Commonwealth Games Scotland, in partnership with Glasgow 2014, is delighted to present the Commonwealth Games Dinner 2011. Join guests from the world of sport, media and politics as we celebrate the performance of Youth Team Scotland 2011, fresh from the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man, and we look to the future with 1000 days to go until the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Our Annual Awards Dinner is a centrepiece of the Scottish sporting calendar, showcasing the activities of Commonwealth Games Scotland and Scottish athletes over the past year. We will highlight the achievements of our Youth Team and it will be an occasion to congratulate them as they aspire to 2014 and beyond.
With only 1000 days to go until Glasgow 2014, there is much to cheer about. Venues are under construction, detailed planning on all aspects of the Games organisation is well underway and the first sponsors are on board. Our athletes are focused and our expectations high.
This unique sporting event is your chance to join our team, to mix with the athletes and to enjoy the drinks reception and a sumptuous three course meal with wine, in one of Scotland’s top contemporary hotels.
The event will start with a ‘Medallists’ Parade’ and go on to feature our prestigious awards:
Athlete of the Youth Games
Scottish Junior Sportsperson of the Year in association with Scottish Sports Aid
The Lonsdale Trophy for Scottish Sportsperson of the Year.
Dancing to Ceilidh band Whisky Kiss will draw the evening to a close.
Pre-dinner drinks commence at 7pm, with carriages at 1am. The cost is £800 for a table of 10. Spaces are limited so please secure your booking by calling T:01786 466480 or email us at info@cgcs.org.uk
A copy of this flyer is available to download and print as a pdf if required. Go to the downloads section at the bottome left of this page.
As the final day of competition closed last night, Youth Team Scotland was left to reflect on three successful days of competition. Scottish athletes picked up an impressive 22 medals, which came from a total of nineteen individual medallists. Scotland finished sixth on the medal table; with five gold, six silver and 11 bronze medals.
Youth Team Scotland, General Team Manager Vicky Strange said: “I am absolutely delighted how we have performed as a team. The athletes have done superbly well and to have 22 medals from 19 different medallists is certainly encouraging for the future. We didn’t set a medal target, because these Games are about development opportunities, and I know that every member of the team will take something positive away from the experience.”
She continued: “Along with the medals, many of our athletes will be going home with new personal best times and scores; and in some cases new Scottish and British records. Everyone has really embraced the Team Scotland ethos, by supporting and respecting one another in the multi-sport environment.”
In the medal stakes, swimming was Youth Team Scotland’s most successful sport with 11 medals collected by nine separate medallists. Amongst the swimmers was Scotland’s most successful athlete; breaststroker Craig Benson (17, Livingston) who will leave the Isle of Man with three gold and one silver medal. Scotland’s most successful female athlete was swimmer Emily Jones (16, Inverurie) who won three bronze medals in the pool.
It was a successful weekend in athletics with four athletes winning five medals. The pick of the bunch was Tom Holligan’s (17) gold medal in the men’s 200m. The Edinburgh athlete was also named as flagbearer for the opening ceremony. Thrower Nick Percy (16, Isle of Wight) collected the silver in the discus along with a new British under-17 record and also won bronze in the hammer.
In gymnastics, Douglas Ross won a gold medal in the men’s vault with a fantastic score of 14.825. Kirsty Gilmour picked up bronze in the badminton singles, having played well throughout the whole competition. Scotland’s boxers fought well against some tough competition, coming home with three silver and one bronze medal.
Youth Team Scotland was supported by 25 general management and sports specific staff. Vicky said: “All of the staff on the team have done a fantastic job, to make sure the athletes have been in the best possible team environment, and they have all played a part in the success of the team. This has been a development opportunity for many of our staff as well as athletes and I’m sure everyone involved will benefit from the experience.”
Douglas Ross (17, Johnstone, Renfrewshire) collected gold for Scotland in the men’s vault at the Ellan Vannon Gymnastics Centre in the Isle of Man last night. He finished first in the competition with a score of 14.825 to collect the gold for Scotland. The talented gymnast performed two skilled vaults to finish first ahead of Dominick Cunningham (England) and Tan Wei-An Terry (Singapore).
In the other individual finals Liam Davie finished 7th in the high-bar. Shannon Archer was 7th and Carly Smith was 8th on the balance beam, while Shannon also finished 6th on the floor.
Scottish swimmer Craig Benson (17, Livingston) made it a clean sweep of gold medals in the breaststroke, with another stunning swim in the 50m last night at the National Sports Centre.
Craig picked up his first gold on the opening night in the 100m and added to it on day two in the 200m. He was also part of the silver medal winning 4x100m medley relay team on day one. Craig was in confident mood going into the 50m breaststroke, and looked comfortable finishing in 27.79s. Commonwealth Games Scotland, Chief Executive Jon Doig was on hand to present Benson with his third gold medal in as many days.
Delighted with his performances over the weekend Craig said: “I am really pleased with my performances this week, and obviously I aimed to go for three golds but I didn’t know if I would be able to do it. Being part of the Team Scotland has been so much fun. Sometimes at competitions it can feel like you’re under so much pressure, but here I have just been focused on performing well and enjoying myself.”
With the next Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Craig is focussed on making the step up to the senior event. “Glasgow is a huge focus”, he said. “You don’t get to represent Scotland at any other competition than the Commonwealth Games so it’s really special. It would be such an amazing feeling to sing Flower of Scotland in the pool in 2014. I saw how the Isle of Man crowd were with their home swimmers and it would be incredible to experience that in Glasgow.”
He continued: “I want to try and qualify for the London Olympics, and I have an outside chance there. After that I have three years, so I’ll hopefully be a good age and experienced enough to win medals in Glasgow.”
Elsewhere yesterday there were four early bronze medals for Scotland in the pool with Emily Jones (16, Inverurie) and Fiona Donnelly (16, Derbyshire) finishing in a dead heat for bronze in the 400m individual medley on 4:45.68. Charlotte McKenzie (14, Stenhousemuir) won bronze in the 50m backstroke in 28.43s while Mark Szaranek won bronze in the 200m individual medley (2:03.02).
Swimming have contributed 11 medals and nine medallists to Youth Team Scotland’s total of 22 medals and 19 medallists.
Aside from the podium finishes, our athletes have set a host of personal best times, and really embraced what being a part of Youth Team Scotland means.
It was a medal filled day for Youth Team Scotland on the final day of competition at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man. Fourteen medals were picked up to take Scotland’s final tally to 22 and to finish sixth on the medal table.
Sport by sport review (all times BST):
Athletics
It was a superb day for athletics, with four medals coming in the afternoon session. Chloe Lambert (Glasgow) picked up bronze in the 200m with a run of 29.49s, before Tom Holligan (Edinbugh) won gold in the men’s 200m in 21.52s. In the hammer, Nick Percy (Isle of Wight) won bronze with a throw of 58.96m before Kimberley Reed (Edinburgh) took silver with a throw of 54.22m. In the final race; Chloe, Emma Brown (East Kilbride), Zoey Clark (Aberdeen) and Yasmin Milne finished 4th in the 4x100m relay.
Badminton
Kirsty Gilmour (Bothwell) picked up Scotland’s first medal of the day in the women’s singles, defeating Malaysian Li lian Yang, 16-21, 20-22 in the bronze medal match.
Boxing
In the gold medal matches at the Villa Marina, Charlie Flynn (Motherwell) collected silver after narrowly losing out to Englishman Henry Thomas, 18-19. Kieran Smith (Geenrigg) was also defeated by an Englishman, with Damon Jones winning, 10-15. Grant Quigley (Port Glasgow) featured in the second last bout where he lost by a single point to Australian Dylan Hardy, 15-16.
Cycling
In the Criterium today Grant Ferguson (Peebles) put in a great performance to finish 5th, Taylor Johnstone (London) was 14th, Stuart McCluskey (Hamilton) 20th and Jack Barrett (Doune) 32nd.
Gymnastics
Douglas Ross (Johnstone) picked up gold in the vault with a score of 14.825, while Liam Davie finished 7th in the high bar. Shannon Archer was 7th and Carly Smith was 8th on the beam, and Shannon finished 6th on the floor.
Rugby 7s
The rugby boys fought to the end today, where they finished 4th. In the quarter final match against Sri Lanka, Scotland won 47-0 before facing England for a place in the gold medal match. England came out 19-5 winners, meaning the Scots had to face fellow Pool A team Australia in the bronze medal match. In a closely contested match the Aussies pulled through, winning 15-12.
Swimming
Fiona Donnelly (Belper) won bronze in the 400m individual medley (dead heat with Emily Jones (Inveruie)), and finished 8th in the heats of the 200m freestyle, but didn’t swim the final; Emily Jones won bronze in the 400m individual medley (dead heat with Fiona Donnelly), and finished 6th in the 200m breaststroke; Charlotte McKenzie (Stenhousemuir) won bronze in the 50m backstroke; Rachel Sharples (Musselbugh) finished 9th in the heats of the 100m butterfly; Kirstin McKinley (Glasgow) finished 6th in the 200m freestyle; Fiona, Emily, Charlotte and Kirstin finished 4th in the 4x100m medley relay.
Craig Benson (Livingston) finished 4th in the 200m individual medley, and won gold in the 50m breaststroke; Mark Szaranek (Glenrothes) won bronze in the 200m individual medley, and finished 8th in the 200m flybutterfly; Gareth Mills (Scaborough)finished 11th in the 200m butterfly; Joshua Booth (Derby) finished 6th in the 100m backstoke; Alisdair Stirling (utherglen) finished 7th in the 50m freestyle; Mark, Gareth, Craig and Ali finished 4th in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Scotland’s five boxers will come home from the Isle of Man with four medals, having fought really well at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games. On a tight final day of competition at the Villa Marina, Charlie Flynn (Motherwell), Kieran Smith (Greenrigg) and Grant Quigley (Port Glasgow) all featured in the gold medal bouts, coming away with three silver medals.
At the start of the evening session, lightweight, Charlie Flynn (17) was up against Englishman Henry Thomas, where he narrowly missed out on the gold medal. It was a tight fight, with Thomas coming out a point ahead after the first round (3-4). In the second round the contest had swung in Charlie’s favour to 10-9, but after a busy third, the Englishman came out on top 18-19.
Kieran Smith (18) fought against Damon Jones (England) in the final of the welterweight division in another really tight contest, eventually losing out 10-15. Jones led after the first round and despite some excellent shots from Kieran the score was 5-7 after round two. Smith fought well again in the third round but it wasn’t enough to come out on top.
Middleweight, Grant Quigley (17) faced Dylan Hardy (Australia) in yet another tight contest. There was nothing between the two fighters, who were tied on 4-4 after the first round and 9-9 at the second. In the third round both athletes scored some big points, with the crowd willing on every punch. At the final bell neither fighter could have known they’d done enough to win, but when the decision was announced Hardy had picked up one more point to win 15-16. Commonwealth Games Scotland Chairman, Michael Cavanagh presented the flowers to the athletes during the medal ceremony.
Rhys Pagan (Sanquhar) fought extremely well in his first bout on Friday (9th September) against Ofentse Kompone (Botswana) coming out on top 20-16. In the Semi-final match against England’s Darren Tetley, Pagan again put on a good show, but lost out in a tight contest 19-12. Rhys was presented with the bronze medal in the Light Welterweight division this evening, by Commonwealth Games Federation President, Michael Fennell.
On the opening day (9th September) Mark McKeown (Coatbridge) fought extremely well and was unlucky not to come through against England’s Qais Ashfaq 16-9, who eventually went on to win the gold medal.
Each of the athletes will take something away from the Commonwealth Youth Games experience, and Boxing Team Manager Tony Kerr says they should all be proud of their performances. “The boys have all done really well this week”, says Tony. “I think we were unlucky in a couple of the bouts, but they have to be proud with how they have performed.”
Sprinter Tom Holligan (17, Edinburgh) won gold this afternoon in the 200m at the National Sports Centre in the Isle of Man. The European Youth Olympic Festival champion finished in 21.52s; with 100m Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist Tahir Walsh (Antigua & Berbuda) in second.
Holligan started well in lane three, and came quickly off the bend to finish in first place. It was a superbly run race, and Tom was ecstatic as he crossed the finish line. “It feels even better than the European Youth Olympics”, he said. “I felt confident after the heats yesterday, but I thought that the semi-final could have gone better this morning; I didn’t run as fast as I’d have liked there.”
He continued: “I was scared at the start, and I think that helped me so much. I came on to their shoulders and it just catapulted me through. I think my reaction shows how much it meant to me. I knew I was ahead when I hit the line, and I had a wee glance to the right and I saw I was clear.”
It has been an exciting week for Tom so far, having been named as Youth Team Scotland’s flagbearer for the Games.
“I felt a bit of pressure coming into this after being named the flagbearer. I was happy with my performance in the 100m and I knew coming into the 200m I was going to give it a real go. I’m delighted with my time so late in the season. I am so happy that my family were able to see it this time, because they couldn’t make it to Turkey (for the European Youth Olympic Festival). It was really emotional for everyone after the medal ceremony.”
Fifteen minutes before Tom’s gold medal performance, Chloe Lambert (17, Glasgow) won bronze in the women’s 200m. Chloe had qualified first in her Semi-final going 24.75s, and she went even quicker in the final (24.49s) to finish third.
Five minutes after Chloe crossed the line, the final throw of the men’s hammer landed, with Scotland’s Nick Percy (16, Isle of Wight) winning bronze. Nick, who won silver in the discus yesterday, threw 58.96m to pick up his second medal of the Games.
Edinburgh hammer thrower Kimberley Reed (16) collected the fourth athletics medal winning silver in the women’s competition. The Commonwealth Games Scotland, May Athlete of the Month winner threw 54.22m, to finish second behind England’s Louisa James (58.10m).
In the final race of the day the Scottish 4x100m relay team (Emma Brown, Zoey Clark, Chloe Lambert, Yasmine Milne) finished fourth in 49.21s.
Scottish badminton player Kirsty Gilmour (17, Bothwell) won the bronze medal this afternoon in the women’s singles at the Commonwealth Youth Games. The number two seed was up against Malaysian Li lian Yang, but played superbly to win 16-21, 20-22.
Kirsty played some incredible shots during the first set where she took control of the match. The second set was tight but it looked like Gilmour had won when; at 19-20, the Malaysian’s shot dropped near the baseline. It was close, but the shuttlecock was in leaving the pair tied at 20-20. The Scot showed great composure and played the next two points superbly, to come out on top 20-22 to take the bronze medal.
Coming off court Kirsty couldn’t contain her excitement. “I am on top of the world right now!”, she said. “I would have loved to be in the gold/silver match but I’m really happy with a bronze medal. I played really well out there today. To be classed up there with the top three seeds is where I want to be, and to be recognised as being as good as those guys is great.”
Having represented Team Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Kirsty will be hoping to be amongst the medals in Glasgow come 2014. “That would be incredible”, she said. “Especially now as I’ve had a taste of it here”!
She continued: “I have a few senior European tournaments coming up so I’ll be looking to carry on from here and enjoy myself out there. I’m going to be playing with Jille (Cooper), who I was out with in Delhi when we go to the Czech Republic, so that will be a lot of fun.”
Scotland’s rugby 7s team went for a practice session on the Douglas promenade in the Isle of Man on the final day of competition at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games. The team got off to a good start yesterday with wins over the Isle of Man (43-5) and Canada (15-14), before losing out to Australia (5-19).
The Scots will face Sri Lanka in the Quarter-Final at 1632 BST today. The weather on the Isle of Man today may not be as nice as it is in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup; but spirits are certainly high.
The players representing Scotland in the Isle of Man are:
Adam Ashe, Chris Auld, Will Bordill, Chris Dean, James Farndale, Robbie Fergusson, Alex Galashan, Neil Herron, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Damien Hoyland, Shaun MacDonald and Scott Steele.
There were more medals for Youth Team Scotland on day two of the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games. Nick Percy set the ball rolling with silver in the men’s discus before swimmers Ali Stirling and Craig Benson won bronze and gold respectively in the 100m freestyle and the 200m breaststroke. The women’s 4x200m relay team also won bronze. Boxer Rhys Pagan will collect the bronze medal tomorrow, with Charlie Flynn, Kieran Smith and Grant Quigley through to the gold/silver medal bouts.
Sport by sport review/preview (all times BST):
Athletics
In the morning session Bethanie Finlayson (24.41) and Chloe Lambert (24.31) were both first in their respective heats in the women’s 200m. In the men’s 200m Tom Holligan (21.51) finished first in his heat to make tomorrow’s night’s semi-final. Yasmin Milne finished 5th in her heat of the 100m hurdles (14.45), while Emma Brown progressed to the 100m hurdles final after setting a new personal best, coming in 4th (14.19).
In the evening session Nick Percy broke the under-17s Scottish record and set a new British under-17s record in the men’s discus; taking the silver with a throw of 62.96m. Zoey Clark ran in the final of the women’s 400m where she finished fourth on a photo-finish, showing how tight the margins can be in sport. John McCall made the final of the men’s 110m hurdles where he finished fifth in 14.22. In the women’s 100m hurdles final Emma Brown put in another good performance, finishing 8th matchinh her heat time of 14.19.
In the morning session tomorrow (from 1200), Bethanie Finlayson, Chloe Lambert and Tom Holligan will run in the semi-finals of the women’s and men’s 200m respectively. A busy afternoon session (from 1515) will see Nicholas Percy and Kimberley Reed compete in the final of the men’s and women’s hammer. The session also features the men’s and women’s 200m finals before the women’s 4x100m relay.
Badminton
Kirsty Gilmour won in the singles quarter finals against Foo Kune Kate Jessica Kim Lee, 13-21, 6-21, before narrowly losing to Sonia Cheah 21-19, 10-21, 21-11 in the semi finals. In the women’s doubles Kirsty and Caitlin Pringle lost against Mei Kuan Chow and Meng Yean Lee (Malaysia) 21-11, 21-16. In the mixed doubles Kirsty and Matthew Carder lost to Indian duo Srikanth Nammalwar Kidambi and Maneesah Kukkapalli, 10-21, 10-21.
On the final day of the Games, Kirsty will play Li lian Yang (Malaysia) in the bronze medal match of the women’s singles (at 1120).
Boxing
Charlie Flynn won against Jabulani Makhense (South Africa) 17-11, Rhys Pagan lost out to Darren Tetley (England) 12-19, Kieran Smith stopped Botshelo Robby (Botswana) in the first round and Grant Quigley defeated Surender Singh 24-15.
Rhys will collect the bronze medal tomorrow night in the light welterweight division. Charlie, Kieran and Grant are all through to the finals and will box for gold or silver in the final session at the Villa Marina (from 1700). Charlie takes on Henry Thomas (England), Kieran faces Damon Jones (England) and Grant will line up against Dylan Hardy (Australia).
Cycling
In the Road Race today Grant Ferguson finished sixth, just a second behind the leading pack. Team mates Taylor Johnstone was 16th, Stuart McCluskey 19th and Jack Barrett 20th.
The men’s Criterium takes place in the afternoon session (from 1515) at the Villa Marina. Jack Barrett, Grant Ferguson, Taylor Johnstone and Stuart McCluskey will all represent Youth Team Scotland.
Gymnastics
In the women’s Artistic Individual All-Around Carly Smith finished in seventh, while Cara Kennedy finished 11th both recording personal best scores. In the men’s competition Jamie Carpenter finished in 13th place.
The men’s and women’s Artistic Individual Apparatus competitions take place tomorrow (from 1400). Carly will contest the beam, while Shannon Archer will compete on the beam and floor. Carly is the first reserve for the floor competition. Liam Davie will feature in the men’s high bar and Douglas Ross will compete in the vault.
Rugby 7s
Scotland’s rugby boys got their competition underway today with two wins out of three. In the opening match of the 2011 Games they faced host nation the Isle of Man, coming out 43-5 winners. They then won against Canada15-14 but lost out in the final game of the day against Australia 5-19.
The boys line up in the Quarter Final against Sri Lanka tomorrow (1632), with a place in the semis at stake (from 1728).
Swimming
Alisdair Stirling won bronze in the 100m freestyle; Joshua Booth finished 11th in the heats of the 50m backstoke and 14th in the heats of the 100m butterfly; Craig Benson won gold in the 200m breaststoke; Mark Szaranek finished 7th in the 100m butterfly; Ali, Josh, Gareth Mills and Mark finished 5th in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
Emily Jones finished 6th in the 200m individual medley, 400m freestyle; Charlotte McKenzie finished 13th in the heats of the 200m individual medley and 5th in the 100m backstroke; Kirstin McKinley finished 13th in the morning heats of the 50m freestyle; Rachel Sharples finished 7th in the 200m butterfly; Fiona Donnelly finished 5th in the 400m freestyle; Emily, Kirstin, Rachel and Fiona won bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
It’s another packed day in the pool with the morning heats (from 0900) featuring; Fiona Donnelly (400m individual medley, 200m freestyle), Emily Jones (400m individual medley, 200m breaststroke, 4x100m medley relay), Charlotte McKenzie (50m backstoke, 4x100m medley relay), Rachel Sharples (100m butterfly, 4x100m medley relay) and Kirstin McKinley (200m freestyle, 4x100m medley relay).
Craig Benson (200m individual medley, 50m breaststroke, 4x200m freestyle relay), Mark Szaranek (200m individual medley, 200m butterfly, 4x200m freestyle relay), Gareth Mills (200m butterfly, 4x200m feestyle relay), Joshua Booth (100m backstroke) and Alisdair Stirling (50m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle relay) will race in the men’s competition.
Finals for all events will take place in the evening session (from 1730).