Lasswade Cross Country

Continuing what has already been a busy Cross Country Season a number of Central Athletic Club’s endurance athletes competed with distinction in the Annual Lasswade Cross Country Races.

Highlight of the day was the Under 17 Mens Team victory through Andrew Butchart, Scott Green and David Hutchison.  Andrew had run into a fine second place completing the 3.8 mile course in 22min 48secs with Scott finishing a close fourth in 23.03 and David bringing home the scorers in eleventh place in 27.14.  David MacKinlay (14^th /28.38) and David Lindsay (16^th/30.49) provided the back-up in this race. 

Earlier in the day Isla Burns had come home tenth in the Under 11 Girls Race held over 1 mile, completing the course in 6min 45secs.   Roisin Bonucchi finished a close second in the Under 13 Girls race running 14min 47secs for the 2mile course and Emily Greenan competed well to finish 13^th in 16.04.  There was another second place in the Under 15 Boys race through Ross Milne, completing the 3mile course in 19min 25secs.  Robert Hutchison was the only Central athlete to tackle the Senior Mens race and here finished in 29^th, covering the 6mile course in 44min 19secs.

Alan Scally Road Relays – 1^st November

Following Central’s brilliant performance at the previous weekend’s National Cross Country Relays there was a low key attendance at the 40^th running of the Allan Scally Road Relays held on Saturday 1 November in Ballieston, but no less a worthy effort by Central’s runners.  Alex Milne started of the effort bringing the team round in 21^st place with a leg of 27mins 59secs.  Murray MacLarty soon made inroads on the second leg with a 25min 30secs clocking to pull the team up to eleventh.  Lewis Millar continued the effort on the third leg to gain further places and finish in seventh (24.47) and it was left to Phil Hendry to finish off Central’s effort on the final leg to bring the team home in a commendable fourteenth with a leg of exactly 31minutes.  John Millar (34.34) and Sandy MacLarty (35.29) also wore their yellow and blue vests with pride but had no team mates to finish off their effort.

Junior Cross Country – Part 2 – 8 November

The second of this Seasons Central Athletics Cross Country races was held in Kings Park, Stirling on the morning of Saturday 8 November.  The rain relented to leave a sunny morning but underfoot conditions proved wet and muddy as some 27 young athletes tackled the course of just over 1 mile.

 Alex Semple proved his strength and speed as he came home first in the Under 13 Boys category with a time of 5min 24secs.  Philip Wright came through well as second Under 13 Boy (5.48) in spite of a slip out on the course, ahead of a fast finishing Domenic Angeolini in third (5.52).  Joe Little also had a strong run as he came through for fourth (5.59) with Michael McCabe also finishing well for fifth (6.14).  San Fraser finished his determined run as top Under 15 Boy (5min 36secs) and there was a good turn out of Under 11 Boys with Scott Fleming prevailing with a very useful 6min 7secs clocking.  Jack Bauchop came through well for second Under 11 Boy (6.52) with Liam McGregor also having a useful run in third (7.18), just ahead of Theo Tait (fourth in 7.22).  Branden Little took the honours in the Under 9 age group (7.02) and there were handy performances from Ross Downie (7.29) and Daniel Tilley (7.47) with all three Boys making their debut.

 There was an excellent race at the head of the Under 13 Girls Race with Roisin Bonucchi finishing just ahead of Emily Greenan with both Girls finishing in 5min 39secs.  Laura Clarke was another to have a strong run to come home in exactly 6 minutes for third in the Under 13 category with Lisa Hardman also finishing well for fourth (6.12) while Amy Bilsland had an improved run in fifth (6.40).  Stacy Hardman was another to have a strong run as first Under 15 Girl (6.07) and there was some tasty competition in the Under 11 Girls category with Bevan Trevis winning with a strong and confident run (6.12), ahead of another good run by Charlotte Tilley in second (6.18).  Jennifer Downie came through well as third Under 11 Girl (6.53) just ahead of Helen Mitchell (6.54) and Eleanor Hanson (6.57).  Skye Campbell stuck well to her task as she came through for sixth in 9.30 and will improve from here.  Rena Fleming was the sole Under 9 Girl but never looked out of place among the older athletes, finishing in an excellent 7min 58secs.

UKA Challenge – 15 November

The focus of a busy Cross Country Season moved to the first race in the UKA Challenge in Gateshead on Saturday 15 November with quality races throughout the Programme and with high winds adding to the testing conditions it was good to see all Central Athletic Clubs’ runners proving their worth. 

Morag MacLarty competed in a top class Senior Womens field and came home in an excellent seventh place in a time of 27min 50secs for the 7.3 kilometre course.  The Junior (Under 20) Mens race was held over the same distance and here Scott McDonald caught the eye with his sixth place in 25min 20secs leading in Alex Hendry in 15^th (25.52) and Sean Reilly in 16^th (26.10).  Dollar athlete, Michael Gillespie was representing Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds, finishing ninth in 24.41.  Andrew Butchart continued his impressive Season with a run into twelfth place in the Under 17 Mens race, covering the 5.9 kilometres course  in 19min 11secs.  It is well known that Kathryn Gillespie is one of the UK’s top Under 13 endurance runners, a fact that was underlined as she crossed the line in 12min 12secs in the Under 13 Girls race over 3kilometres.  Unfortunately Kathryn missed out on victory by the smallest of margins as Hannah Bethwaite of Ellenborough AC pipped her to the post with both Girls finishing in the same time.

Edinburgh University Braids Hills Cross Country – 15 November

The Annual Edinburgh University Braids Hills Cross Country was also held on 15 November and the hilly course always makes this a true endurance test.  Michael Wright was Central’s top finisher in the 6 mile Mens race finishing 14^th in 35min11secs.  Will Hensman had a useful run in 40^th place (37.48) while Chris McHardy (130^th with 42.47) and George McHardy (197^th with 53.27) also stuck well to the task.  Fiona Thomson came home fourth in the 3 mile Womens race (19.06) with Jennifer Emsley having a good run in 24^th (20min 24secs).

McCain UK Cross Challenge Series – Saturday 29 November 2008

 A number of Central Athletic Club’s endurance athletes made the trip to Liverpool on Saturday 29 November to compete in the second race in the McCain UK Cross Challenge Series.  With this race doubling as the Trials for the GB and NI Team for the European Championships in Brussels in mid December the Senior and Under 20 races were always going to be of the highest quality.

 The freezing foggy conditions did little to dampen Morag MacLarty’s ambitions as she ran into ninth place in the Senior Women’s race, covering the 8.1 kilometre course in 27min 46secs.  Morag finished the race as first Under 23 runner, hoping this will give her automatic selection for the GB team.  Robert Russell, as always, pushed himself all the way in the 9.8 kilometre Senior Mens race to come home in 30min 46secs, also proving to be the top Scot on the day.

 The Junior Mens(Under 20)  race saw some fine running from Scott McDonald to come home in a worthy tenth place, and second Scot, covering the 6.7 kilometre course in a superb 21min 8secs.  Sean Reilly and Alex Hendry spurred each other on to finish close together in 21^st and 22^nd places respectively in the excellent times of 21.26 and 21.30.  The Under 17 Mens race was held over a 5.5kilometre course and here it was Andrew Butchart who rose to the challenge, finishing in a highly creditable 22^nd in 18min 10secs.  Ross Milne also made the long trip to compete in the Under 15 Boys Race over 3 kilometres and should be pleased with his 10min 28secs run in 43^rd place amongst the best the UK has to offer.