McCain UK Cross Country Challenge Series in Gateshead 14 November 2009

All of Central Athletic Club’s athletes, who made the trip to the opening races of the McCain UK Cross Country Challenge Series in Gateshead on Saturday 14^th November, had impressive performances over a course made heavy by overnight rain.  In the Senior Mens Race, over 9 Kilometres, Alastair Hay, representing Scotland, had his best race so far at this level, starting more cautiously than normal and working his way through a top class field to be awarded with a superb sixth place, covering the course in 29minutes exactly.  Lewis Miller also competed well in this heady company to come home 44^th in 31min 39secs.  Morag MacLarty was also representing Scotland and challenged the top runners for the majority of the 8 Kilometre Senior Womens Race before falling back on the final lap to finish in eleventh place with 29min 36secs.  Alex Hendrie was another of Central’s athletes representing Scotland and after a strong start had a poor spell in the middle of the race before finishing strongly to come home eighth in the Under 20 Mens Race, covering the 8 Kilometre course in a swift 26min 51secs.  Andrew Butchart found the move up in age group and increase in race distance challenging but, as always, made a brave effort and beat many top runners on his way to 17^th in the Under 20 Mens race with 27min 50secs.  Catriona Buchanan performed well against, not only the best girls in UK but also Europe, and with her first Scottish vest outwith hill running she found the early pushing and shoving a bit off-putting, however as the race progressed over the challenging hills and mud her strengths came to the fore as she finished eleventh in the Under 20 Womens Race taking 19min 26secs to cover the 5 Kilometre course.  Scott Green ran a well judged race in the Under 17 race over 6 Kilometres to take an excellent sixth place in 20min 53secs in his first race at this level.  The Under 15 Boys race was held over 4 Kilometres and here Conor Kerr put in a good competitive effort to finish 15^th in 15min 14secs.  The talented Kathryn Gillespie ran with a group of 4 or 5 girls until the closing stages of the 3 Kilometre Under 13 Girls race where her strength paid dividends as she swept to victory in 11min 57secs.

Kings Park, Stirling was the setting for the first of Central Athletic Club’s Cross Country Series where mild conditions met the runners on Sunday 15^th November for a race of just over one mile.  It was Under 13 Scott Balloch who once again underlined his potential as he stormed to victory in 5min 22secs.  Another Under 13, Eilidh MacCorquodale, proved to be the best of the Girls with a storming run of 5min 31secs.  Michael McCabe showed improved form with a strong run of 5min 32secs while a quartet of Graham Bruce (5.37), Tom Chandler (5.38), Keiran Potter (5.39) and Gary MacFarlane (5.40) produced a close finish and some impressive running.  Molly Tweedle proved she could perform with the best as she came round in 5min 47secs with Tara Walls a few yards behind in 5min 52secs and Andrew Shaw also showing good form for 5min 53secs.  Emma Boyle (5.59), Kalim McDonagh (6.00) and Alastair Tweedle (6.02) had a good race for the line while Shannon MacFarlane (6.06), Bevan Trevis (6.08) and Ailig Struthers (6.10) all showed good form throughout.  Jennifer Downie ran in alone in 6min 46secs ahead of her younger brother Ross (7.31), who held off a sound run by Rena Fleming (7.33).  Newcomers India Pemberton-Pigott (7.46), Ainsah McDonagh (8.19) and Abbie Thomson (8.22) all showed great promise.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Central’s Jane Waterhouse celebrated victory in the Great Britain and Ireland Masters Cross Country Championships at Birmingham. After thirteen successive years representing Scotland in this annual fixture, Jane took her first win in the event in the W55 age group, turning the tables on members of strong English and Irish teams who had previously kept her out of medals. Jane’s age group team won silver medals, but she proved the sole Scottish winner of the individual races.

Fiona Thomson, competing for University of Edinburgh, won the tough Braid Hills Cross Country, covering the 3 mile course in 18min 52secs, leading her University to the Team prizes.

Central Senior Ladies further strengthened their League leading position as they took top team points, with Catriona Buchanan winning many plaudits for an outstanding run to win her first big Senior race. Starting steadily, the young hill running specialist took the lead on the second lap to win in 22minutes 51seconds. Fiona Thompson found she could not sustain her early lead in the difficult conditions, but finished with a high quality fourth place in 23.33. Hazel Dean was the next team counter in eighth place with 24.48, leading in Jennifer Emsley eleventh (25.04) and Ainsley Normand twelfth (25.11). Polly Harrison showed her return to form with 24^th in 26.56, leading in Claire Houston (25^th, 27.04), Fiona Kelsall (28^th, 27.17), Jane Waterhouse (32^nd, 27.32) and Katie Whitehouse (40^th, 28.16).  The Under 17 Mens Race was held along with the Womens Race over the same 6 kilometres course and here we saw Tom Watson return to something close to his best in finishing fifth with 22.28 while Ross Milne, ninth (23.25) and Chris Clarke (14^th, 24.25) both showed true grit to finish well.

The Senior Mens Team was led home by a top class performance from Ross Houston, who made light of the extreme muddy conditions to finish second, taking 29.15 to cover the 8.6 kilometre course.  Lewis Millar (fifth, 30.04), Alasdair Anthony (ninth, 30.45) and Murray MacLarty (tenth, 30.53) all produced excellent back up runs.  Michael Wright(19^th, 32.07) and David Lindsay (31^st, 33.10) completed the scoring for Central’s ‘A’ Team as they finished second overall to a strong Hunters Bog Trotters challenge.  Steve Laing looked rejuvenated as he came round in 54^th, 35.12 while Alex Milne finished strongly in 82^nd, 36.49.  Scott McDonald turned up late so his 83^rd placing in 36.51 was no reflection of his true performance that saw him pass over 100 runners.  Ian McDonald 85^th, 36.51, Liam McCabe 91^st, 37.26 and Phil Hendry 96^th, 37.41 should all be pleased to finish in the top hundred.  Further competitive runs were produced by Stuart Watson 108^th, 38.34, Alan Gall 138^th, 41.31, Cameron Campbell 147^th, 42.20, Alex Murchie 172^nd, 47.21, Jim Drummond 179^th, 50.47 and John Dickson 182^nd, 55.29.

In the Under 11 race Bevhan Trevis also found the muddy conditions difficult to take eleventh place with 8.27, with Helen Mitchell also working hard to battle the conditions for 18^th in 9.16 over a 1.6 kilometre course.

The Central Under 13 Girls also extended their League lead after winning the match as a result of some strong running. Eilidh MacCorquodale showed further impressive form, winning for the first time at this level in 12.54. Roisin Bonucchi stuck to her task well to make it home in seventh place in 13.49, with Shannon MacFarlane showing quality running for ninth place in 14.12. Tara Walls (16^th, 15.09) and Isla Burns (18^th, 15.16) finished a fine series of runs.  Central came through for second Team in the Under 13 Boys with Scott Balloch leading the challenge with a fine sixth place, taking 12.25 to cover the 3 kilometre course and Jack Kerr showing good form to finish eleventh with 12.50 while improved runs from Gary MacFarlane (14^th, 13.11), Michael McCabe (16^th, 13.36), Iain Davies (18^th, 14.02), Tom Chandler (28^th, 15.03) and Cameron Harris (29^th, 15.18) all added to the Team effort.

In the combined Under 15 Girls and Under 17 Women’s race, Rosie Hastings was first home for Central in tenth place in the Under 17 stakes, with a time of 20.54. Amy Hendry stuck close to Rosie’s heels and provided a strong run in 21.03 for 28^th girl home. Emily Greenan worked hard through the mud, to return in 35th place in 24.00. 

Conor Kerr made light of the mud when coming home third in the Under 15 Boys Race taking 15min 58secs to cover the 4.2 kilometre course.  Sam Fraser ran well in 15^th place (17.50), just ahead of Josh Murchie (16^th, 17.52) while Alex Coubrough (24^th, 19.25) and Lewis Sinclair 62^nd, 24.12) both looked strong in the difficult conditions as the Boys came home second in the Team stakes.

McCain’s Cross Country - 28 November 2009

A small number of Central Athletic Club’s athletes travelled to Sefton Park, Liverpool on 28^th November to compete in the second of this Season’s McCain’s Cross Country Series which doubled as the European Trials for Under 20, Under 23 and Senior athletes so top class fields were guaranteed in these age groups.  Alastair Hay tackled the 9.8 kilometre Senior Mens race and ran with the lead pack for most of the race finishing top Scot and beating World Triathlon Champion Alastair Brownlee as he finished 18^th overall in a time of 29min 23secs.  Catriona Buchanan couldn’t quite replicate her fine form from the previous week as she finished 27^th in the 4.4 kilometre Under 20 Womens race in a time of 16min 30secs.  Alexander Hendry recent bout of flu did him no favours as he tackled high class opposition in the 6.7 kilometre Under 20 Mens race and here finished 32^nd in 21.02, Sean Reilly (39^th in 21.30) and Andrew Butchart (50^th in 21.30) both struggled in the muddy conditions.  Scott Green proved he could compete with the best as he came through sixth in the Under 17 Mens race, covering the 5.5 kilometre course in a competitive 17min 53secs.  Katherine Gillespie continued to underline her potential with an excellent run in the Under 13 Girls race held over 3 kilometres with her second victory in the Series in 11min 6secs.

Junior Cross Country – Round 2 29 November

The second of Central Athletic Club’s Junior Cross Country Series was played out in cold bright weather in Alva Woodlands on Sunday 29^th November with a field of eighteen young athletes taking on the course.  This race has one of the toughest finishes in Scotland so great testament to the youngsters who all competed with distinction.  Scott Balloch ran strongly throughout for an emphatic victory, covering the course of just over 1 mile in 6min 2secs.  Gary MacFarlane underlined his improvement finishing second in 6min 34secs just ahead of the talented Eilidh MacCorquodale and Tom Chandler as they crossed the line together in 6min 37secs.  Brothers Lewis (6.44) and Rory Strachan (6.47) both showed good form, as did Shannon MacFarlane (7.01) who finished just ahead of Alastair Shaw (7.02) and Alastair Tweedle (7.03).  Matthew Crawford was making his debut in this Series and finished well in 7min 14secs ahead of two other Under 11 Boys, Scott Fleming (7.27) and Liam McGregor (7.42).  Laura Clarke had a sound run to come home in 7.46 ahead of another newcomer Chloe Crawford (8.12) with Under 9 runner Rena Fleming finishing in 8min 51secs.  Erin Clark (9.07), Alice Greenan (9.15) and Jenna Innes (9.39) were all first timers and can be proud of their efforts.  The Series moves on to the Laighhills in Dunblane on Saturday 19^th December at 11am to which all youngsters are invited.