The Edinburgh Reporter’s Weekly Sports Round-up

August 19, 2013 12:04 pm

We apologise firstly for the brevity of this round-up! Our main sports editor John Hislop has been forced to take some time off due to illness so there will be intermittent sports coverage until he is back to full health in a week or two.

If you have any sports news then please do send it to us! theedinburghreporter@gmail.com

Meantime our sports round up has a slightly different look to it….

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First of all exciting news for all you skiers out there. There will be a new specialist boot fitting store in Edinburgh – hopefully opening by Christmas. As our photos below will show you there is a significant development taking place up at Hillend. Craigdon Mountain Sports are building on the site of the old hotel which has been demolished to make way for a state of the art boot fitting centre, restaurant and mountain gear store. Situated very handily for Hillend it will also have a ski repair centre. Watch this space…

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Allan Smith is a high jumper from South Queensferry who has a real chance of being in the Commonwealth Games team next year.

Allan won his first national high jump title at the Scottish Athletics Championships in Glasgow last weekend. So things are indeed looking good for pre-selection to the Commonwealth Games athletics team in the first draft next month.

Allan has won both Scottish Athletics senior high jump championships indoors and outdoors. He set a Scottish native high jump record (2.22m) (highest jump by a Scot in Scotland) whilst winning the Scottish Universities Championships in January, then increased it to 2.23m whilst competing for a Commonwealth select team at the British International in February. He then won the silver medal at British Athletics European trials & UK senior athletics championships.

In the summer, Allan was capped by UK Athletics at the European Athletics Under 23 Championships in Finland, where he represented Team GB, and won the bronze medal in the high jump with a personal best leap of 2.26m. He also broke into the elite athletics track and field circuit by competing in the Diamond League high jump event during the London Anniversary Games last month.

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Commonwealth Games tickets have gone on sale this morning but there was a queue of over 60 minutes when we had a look at the website. The good news is that tickets are priced from £15 upwards and half price tickets for the under-16s and over-60s. Ticket prices will include public transport in the local area too.

Tickets are on sale from now till 16 September and you will know after that if your application has been fruitful.Wherethere is more demand than tickets available then a draw will be made from all applications received. There is also a limit to how many tickets you can apply for which may vary according to the events.

We hope you are lucky!

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This week Edinburgh Rugby unveiled their new playing strip to fans at the annual Open Evening at Murrayfield Stadium on Thursday night. The Open Evening gave fans a unique chance to get up, close and personal with the players, and see behind the scenes at the home of the capital club.

The gunners opened up the doors to their changing rooms, gym and tunnel for hundreds of wide-eyed supporters to experience. Fans also got the chance to meet and pick the brains of managing director, David Davies and new head coach Alan Solomons.

Edinburgh backs Matt Scott and Greg Tonks modeled the strips on the evening, which were very positively received by attending fans.

The strip branded ‘old town, new look’ shows the club colours of black and red repositioned into hoops for a more traditional looking home kit, and marks a return of white away jerseys, complete with new shirt sponsor BT Sport.

Released a fortnight after the national side’s new, classic jersey, the strip aims to reflect the back-to-basics approach being adopted by Edinburgh Rugby under new management.

Centre, Matt Scott, said “I really like the new kit. It’s a bold design and I think is well suited to the graft and grit that’s been put in over pre-season.

“It’s honest and hard working and that’s what we, as players, want to deliver for our supporters on the pitch this season.”

Those wanting to purchase the new kit, the club are predicting it will be available to purchase at the end of August, either in person or via the websitehttp://www.scottishrugbydirect.com/

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Scott Glynn Rugby Charity WalkPresident of Ross High Rugby Club, Scott Glynn (far right of the photo), finished his long distance charity walk on Saturday at the home of Scottish Rugby. Having walked round all the rugby clubs in East Lothian, at 1pm Scott finished his marathon ‘stroll’ at Murrayfield stadium, where he was greeted by representatives of Scottish Rugby supported charities, Hearts and Balls and The Bill McLaren Foundation. They were not, of course, just ‘any’ old representatives. There for Hearts and Balls, and to receive a cheque for the charity, was Ian McLauchlan – ‘Mighty Mouse’ himself – and there for The Bill McLaren Foundation were former Scotland scrum-half Alan Lawson and his wife, Linda – daughter of the late, great Bill McLaren – who were also presented with a cheque.Set up in 1999, Hearts and Balls provides support of all kinds for seriously injured players – injuries which are life changing, such as spinal damage – and their families. Support ranges from equipment such as wheelchairs and specialised beds to financial, ranging from investment advice to legal costs.The Bill McLaren Foundation was set up, with the support of Bill’s family, to support, promote and provide sporting opportunities, especially in rugby, for young people and to create an Education Centre, which will house the Bill McLaren Archive. The Foundation also helps clubs, organisations and individuals to set up one-off or annual fund raising events World-wide.

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Other sports news from other sources has been posted on our Scoop.it magazine here…….