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Sandy in his Games gear
Evelyn in evening outfit
Alan Wells Brisbane 1982 
Sandy and Evelyn with baton
Lynsey Sharp Glasgow 2014
Double decathlon
Alastair Stanley |
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| Commonwealth Games - 9 Febraury |
Sandy with the team
The
Guild meeting on Monday 9 February 2015 featured Sandy Robertson
presenting his experience of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014,
and a look at his career training and coaching athletes at home
and abroad.
Sandy,
who is also the Kirk Session Clerk of St.
Mungo's was joined by his wife Evelyn, who was also a PE teacher like
Sandy, and the first senior female coach in the UK, also worked at
the Glasgow
2014 Commonwealth Games. She brought her official uniforms for both
day and evening, and modelled them for us to see.
Sandy with the Queen's Baton at Blackness Castle
We all remember
Sandy being chosen to carry the Queen’s Baton from
Blackness Castle in West Lothian in the direction of Falkirk on June 24
last year. His love of athletics was his career, being principal
teacher of physical education in West Lothian for 30 years, and his connection with Commonwealth Games spans more than only the 2014 in Glasgow.
He coached the
athletics team for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games of 1970 and 1986
in Edinburgh, and the Brisbane Games of 1982, where he met Alan Wells,
winner of the 100m and joint winner of the 200m, only to discover he
had used Penicuik Estate for part of his training!
In 1972 he was the
Scottish 400m hurdles champion, and told us .that
in September of
that year he was invited to become the national coach in the Republic
of Malawi. He went out as the national athletics and football coach but
within six months had been invited to become their national sports
coach. His success was to take a squad to Christchurch New Zealand for
the 1974 Commonwealth Games, which included cyclists, boxers, badminton
players, a shottist, and eight athletes. His eight athletes set a total of 26 national records in Timaru, Alexandria and Christchurch.
 A
British Athletics Master Coach, he now voluntarily coaches a squad of
outstanding athletes at Grangemouth three times per week, and is a team
manager and coach to the Scottish Schools teams for the S.I.A.B. International, the Sainsbury School Games [U.K Schools’ Games], and the Schools’International Indoor Pentathlon at the Emirates Arena.
Sandy
talked of coaching young athlete Lynsey Sharp, British and
Scottish track and field athlete who competes in the 800 metres. She is
the 2012 European champion and represented Great Britain at the 2012
Olympic Games in London. She also won a silver medal at the 2014
Commonwealth Games. Her personal best is 1:58.80, set when winning a
silver medal at the European Championships in August 2014.
 Aonther
youngster, 19 year old Hollie Lister has been coached by Sandy
since she was 11. She started life as a cross country runner with
Falkirk Victoria Harriers,
but soon developed a hankering for the multi-event discipline, and has
since gone on to represent Scotland on many occasions, racking up 28
medals, He hopes she will be heading for the Gold Coast Commonwealth
Games in Australia to compete in the long jump. She also found time to
play football for her school.
Sandy was particularly proud of 19
year old double decathlon internationalist Alastair Stanley who he has
coached since 2013. When Alasair was 17 he was among 27
competitors from all over Europe who competed in 20 separate track and
field events during the two day meeting which included a 5000m run,
3000m steeplechase, 400m hurdles, pole vault, triple jump and javelin
and ended with a 10km run. Whew. He also broke the under-18 British
record for this event and was only 326 points short of the world record
for his age group.
 There
were many other names that Sandy has worked with, including sisters
Pamela and Emily McNicol, of Carluke High School, who are very
competitive and taken to different disciplines to avoid direct
competition. They were selected to represent Scotland at the
Schools International Pentathlon against England, Ireland and Wales
in December 2013 at the Emirates Arena Glasgow. Emily was selected
for the under 16 girls team and Pamela the over 16 girls team.
But
soon it was time for a tea break, at which everyone was discussing
Sandy's absorbing and interesting talk. He received very warm
applause from his audience for a great presentation .
You can find out more about the Guild and the forthcoming guest speakers HERE
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