Ramsay Sloss picked up the perfect present ahead of his 70th birthday after winning the 200m handicap race in the famous New Year Sprint events.
The Calderwood athlete belied his 69 years as he took the title in 21.44 seconds, picking up a winners’ medal and pocketing a cheque for £400 at Meadowbank on December 30, which is a supporting event to the main New Year Sprint at Musselburgh Racecourse on New Year’s Day.
Ramsay, who is a podiatrist at the Glasgow Sports Injury Centre,was representing Law and District Amateur Athletic Club and pipped Abigail Harrison of Inverness AC (21.61) and Ewen Bradley (22.08) of Skye AC to take the prize.
He said: “I’m 70 on January 19 so it was quite a wee bonus and an early birthday present.
“I had been training hard for it for a few months and a big thanks goes to my coach at Law and District, Tom McTaggart, who guided me through the preparation.
“I had a time trial at the Emirates Arena on the Tuesday before it, which showed I was in pretty good form for it, so I was confident of getting in the top three, but to go and win it is great.
“The heats were abandoned due to the weather so it ended up being a straight final against about 13 other athletes.
“It’s quite a big thing to win at the New Year Sprint event and it’s not something many folk can do.
“But it was a great feeling to win it. They post-date the cheques so I’ve not had the chance to spend my prize yet.”
Unfortunately for Ramsay, however, a cheque wasn’t the only thing he picked up.
He added: “I had a very bad stomach bug after the race. I was completely wiped out.
“I think that race took a hell of a lot out of me. It was like I hit a peak and my body told me ‘take a break, son’. So we’ll see how I go in terms of what the rest of the year holds.”
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