Kilbarchan AAC athletes Alistair Street, Zara Redmond and Amy Teasdale join Councillor Lise-Marie Hughes of Renfrewshire Council and scottishathletics President John Rodger at the facility
By Graeme Crawford
Double Olympian Jemma Reekie has welcomed the new running track at the On-X Sports Centre in Linwood as good news for the sport in Scotland.
The £450,000 investment by Renfrewshire Council and Kilbarchan AAC will allow the club to host league meetings, championship events and any records set on the track can be ratified by scottishathletics.
The new surface meets World Athletics accreditation standard and will benefit runners across Renfrewshire, including Olympiadn and World Indoor silver medallist Jemma who of course came through the ranks at Kilbarchan.
Jemma said: ‘I started training at the track at ON-X as an 11-year-old and with the assistance of the club and my coaches, I have become one of the leading middle distances runners in the world, including competing for Team GB at the last two Olympic Games.
‘It is great to see the investment by Renfrewshire Council and Kilbarchan AAC in the facility and I look forward to training at Linwood when I return to Scotland.’
Kilbarchan AAC are contributing £100,000 towards the project to support the hundreds of athletes who train and compete across various age groups in local and national competitions.
John Rodger (photo by Bobby Gavin)
John Rodger, President of scottishathletics and Kilbarchan AAC stalwart, said: ‘We have grown to be one of the leading athletic clubs in Scotland with around 500 members and have recently won three Scottish age group titles, breaking two long-standing Scottish 800m records in the process, the senior men’s Scottish 10 mile Road Race Championship and, of course, a silver medal in the World Indoors for Jemma Reekie in Glasgow.
‘The track at ON-X is integral to the continued success of the club and we are delighted to have secured the funding to bring the track up to World Athletics standard and we would like to express our thanks to Renfrewshire Council and OneRen who we have worked with make this happen.’
The new track is one part of a significant investment by Renfrewshire Council in its sports facilities.
Councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes, Renfrewshire Council’s culture spokesperson and chair of OneRen, said: ‘I’m delighted to see the…
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