Scottish Inter Districts - Saturday 12 January 2008

Frosty conditions met Central’s athletes at the Scottish Inter-District Championships held in the dramatic setting of Holyrood Park, Edinburgh on Saturday 12 January.  Over the same course that will be used for the World Cross Country Championships on 30^th March, Central’s athletes were representing various teams, mainly the East of Scotland in the annual competition against the West and the North, however with a number of races within races in the older age groups, there were also some local runners representing Scottish Universities and others in Scottish Teams in the Celtic Cup against Ireland, Ulster and Wales.

While Central’s runners had to forsake their normal yellow and blue vests it was still easy to pick them out as they made an impact on all of the races. The die was cast from the start as the announcer’s favourite, Kathryn Gillespie, seized the opportunity to take Gold in the first race of the day, the Under 13 Girls Race.  The eleven year old put pressure on her older rivals from the start and moved away throughout the race to win comfortably, covering the 2.7 kilometre course in 10min 48secs, and leading her East of Scotland team to victory in the team race.

The Under 13 Boys race also featured one of Central’s young athletes, Alexander Coubrough. Alexander ran steadily throughout and his time of 10mins 36secs, over the same 2.7 kilometre course, brought him home in twelfth place, sixth counter for the East team, ensuring he also carried off a Team Gold medal.  Unusually the Under 15 Races were also run over the same distance of 2.7 kilometres and this proved a tough test for Rachel Adamson who overcame the fast pace and cold conditions to finish sixteenth in a time of 11mins 15secs.  The Under 15 Boys race featured Tom Watson and Scott Green with both boys showing excellent form against the best in Scotland. On this occasion it was Tom who raced home in eighth place in 9mins 35secs and, as sixth counter, picked up yet another Team Gold. Scott had to settle for twelfth place in the fast time of 9min 45secs and he will undoubtedly soon return to his fine early season form once he returns to full training following a recent holiday in the depth of the Canadian winter.

The Under 17 races saw the first of the Scottish, Irish, Ulster and Welsh races combined with the Inter Districts and this proved a severe test for Gemma Milne who had been drafted into the East team at short notice.  However again displaying her now familiar ‘can-do’ attitude Gemma romped home over the 4.1 kilometre course to finish in a highly competent 18min 38secs in 38^th place.  The Under 17 Mens race saw great fighting spirit from Sean Reilly, with good form throughout to finish a few metres behind one of the Irish athletes but still winning the Inter District Race in 13mins 14secs. Alexander Hendry ran arguably his best Cross Country race to date as he finished fourth overall and third in the Inter District Race with a fine 13min 21secs clocking. Both Sean and Alexander contributed to another East of Scotland Team victory.

The Womens race was held over a 6.7 kilometre course which saw further scoring complications from the televised International Races. This report has therefore concentrated on the position of the athletes in the Inter District and Celtic Cup races, which, in themselves, are as high a standard as anywhere in Scotland. On this occasion the first Central athlete home was Alison Docherty who held her place well throughout with some determined running to finish eleventh in 23mins 41secs taking one of the East team’s Gold medals in the process. Morag McLarty was representing both the Scottish Under 23’s and Scottish Universities and here finished 24^th in 24min 13secs.  Fiona Thomson was also running for the Scottish Universities and ran well throughout to finish 25^th with 24.20. Ainsley Normand competed for the East of Scotland, finishing her capable run in 27^th place with 24.28. Jennifer Emsley, competing for Scottish Under 23’s and Scottish Universities seemed to ground this one out and had to settle for 37^th in 25.18 in this high class company.

The final race of the day saw a further five of Central’s athletes competing over 9.3 kilometres again within one of the televised International Races.  Once more this report concentrates on the position of the athletes in Inter District and Celtic Cup races. Alastair Hay caught the eye from the start as he powered to the front of the Inter District Race and although he finished second in 30min 6secs, he helped the East of Scotland to Gold Team medals and left a number of the invited athletes in his wake. Michael Gillespie, representing the Scotland Under 20 Team and Scottish Universities, produced a smooth and committed performance in fifth place finishing in 30.50.  Scott McDonald was competing for the Scotland Under 20 Team and the East of Scotland and was another to stay competitive throughout finishing seventh with 31.06, also lifting Inter District Team Gold and, along with Michael taking Scotland to victory in the Celtic Cup Race. Alasdair Anthony is at his best in the hills so this fast, mainly flat, course isn’t amongst his favourites, however, as usual, Alasdair showed a great attitude as he came home fifteenth in 31.45.  Ross Houston also showed excellent form throughout and came home in a highly satisfactory twentieth place in 32min 16secs.

Great Winter Run

A number of Central runners also competed in the 5kilometre Great Winter Run, a road race, round Arthur’s Seat.  Noteable local performances were Lewis Millar in first place in 16min 39secs and Michael Wright in third with a time of 18min 7secs in a field of over 1600 runners.

Cross country Report…19^th January 2008

Central AC dream cross country season continued as the club took the bulk of the honours at the final match of the East District Cross Country League at Livingston. The club’s senior athletes won this last match and took the league titles for both men and women and a heap of age group titles.

The final race of the day saw the strength of the club’s men pay off with the three top positions going to Robert Russell, Alistair Hay and Scott MacDonald, and their team unsurprisingly winning the match on the day. The league title was very much on the cards going into the match, so much so that results were posted in the changing area before the races showing the 1996 National Cross Country Championship team results with Central Men’s Team 38^th and last. How times have changed - the only surprise was that in spite of the recent success of Central’s senior men’s endurance runners the Club had never lifted the East District Cross Country League Trophy in this category. 

The race was contested over a testing 8.7 kilometre course and Robert Russell moved into an early lead which he held to the end, finishing in 28min 11secs with Alastair Hay (28.25) having another fine run in close contention.  Under 20 athlete Scott McDonald in his first year running with the seniors made it another stellar performance to take third place in 29.12 while Alasdair Anthony (29.18) worked his way through the field to finish fifth and Ross Houston (29.59) underlined his resurgent form in tenth.

Lewis Millar continued his recent good form in 21^st in 30.55 and Murray MacLarty also ran well to finish 40^th in 31.58.  Dougie Flynn was Central’s top veteran runner on the day finishing a highly competitive 54^th in 32.46 closely followed by the ever dependable Alex Milne (57^th in 33.00).  Miguel Merayo was another to have a good run, finishing in 64^th in 33.54. There was a good tussle between Club members as they pushed to finish in the top 100 with Liam McCabe (97^th in 35.33), Hugh Buchanan (99^th in 35.33) and Robert Hutchison(100^th in 35.35).  Jamie McDonald (103^rd with 35.46) just missed out on the top hundred while Fraser Purves (111^th in 36.27), Under 20, Graham Harvey (112^th in 36.30), Chris McHardy (135^th in 37.48) and Ian McDonald (147^th in 38.13) proved the strength in depth in the Club.

 Cameron Campell had another good run in 158^th with 39min 17secs and Stephen McArthur’s comeback run in 173^rd place in 40.15 was also welcome.  Phil Hendry (179^th in 40.57, David Hay (186^th with 41.41), Simon Nash (194^th in 42.04), Jim Drummond (208^th in 44.03) and John Dixon(218^th with 48.15) all showed true cross country spirit on a day of celebration for the Club.

The senior women’s race was less of a Central procession with Edinburgh’s Gillian Palmer finally pulling away from Morag MacLarty on the second lap with Morag’s improving season’s form giving her a time of 24.56 for second place over the 6.2kms. Alison Docherty’s season also continued in fine style as she came home in third in 25.11, with Hazel Dean next home for Central with 10^th place in 25.45. Fiona Thompson, another with a fine season of running, took 14^th in 26.06s with Ainsley Normand having an out of sorts race but sticking to her task to gain 16^th place (26.38).

Claire Waterhouse and Jennifer Emsley were well up in the race with 19^th (27.02) and 24^th (27:49) with Andrina Buchanan 43^rd (30.22) in a race with 103 finishers. Like the men, the ladies went into the match with a comfortable lead, won the match on the day and collected the team trophy, this time for the fifth successive season.

There was some great endeavour in the Under 11 Boys race held over 1.6 kilometres. Andrew McNally caught the eye with a determined and fast paced run to take third spot in a speedy 6min 9secs while Domenic Angiolini showed improved form as he finished 20^th in 7.26 just ahead of the fast finishing Jack Kerr (21^st also with 7.26). Robbie Courier also ran well to finish 27^th in 7.39 and 9 year old Scott Fleming made his debut in the league with a determined run in 31^st (7.51).

The under 11’s girls race featured Roisin Bonnuchi coming home in a fine 6^th place with 7.00. Isla Burns from the same Dollar training group came 12^th with 7:24, closely followed by Lisa Hardman in 14^th place with 7.26s, with Jennifer Downie running determinedly to gain 25^th place with 8.21, with girls gaining a well-deserved 2^nd place in the day’s race.

Central’s Under 13 Boys ensured they carried off the age group trophy led by some excellent running and superb team spirit from Conor Kerr (second with 10min 13secs), Alexander Coubrough (fifth in 10.29) and Gordon Milne (13^th in 11.27).  Philip Wright (17th in 11.48) and Sam Fraser (24^th in 12.29) also showed the same great team spirit and improved running over this 2.6 kilometre race as the Under 13 Boys also won the Team race on the day.

For under 13 girls, Kirsty Buchanan ran strongly thoughout for 10^th (11.47), with Amy Hendry gaining 15^th with 12.15. Maeve Weldon ran her first race for the club and performed well (24^th in 12.55). Emily Greenan (26^th, 13.19) and Ruth McCabe (33^rd, 14.52) stuck to their tasks with determined runs. The girls should be pleased with third team place on the day.

The Under 15 Boys also underlined their fine season as they lifted the league trophy with yet another team win on the day.  While the spotlight rightly fell on tasty runs from Scott Green (third in 14.58), Tom Watson (fourth in 15.15) and Ross Milne (twelfth in 16.15) there was, once again, superb running throughout this group over the 4.1 kilometre course.  Martin Hall (20^th in 17.14) finished ahead of last week’s East District Indoor 800 metres champion Roddy Irvine (here 22^nd in 17.28) and Logan Bonar (29^th in 17.51).  David Hutchison ran through in 18.11 despite an obvious injury while David McKinlay continues to progress with 33^rd in 18.40.

The under 15 girls and under 17 women battled their race out amongst the boys on the same 4.1 km course with Rosie Hastings working her way through the field to finish 7^th in 18.22. Gemma Milne ran another fine race in18.42 to gain 6^th in under17 age group, with Lorna Cameron coming in next, with 13^th in 19.03 and Julie Cook showing smooth running style that promises much to achieve 19^th in 19.48.

Central’s Under 17 Men have proven this season to be a dominant force and once again the League Trophy and team victory on the day was down to these young men. Sean Reilly looked under pressure on the first lap of the 6.2 kilometre course but showed his class on the second lap as he pulled away to take a comfortable win in 21min 17secs. Alexander Hendry pushes all the way in his races and here came home in an excellent third place in 22.24.  It was Jonathon Tolson (ninth in 23.41) and Andrew Butchart (tenth in 23.45) who battled through to ensure the Team victory for Central while Sandy MacLarty once again showed a great attitude in 28^th place with a 33.25 timing.

Thanks are due to David and Julie Hay for their team management duties on the day.