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East District Cross Country Relays - 13th October
Central AC made it an historic clean sweep of all four championship titles at the East District Cross Country relays at Dunfermline. Going one step further from their unprecedented three titles wins in last season’s cross country opening fixture, it was a perfect day for the Central squad of 22 teams. Central not only took the win in all four races but also took minor medals in two events with strong second string combinations to take 6 out of the 12 medal positions on offer.
First race of the day had Young Females in each of the under 13, under 15 and under 17 categories each covering the 2500 metre course. Kathryn Gillespie stepped up from her under 11 age group and remarkably went on to run away from the field with one of the fastest legs of the whole young female race with 10.12s to bring Central to changeover home in first place. Rachel Adamson was soon caught by her Edinburgh track rival Emily Dudgeon, but doggedly held on to touching distance at the next changeover, with a time that exactly matched Kathryn’s. Hill running international, Catriona Buchanan, quickly eased away from Edinburgh and comfortably held off the challenge of a charging Dundee team coming through the field and with her 10.06s brought the team home some 26s clear of the field. Central had two more full teams and two incomplete teams giving their all, with Lorna Cameron (10.19s) standing out with a fast time.
‘A’ Kathryn Gillespie 10.12 1st, Rachel Adamson 10.12 2nd, Catriona Buchanan 10.06s - 1st
‘B’ Kirsty Buchanan 11.18 12th ,Lorna Cameron 10.19s 7th Gemma Milne 11.03 - 11th
‘C’ Ruth McCabe 13.43 Rosie Hastings 10.52 Julie Cook 11.49 – 26th
‘D’ and ‘E’ Amy Hendry 11.40 Katie Adam 12.03 Cairy McNeil 12.01 Shona Buchanan 11.49
Central’s Young Male athletes all picked up the challenge and while Gold medals went to the ‘A’ team of Conor Kerr, Tom Watson and Sean Reilly there is no doubt that all the youngsters gave their best with determined running throughout Central’s six teams. Under 13 runner Conor Kerr led off for the ‘A’ team ensuring they were well in contention with his fourth place finish in 9min 41secs. Tom Watson (Under 15) took on the challenge, working through the field to second place with a fine leg of 9min 2secs. It was left to Under 17 Sean Reilly (8min 15secs) to underline his class and confidence as he overhauled Edinburgh Athletic Club and bring the team home in first winning to lift the trophy, they too have held successively, for yet another year. Central’s ‘B’ team were always well in contention with Alexander Coubrough (9.49) showing his grit and determination to bring his team round in sixth place at the end of the first leg. Under 15 Ross Milne took on the second leg and showed why he can compete with the best in this age group with a 9min 40secs clocking to keep the team in sixth. Alexander Hendry once again pushed on in the final leg with his normal resolute style bringing the team up to fifth place, almost catching Falkirk Victoria’s ‘A’ team on the line; Alexander’s time of 8min 14secs proving to be the fastest young athlete timing of the day, showing his potential for the coming season.
It was ‘hats off’ to all the young runners, with special mention of Under 15’s Martin Hall and Kelly Carruthers who had the daunting task of covering the Under 17 legs for their teams. Full results from Central’s six teams were as follows:-
‘A’ Connor Kerr 9.41; Tom Watson 9.02; Sean Reilly 8.15 (26.58) – 1st;
‘B’ Alexander Coubrough 9.49; Ross Milne 9.40; Alexander Hendry 8.14 (27.43) 5th;
‘C’ Gordon Milne 11.14; Logan Bonar 10.25; Scott Green 9.05 (30.44) 14th;
‘F’ Rory Bain 12.01; Calum Park 11.21; Martin Hall (Under 15 (33.17) 21st;
‘D’ Philip Wright 11.47; David MacKinlay (10.40); Kelly Carruthers (Under 15) 10.56 (33.23) 22nd
‘E’ Sam Fraser 12.44; William Jamieson 11.04; John Colvin 13.32 (37.20) – 25th
The senior ladies team made it a fifth win in succession, this time also adding bronze medals for the B team. Jennifer Emsley had the difficult task of the first leg, holding the A team firmly in contention with a 15.29 performance in fourth place. Alison Docherty ran 15.17 for the decisive leg of the day bringing her team in with a 40 second lead with Ainsley Normand coasting in with a 15.39s timing a full minute clear of Gala in second place.
Meanwhile the B team was working up through the field. On the first leg, Sarah Pickett brought the team into 9th place well in contention with her 16.26 timing. Fiona Thompson showed real class with her run of 15.16s, second fastest leg of the day, bring her team up to fourth place. It then fell to veteran Hazel Dean, still with a marathon run from the previous weekend in her legs, to pull the team home up into bronze medal position with her 16.03 timing.
‘C’ Jane Waterhouse 16.54, Andrina Buchanan 18.04, Fiona Kelsall 17.15 – 11th
‘D’ Mary Kerr 19.22, Valerie Shatwell 20.46 Gillian Gilvear 19.29 22nd
‘E’ Tracey McInally 23.56, Morag Adam 21.03, Janice Leitch 22.40, Jacqui L’Etang 21.50 23rd
Central’s Mens team had to tackle legs of the same 4,000metres of the undulating course and had arguably the best result of the day winning both the Gold and Silver medals. With one eye to selections for the National Cross Country Relays in Cumbernauld on Saturday 27th October there was an element of mix and match over the selection for the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams, indeed it was the ‘B’ team runner Scott McDonald (12min 41secs) who came through the first leg in third place with the ‘A’ team’s Ross Houston (13min 2secs) close behind in sixth. Alastair Hay picked up the challenge for the ‘A’ team and soon established Central in the lead with a top class run of 12min 18secs. Meanwhile Kyle Cowie (13.12) also provided a well judged run to keep the ‘B’ team in third overall. The third leg saw Alasdair Anthony protecting the ‘A’ team’s lead with his 13min 11secs run while Michael Wright brought the ‘B’ team through in second with another quality run to finish in 13.07. There was now no doubting the outcome as the ever reliable Robert Russell brought the team through to win with the fastest leg of the day, 12min 13secs, for an overall 50min 44secs timing. Slightly further back Michael Gillespie was also making his bid for first team selection at the National Championships as he pushed on through his final leg to finish in 12.48 for the ‘B’ team to lift the Silver medals just 64seconds behind the winners.
It was also good to see Central finishing five teams with Lewis Millar (13.23) and Murray MacLarty (13.47) the pick of Central’s ‘C’ team as they finished tenth overall in 56min 10secs. Full results from Central’s men team were:-
‘A’ Ross Houston 13.02; Alastair Hay 12.18; Alasdair Anthony 13.11; Robert Russell 12.13 (50.44) - first;
‘B’ Scott McDonald 12.41; Kyle Cowie 13.12; Michael Wright 13.07; Michael Gillespie 12.48 (51.48) - second;
‘C’ Lewis Millar 13.23; Phil Williams 14.32; Alex Milne 14.28; Murray Maclarty 13.47 (56.10) – tenth
‘D’ Miguel Merayo 14.13; Will Hensman 14.49; Liam McCabe 15.03; Hugh Buchanan 15.47 (59.52) – 23rd
‘E’ Stuart Watson 15.49; Alan Gall 18.09; Philip Hendry 16.54; Robert Hutchison 15.53 (66.45) – 37th
51 Teams finished.
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SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIPS CROSS COUNTRY RELAYS - CUMBERNAULD
Central AC continued its history making run in the cross country relay stakes by scooping double titles for the senior Men and Women in the Scottish National Cross Country relays at Cumbernauld, with the ladies winning their first senior title and the men their second, and a unique double for the competition. The club’s youngsters also joined in the medal winning with the Central boys achieving sets of silver and bronzes and the girls achieving third place. Overall the club took six of the eighteen medal places on offer in one of the prestigious events of the athletics year.
The senior women’s race was full of drama. With some 54 teams of three runners, Central first leg runner, Alison Docherty set off apace but soon looked to have lost touch with the lead group of 8 runners on the famously hard 4000m Cumbernauld course, but cool as cucumber, she steadily pulled back to the front group, and came out at the sharp end when the group broke up in the last kilometre. Second spot and a time 16min 11s was a great start for the Central trio. Fiona Thompson rapidly made up the 8 second deficit on former Central athlete, Michelle Sandison, now wearing the Springburn vest. As Fiona took the lead, Giffnock North’s Sara Stevenson was fast closing and overtook Fiona, just as she lost a shoe in the mud at the top of the course. One-shoed Fiona did astoundingly well to keep the gap down to only 8 seconds as she finished with a time of 16:23. Emma Waterhouse took on the anchor leg, pulling Giffnock’s Lauren Baird back by the half way mark, but with trouble coming on the horizon in the form of full time GB triathlete, Kerry Laing from Kilbarchan, who charged up from fourth place. But on the final hill, Emma saved a burst that enabled her to pull away from the tiring Kilbarchan athlete and able to win by 4 seconds with Emma’s 15:51 giving her third fastest time of the day, to Kerry’s fastest leg.
Central’s next team finished tenth overall but they were tussling in the masters classification for their main prize, but had to be satisfied with silver medals some 27 seconds behind Aberdeen, as Hazel Dean (17:01, 12th), Jane Waterhouse (18:12, 14th) and finally Ainsley Normand (16:40, 10th) provided top quality performance throughout.
Central’s other team at the front of the field featured Polly Harrison bringing the team to changeover in 25th (with 18:05), Sarah Pickett pulling through the field with her 17:54 to changeover in 17th before Claire Waterhouse pulled the team up to 13th place with her 17:10.
Other Central Seniors ladies; ‘D’ team; Mary Kerr 20:07, 43rd , Andrina Buchanan 18:59, 39rd, and Fiona Kelsall 19:10, 34th
‘E’ Gillian Gilvear 20:25, 45th, Jacquie L'Etang 23:13, 54th, Louise Harris 27:08, 51st
‘F’ Janice Leitch 24:02, 59th, Tracey McInally 24:42, 56th, Morag Adam 22:19, 52nd
As in the Women’s race, Central’s Men’s teams were faced with 4,000metre, this time with four legs. The disappointment of losing out on the Gold medals in 2006 must have been in the forefront of the minds of second and fourth leg runners Alastair Hay and Robert Russell while for lead off runner Scott MacDonald and third leg athlete Michael Wright this was a significant step up in class. These four young men handled their challenge with great maturity, providing a worthy tribute to their Coach, Derek Easton. It was first year Under 20 runner Scott who led off ensuring the team were in close contention at the end of leg one in third place with a superb 13:25 run (ninth fastest on the day), with anticipated main rivals Inverclyde and Shettleston back in eighth and ninth in 13:47 and 13:48 while it was great to see a fine run from Central’s top ‘B’ runner Ross Houston finishing seventh in 13.43, the seventeenth fastest time of the day. Central’s Alastair Hay showed his class as he swiftly moved the A team into the lead on the second leg and had a virtually solo run to bring the team round in first with a 13:24 leg, the eighth fastest of the day. Behind Alastair, the Inverclyde and Shettleston teams had moved into second and third places through strong runs while Central’s Under 20 ‘B’ runner Kyle Cowie kept his team in eighth place with a 14:20 leg. Michael Wright tackled the early hills of the third leg with his characteristic enthusiasm, however from mid way of this run he must have felt the presence of the experienced Graeme Hyett from Inverclyde. The tussle continued all the way to the end of the leg with Graeme forcing himself ahead for a while but not reckoning with Michael’s flying finish which saw Central retaining a three second lead at the changeover with Michael recording 14:12. Shettleston’s Allan Adams had also been closing the gap and brought his team round in third just two seconds back, potentially setting up a great race on the last lap. Not far off the pace it was Lewis Miller who was digging in with a 14:26 lap to keep Central’s ‘B’ team in eighth place.
The final leg looked likely that Central’s Robert Russell would resume last year’s tussle with Inverclyde’s Mark Pollard while Shettleston’s Paul Sorrie was keen to get in on the action. Any prospect of a close finish was soon put aside as Robert proved his undoubted class by literally running away from his rivals to not only win the race by some 14 seconds but also prove the fastest runner on the day with a leg of 13:3 and a final team time of 54:04. The real contest was for the Silver and Bronze medals with Pollard and Sorrie locked together for much of the last lap with the Inverclyde athlete prevailing with Shettleston having to settle for Bronze. Murray MacLarty meanwhile was completing Central’s ‘B’ team’s effort against some very classy opposition which saw Murray’s excellent contribution of 14:51 bringing the team home in a highly respectable eleventh overall in 57:20..
Back in 43rd place Central’s Masters team finished eighth in the Masters competition. Other results from Central’s men team were:-
‘C’ Robert Wiseman 14:54, 36th; Phil Williams 15:52, 37th; Miguel Merayo 16:04, 38th; Alan Hume 16:29, 40th (63:19)
‘D’ Alex Milne 15:12, 43rd; Hugh Buchanan 16:44, 50th; Gordon Adam 16:16, 47th; Ewan Jack 15:49, 43rd (64:01) and eighth Master’s team
‘E’ Will Hensman 15:52, 58th; Stuart Watson 17:20, 65th; Hugh Kerr 17:08 62nd; Robert Hutchison 16:53, 59th (67.13)
‘F’ David Hay 19:02, 107th; Cameron Campbell 18:13, 97th; Philip Hendry 18:04, 90th; Adrian Louden 17:12, 80th (72.31)
‘G’ – Non counting team – John Dickson 22:19; Jim Drummond 21:47 , 96 Teams finished
As at the East District Relays, all of Central’s young athletes picked up the challenge with relish. Although missing out on the Gold medals on this occasion there were lots of positives with the ‘A’ Boys Team of Conor Kerr, Tom Watson and Sean Reilly taking the Silver medals and the ‘B’ Team of Alexander Coubrough, Scott Green and Alexander Hendry proving Central’s strength in depth by lifting the Bronze medals, two places better than their District finish. Both teams were competitive from the start and it was Under 13 runner Conor Kerr who pushed hard throughout to bring the ‘A’ team round in fifth with his 9:57 run over the testing 2,500 metre course. Meanwhile Alexander Coubrough was running strongly to bring the ‘B’ team home in eleventh with his 10:10s leg while it was Corstorphine who led at the end of the first leg with a very useful 9:32. Under 15 runner, Tom Watson, picked up the challenge for the ‘A’ team and set about his task with his normal resolve keeping his team in fifth with a leg of 9:21. Scott Green was given the duty of bringing the ‘B’ team into contention and continued his early season form with an excellent 9:14 leg to bring his team up into seventh place.
Placings at the end of Leg 2 were first Kilbarchan AAC 18:55; second, West Champions, Ayr Seaforth AAC 19:34; Third Giffnock North AC 19:05; Fourth Dundee Hawkhill Harriers 19.11; Fifth Central ‘A’ 19:18; Sixth Nithsdale AC 19:22 and Seventh Central AC ‘B’ 19:24, so it was a daunting task .facing Central’s ‘A’ runner Sean Reilly and ‘B’ runner Alexander Hendry. Needless to say the two under 17 lads set about the course with their normal ‘can do’ attitude hauling in the athletes in front of them as they sped to the third and fourth fastest times of the day to ensure the capture of the Silver and Bronze medals with legs of 8:31 and 8:35 respectively with only the strong Kilbarchan trio staying in front with an overall time of 27min 35secs, compared to Central’s 27:49 and 27:59.
Full results from Central’s three other teams were as follows:-
‘C’ Gordon Milne 11.13, 47th; Ross Milne 10.01, 39th; Jonathon Tolson 9.21, 33rd (30.35)
‘D’ Philip Wright 11.34, 60th; Martin Hall 10.17, 47th; Andrew Butchart 9.31 41st (31.22)
‘E’ Rory Bain 11.30, 59th; Logan Bonar 10.43, 52nd; Sandy MacLarty 13.21, 65th (35.34)
The junior girls pulled off a fine bronze medal, the first medal for the club junior ladies since 1999 and also contributed towards the closest and most dramatic finish of the day. The prodigious Kathryn Gillespie, running the first under 13 leg, pulled away to give Central an 8 second lead, passing onto Rachel Adamson on the Under 15 leg, who caught one Edinburgh AC team only to have another one come past her, but passed onto under 17 Catriona Buchanan with an 8 second lead over third place. Catriona had the unenviable task, seemingly off the lead held by Edinburgh A, but with others chasing her down fast. But she stuck firmly to her task battling all the way to the line level with the second Edinburgh team and Dundee. But just as it looked like fourth place was on the cards, the race leader buckled with the pressure from the three teams battling each other behind her, and heartbreakingly fell just metres from the line letting the three teams speed past, with Central picking up the bronze medals. Remarkably, all three Central runners had the same time of 10.27 for their legs, emphasising the quality of the racing throughout the age groups.
The second Central team featured Kirsty Buchanan (11.24, 23rd), Rosie Hastings (10.58, 16th), Lorna Cameron (10.57, 17th) justified their selections as they returned a composite time of 33:09 for 17th place.
Other Central teams;
‘C’ Amy Hendry 1.30, 25th, Shona Buchanan 12.04, 34th, Gemma Milne 11.21, 32nd
‘D’ team Katie Adam 12.37, 51st, Stacey Hardman 12.43, 58th, Julie Cook 12.13, 55th
‘E’ team; Emily Greenan 12.51, 55th, Fiona Cameron 13.27, 65th, Dawn Kerr 13.55, 64th
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