passing on our tips of the trade to the kids during the first half of the event was great."
In the end, West Lothian pulled out all the stops to take gold position on the rostrum. Each young athlete also received a certificate as a souvenir from their day.
Chris added: "All the teams did brilliantly on the day. We all noticed that after our training session, all the entrants were taking the competition very seriously, taking on board all of our comments from the morning.
"The most important thing is that everyone really enjoyed their day and it served its purpose - to get them using energy of their own, therefore helping the environment."
There was also an individual prize of an iPod for the young athlete whose performance really shone on the day.
After a team huddle and some serious words between the professional athletes, they decided that 12-year old Darren Murray from Calderglen High School in South Lanarkshire deserved the top prize after his outstanding performance.
Allan Scott said: "Everyone taking part at Meadowbank today had a fantastic time, especially the kids who showed that athletics is great way of keeping fit and enjoying the outdoors.
"Events like these are really important to show children that there are other sports out there for them to participate in as athletics is a core for other sports and this is a really good age to introduce it to the children.
"It's great that companies like ScottishPower are investing in the sport and giving children the opportunity to participate in events such as today's, introducing athletics to them in a fun way!"
