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On your marks, get set, go! An athletics packed morning at East Kilbride

On Wednesday 8 March one of our patrons, Yvonne Murray-Mooney, joined us at our Sporting Memories Westwood Club in East Kilbride in a specially themed session focusing on Athletics!

Coaching, not Taxing

John Whitelaw , one of our Club Session team, had put a morning especially for athletics fans. We had a short, illustrated talk by his friend, Ian McEwan, who he has known since their days running together in Inland Revenue athletics events. Ian has for many years been a well-respected and acknowledged coach of young athletes, particularly in the heptathlon and decathlon disciplines. He has, most notably, coached local East Kilbride girl Holly McArthur - who in 2018 became the first Scottish athlete to represent her country at the Commonwealth Games in the Heptathlon for twenty years.

What a journey with Yvonne

Yvonne then stepped up to share her incredible journey in athletics. With a delightful, informative, humorous and at times quite moving talk she kept our audience enthralled. She took us from her humble beginnings in athletics (and life) in Musselburgh, through early successes in local and Scottish athletics to the international victories and medals she won for both Scotland and Great Britain and Ireland at world events across the globe.

Tom Mooney, another of our Club Session team, provided the introduction and interspersed the presentation with clips of his wife's finest moments on screen. Yvonne was her very humble and natural self and not only responded to questions from the floor but chatted informally to all who approached her afterwards and happily posed for pictures - much to the delight of all the members.

Community Club Co-ordinator, Jim Purvis added: “I think all who were present - and we had a bumper attendance - agreed that it had been a very memorable occasion. I spoke to Yvonne after the event and then again, a few days later and she had clearly enjoyed herself to; as she did when speaking at our clubs in Glenrothes and Musselburgh previously.

“Yvonne spoke very frankly about her involvement with Sporting Memories having been a great boost to her recovery from bouts of anxiety and depression which have dogged her in recent years. She thanked us from the bottom of her heart for that. We look forward to seeing Yvonne again and thank her for all her wonderful support.”