Hawkins up to standard!
Brothers Callum and Derek Hawkins are on the verge of being selected to compete for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games this summer.
And Olympian AndrewLemoncello, from Fife, is also now odds-on for Team Scotland at Glasgow 2014 after posting the one 10,000m qualifying standard that is required for
selection.
With elder brother Derek already picked for the marathon, Scottish Cross Country champion Callum featured in the same race as Lemoncello in California and also beat the 29 minutes being asked for 10,000m on the track at Hampden.
British 10,000m champ Lemoncello ran 28.42.48 with Callum Hawkins just behind his fellow Scot at 28.49.57.
Steeplechaser Lennie Waite was in good form, also, with her run of 9.48.17 inside the Games standard as she looks toward selection as well. Lennie already has two previous standard performances.
It is a wonderful moment for the Hawkins family from Elderslie, near Paisley, with both boys coached by their father, Robert, and stalwarts of the Kilbarchan AAC club.
Brothers Ian and Peter Stewart represented Scotland at the 1970 Games in Edinburgh with Ian winning gold and Peter fourth in the same 5000m race at Meadowbank.
There have been brothers in different Games before, also – Ross and Chris Baillie and David and Roger Jenkins.
‘I am absolutely delighted for Callum Hawkins and for Andrew Lemoncello,’ said Stephen Maguire, the
scottishathletics Director of Coaching.
‘They are different cases, with Andrew a more experienced athlete and living in America with his wife and daughter and Callum back home now after a spell at University in the United States.
‘But the parallels are there between them nonetheless: they have both worked extremely hard towards these qualifying times and done so with the minimum of fuss.
‘There are no short-cuts in athletics and for the Hawkins family to have two boys as real contenders for selection now – Derek is already there for the marathon – is great news.
‘Behind that basic story are years and years of hard work, training sessions, driving to competitions in England, trips to and from the United States and Europe. It takes massive commitment from athletes, coaches and clubs and that’s why anyone making qualification for a home Games in Scotland means so much.
‘It is a nice boost for the sport in Scotland with some good performances last weekend at our Spring Throws
event when Rachel Hunter threw a hammer standard.’
Lemoncello, of Fife AC, is aged 31 and went to Beijing with Team GB and NI for the 2008 Olympic Games and competed in steeplechase.
He set a World Record for the treadmill Half Marathon last October with 67.29 in a mall in Phoenix to raise cash for the National Down Syndrome Society after his daughter, Isla, was born with Down Syndrome last June.
Lemoncello tweeted yesterday: ‘Phew! I am glad I got that out of the way. Commonwealth Games qualifier at Stanford. Four months to get a minute quicker.’
Commonwealth Games Scotland ratify selections after standards have been achieved with the closing date early in June.
There were 19 athletes in the Scotland track and field team for the Commonwealth Games in 2010 with only 17 making the Delhi standards. Now the number making standards is in excess of 30 and the final team tally – to be announced in June – may well be double that of the one which travelled to India.
