#record holder.

[scotianostra]

Happy 44th Birthday former Rugby Union player Chris Paterson born 30th March 1978 in Edinburgh.

Paterson started his rugby career with hometown club Gala, the highlight being a solo try that won Gala the 1999 Scottish Cup at Murrayfield. Soon after Paterson turned professional by signing for Glasgow where he played only two games before signing for Edinburgh Rugby. In becoming a professional player he dropped out of the University of Edinburgh where he was studying to become a PE teacher.

He appeared at fly-half, wing and full-back and surpassed Gavin Hastings as Scotland's leading points scorer and Scott Murray's cap record on the 2008 tour to Argentina.  He is now our second most capped player, having been surpassed by Ross Ford by one game in June 2017. 

Paterson is still Scotland’s highest point scorer, and in my opinion it will be some years before his  809 point total is eclipsed,  22 of these points were tries.

He successfully kicked 36 consecutive goals for Scotland between 11 August 2007 and 7 June 2008, not missing a single attempt during the 2007 Rugby World Cup or the 2008 Six Nations Championship. This run was brought to an end during 7 June 2008 Test against Argentina. This is believed to have been a world record for consecutive successful kicks at goal in Test play since such statistics were first kept in the late 1980s; this record was broken in 2010 by Morné Steyn of South Africa.

He won his 100th cap against Wales in Cardiff in 2010 but suffered a lacerated kidney in the match.

Paterson, who captained Scotland on 12 occasions between 2004 and 2007, demonstrated his resilience, returning in the November 2010 win over South Africa and forcing his way into the starting line-up during the 2011 Six Nations.

His final appearance - the narrow World Cup loss to England at Eden Park - will stay in the memory. Paterson savoured every moment, just as he did every time he played for Scotland, but even more so because he knew it might well be the last time.

[scotianostra]

On August 30th 1991,Liz McColgan won the World Athletics Championship 10,000 metres in Tokyo by a margin of 20 seconds.

The brilliant career of Liz McColgan can be broken up into three parts: her glory at the Commonwealth Games in her own country, her superb World Championship triumph in Tokyo and her ability then to adapt that track technique to the roads. All three of them were memorable because of the drama McColgan brought to the event, her refusal not to allow anyone to pass her on the way to gold.

As Liz Lynch she won the Commonwealth 10,000m title in Edinburgh amid amazing, patriotic scenes before in 1991, her front-running performance to win the world title was mesmerising, before she transferred that ability to make a record-breaking marathon debut. When she at her peak, she was unstoppable.

Liz won the gold medal for the 10,000 metres at the 1991 World Championships, and a silver medal over the same distance at the 1988 Olympic Games. Liz was also a two-time gold medallist over the distance at the Commonwealth Games, as well as winning the 1992 World Half Marathon Championships, 1991 New York City Marathon, 1992 Tokyo Marathon and 1996 London Marathon. Her 10,000 metres best of 30:57.07 set in 1991, made her only the third woman in history to run the distance in under 31 minutes. Both that time and her marathon best of 2:26:52 in 1997, still stand as Scottish records.

Liz, who is a mother-of-five children, was also chair of Scottish Athletics from 2003 to 2005 and her first-born daughter, Eilish, has been following in her mother’s running footsteps, she is the current 5,000 metres Scottish record holder and 3,000 metres steeplechase record holder.

Liz was voted BBC Sports Personality of the year in 1991, although not competing nowadays she still runs occasionally, in 2017 she finished 16th in Stirling Half Marathon, not bad for a lass in her 50’s. She now goes by the name of McColgan-Nuttall after marrying former athlete John Nuttall in 2014.

[scotianostra]

April 29th 1990 saw Stephen Hendry, aged 21, become the youngest world snooker champion by beating Jimmy White 18-12 in the final.

Nicknamed “The Golden Boy” or “The wonder Bairn” Hendry set many records during his career, and most of them still stand. Stephen won a record 36 ranking and 79 titles in all (from 115 finals). Ronnie O'Sullivan has also won 36 ranking tournaments

He has won a record seven World championships, six Masters and five UK championships. After surpassing Steve Davis in 1990 he was the No. 1 player in the rankings until 1998. In 2006 he regained the top spot. Hendry became the first player to make more than two tournament 147s. His first was made in the 1992 Matchroom League and his second in the 1996 World Championship The record-breaking third maximum came on 25 Nov 1995 in the UK Championship. In total he score 11 maximums in tournament play, second only to, yes that man again O'Sullivan.

Stephen made seven centuries in the final of the 1994 UK Championship which is a record in a professional match. He also became the first player ever to make five centuries in seven frames. He won five successive World Championship titles and 36 consecutive matches in ranking tournaments. That’s the longest unbeaten run ever. The records continue he holds the record for most tons by one player in a tournament. He made 16 centuries during the 2102 World Championship.

Stephen Hendry announced his retirement from snooker after a heavy 13-2 defeat by fellow Scot Stephen Maguire at the Crucible. He looked out of sorts against Maguire in a one-sided World Championship quarter-final, said he made the decision three months beforehand It brought to an end his record 23 consecutive seasons in the top 16 of the world rankings. Even though he was unhappy with his standard of play, it has to be remembered during his fire match at the Crucible that year, he still managed to rattle in his 11 maximum break.

However Hendry decided to return to the professional circuit  in 2021 ends an eight-year hiatus after announcing his retirement in 2012, last November he said he was still enjoying snooker comeback despite ‘bulls**t being talked about it’ He  has picked up three wins, beating Jimmy White, Wakelin and Michael White in recent months, but has not been past the second round of any event yet.  ‘I keep saying it, I’m enjoying the process, my practice is going really well, I’m getting stronger and stronger all the time,’ he added. 

I  wonder how long before Stephen hangs up his cue once more, he is mere shadow of the player he once was,  looking at his season stats, he is yet to make a century break and his win percentage of frames is just  30.23%

Meanwhile at the crucible today fellow Scot John Higgins is 9-6 down against Ronnie O’Sullivan. 

[scotianostra]

Happy 43rd Birthday former Rugby Union player Chris Paterson born 30th March 1978 in Edinburgh.

Paterson is Scotland’s record cap and points holder with 109 caps and 809 points surpassing Gavin Hastings by 11 points and is also Edinburgh Rugby’s top scorer with 783 points.  In my opinion he is also our most versatile player having played at fullback, wing and fly-half.

In one remarkable ten-month period in 2007-08 he kicked 36 consecutive goals for Scotland, , not missing a single attempt during the 2007 Rugby World Cup or the 2008 Six Nations.  Paterson won his 100th cap against Wales in Cardiff in 2010 but suffered a lacerated kidney during the match. He returned to action that November in a victory over South Africa and was first-choice full-back during the disappointing World Cup campaign in New Zealand the following year.

 Paterson also holds the record for most points in a Test match for Scotland with 40 in a 100-8 victory over Japan in 2004