jogScotland Awards, 2009

scottishathletics Annual Award Dinner: jogscotland Awards 31 October, Marriott Hotel, Glasgow

Melissa Wall

It was with great excitement and trepidation that Lisa, Steve and I attended the 'Awards'.  As you may have heard (not that we've been shouting it from the rooftops or anything!); Caingorm Runners were nominated for the Community Group of the Year Award.

For a wee change the three of us left the lycra at home and donned our party outfits (well it was Halloween).  The tension mounted as we arrived at the venue to a champagne reception and the first person we bumped into was Yvonne Murray closely followed by Liz McColgan - well there was much hushed elbowing as we tried to spot other running 'celebrities' - then the main man appeared Lord Sebastian Coe (or Super Seb as I call him - my new bezzie mate!).

We were then called through for dinner and delighted to find we were at a fab table close to the stage which Lisa and I took to be a good sign that we might win (well they wouldn't expect runners to quickly walk an extra 50 metres from the back of the room to pick up the award would they?/!).  We were seated with the lovely Alistair Currie (cue inapporiate comments from me - oops) from jogscotland and also thought this could be a sign - he might be on hand to help us ladies (Steve could sort himself!) up onto the stage.  Suddenly everything seemed to be a sign that it 'could be us'.

After some fantastic and motivational speeches from Super Seb and various sporting luminaries (Lisa and I were biting Steve's fingernails by this stage).......it was time for  the winner to be revealed and as the nominees names flashed up on the screen (Cairngorm Runners up there in bright lights) we all held our breath.  Steve didn't hold his for as long as I'd hoped..... however it just wasn't to be - we were beaten by the very worthy (grrrrr) Jogging Buddies from Paisley.  Gutted! - I'd even saved my after dinner chocolate mint to share with everyone as a celebration!  The natural actors in us took over and we applauded loudly with very fixed grins for the victors.  Suddenly we all felt very silly in our posh frocks (especially Steve) and comforted ourselves with the thought that 'hey we're here, in the final - one of three groups out of over 300 in Scotland ' and we didn't feel quite so bad.

So that's it guys - we didn't win, but bloomin heck we did amazingly well to be there!

Seb Coe's amazing speech summed it up when he paid the following tribute:

'Everyone in this room who is involved in sport do an amazing job in coaching, educating and mentoring and most importantly giving their time to others'.  He said that 'for many we are the anchors which give people purpose and in a lot of cases are the hidden social workers in many communities'.   

Seb's words were genuine and well chosen and resonated with me.   Whether we are club members, jog leaders, or committee members - (however small in number) we are all part of something much bigger than just a running club and probably don't always realise how we touch or help others in many other ways and frankly we don't need an award to tell us that now do we??