The Edinburgh Reporter January 2024

By STAFF REPORTER

MUSSELBURGH Racecourse has

been named Champion Racecourse

at the 12th annual Racecourse

Association (RCA) Showcase Awards.

The track picked up three

individual awards en route to being

named as the overall Champion for

2023 - the Racing Post Readers’ Award

and the Marketing and Food &

Beverage awards.

The Racing Post Readers’ Award

asked the racing public to nominate

their favourite racecourse based on

raceday experience, customer service

and value for money. Musselburgh

scored the highest average across

these metrics polling almost 20% of

the overall votes.

Musselburgh’s drive for excellence

in Food & Beverage was evident in the

Pinkie’s Deli, a Taste of Scotland’s

Larder initiative. A move to a more

locally sourced and evidence-based

menu was a resounding success with

racegoers, and the racecourse is best

in British racing for food and drink.

As a successful one-off event in

2019, the Corgi Derby returned to

Musselburgh integral to a winning

campaign in the Marketing category.

Musselburgh’s use of data to target

specific demographics and tailor the

messaging, ticket packages and

raceday experience impressed the

judges with the results clearly

showing an impressive return.

The racecourse was also a Finalist

in two other categories.

Musselburgh Racecourse General

Manager Bill Farnsworth, said:

“Musselburgh’s joins a small group

of eight illustrious Showcase

Champions and it certainly felt as if all

the other racecourses represented at

the Awards were particularly pleased

that Musselburgh had won.

“I am incredibly proud of the team

here at Musselburgh who have shown

incredible resilience over the past few

years and have been resolute in their

commitment to the racecourse and to

putting on a fantastic experience for

our customers and participants.

“The staff at Musselburgh

never stand still and are totally

committed to making sure all our

visitors have the best possible

‘Musselburgh’ experience.

“We can all be extremely proud of

what Musselburgh has achieved.”

20 SPORT

Just Champion: Musselburgh gallops off with top award

Scots win silver

High hopes for

Grange hockey

Over-50s footballers finish runners up in international masters

By COLIN LESLIE

SCOTLAND’S OVER-50S football team

returned with their heads held high and silver

medals hanging proudly round their necks

after a memorable tournament at the Sumai

International Masters in Thailand, with

Edinburgh and the Lothians well represented.

I was lucky enough to be included in the

17-strong squad which flew 6,000 miles to the

beautiful island of Koh Sumai, and was joined

by former local players from the professional,

semi-pro and Juniors ranks, including skipper

Jim Rae, Scott Burnside, Craig Manson,

Craig Meikle, Brian Anderson, Mark Dawson,

Stewart Siegel, Sean Barr and co-manager

Paul Donnelly.

The squad gelled brilliantly on and off the

pitch, and despite a gruelling schedule of five

11-a-side games in six days, Scotland - under

the leadership of former Meadowbank Thistle

and Livingston defender Grant Tierney -

surged to the final, only to lose narrowly to

holders and favourites Iran.

Scotland won three and drew one of their

four group fixtures, but the highlight of the trip

was undoubtedly an overdue win over the Auld

Enemy, England, with Anderson living out a

childhood dream with the clinching goal in a

memorable 3-1 victory. “I scored a goal for

Scotland against England - the highlight of my

football career. That’s the stuff you dream of as

a kid,” he said.

When captain Rae gathered his exhausted

team-mates together in a huddle at the end

of the game, we were told we had achieved

something very special. Not only had we

earned a place in the prestigious final,

but we had kept our composure to finally

record a win over England at a Seniors or

Masters tournament - the first time we had

done so, since the national Seniors team was

established in 2011.

Rae said: “It has been my honour to

represent Scotland at seven tournaments

over the years and becoming captain of

our country in the last two tournaments

has been an absolute privilege.

“At this year’s tournament, we did what we

have never done before and that was beating

England. They have beaten us in the final twice

and semi-final once, so to beat them this year

was a first for our group and something we

should all be proud off, as the resources they

have are far greater than ours.”

Scotland started the tournament by coming

within five minutes of beating Iran, unluckily

conceding a late goal to draw 1-1. Victories

against the local Sumai side (2-0) and Thailand

(5-1) then sent our confidence soaring ahead of

the England clash.

The final was an epic encounter. Iran, who

fielded a side full of top professionals, some of

whom had played in the actual World Cup,

raced into a two-goal lead, only for Scotland to

bravely roar back and lay siege to their

opponents’ goal. Meikle scored his fourth goal

of the tournament to reduce the deficit, but

Iran managed to hold on and claim the trophy.

Another highlight of the trip was using some

rare downtime to visit a local primary school,

which the Scotland squad attended en masse to

deliver a coaching session and donate footballs

and kit to the local children. This was

something of a busman’s holiday for striker

Sean Barr, who has spent 15 years as a coach

with Edinburgh South Community football

club. “The opportunity to coach kids in

Thailand was incredible,” said Sean. “All the

squad left the school well and truly humbled.”

To be part of such a special trip was

humbling for us all. After a near 30-hour long

journey back across the world, the Scotland

Seniors squad returned home brimming with

pride, and with bold ambitions to go one better

in 2024.

By NIGEL DUNCAN

GRANGE HAVE an unblemished record of

ten wins for 30 points with 45 goals scored

• the third best in the table - with Western
  second on 24 points and The University of
  Edinburgh third also on 24 points.
  Coach Steve Grubb is looking forward to
  the re-start of the season in February in a
  positive frame of mind.
  He said: “If we keep playing the way we
  are playing it is in our hands, but we have
  to keep working hard in training and then
  turn up and play the games.”
  Grubb admitted that, in the first three or
  four games of the league campaign,
  Grange were in an around the D but
  connections did not come.
  But against the University, and in several
  fixtures games before that, they were
  clicking, which, he said, was really pleasing.
  “Looking forward, we need to start the
  way we finished (the first part of the
  season), but we have the intensity in
  training and training is hard.
  “We have a lot of players chasing
  positions. There are 24 players in the
  squad. We have Robbie Croll and David
  Nairn coming back (after injury) and the
  issue now is how do we fit them in and
  maintain the balance.”

Team captain

Jim Rae

Steve

Grubb