The final race of Central Athletic Club’s 2023-24 cross country series was held in on Saturday 16 March on a 1 mile course devised by Derek Easton in King’s Park, Stirling. The race was held in good conditions for cross country running in contrast to some of the very wet conditions at other venues during the series.

It was Under-17 Man Conall Paterson who again headed home the runners with a 6 minute 30 seconds effort and was awarded with the first place series trophy in this category. Louis Maynard proved that perseverance brings rewards with an 11 minute 30 second run and a win in the Under-15 Boys category in the series. The Under-13 Boys saw Thomas Arnott come home in first (7:19) and take the series trophy while Ben Homncik and Matthew Owen placed second and third in the series without participating at Kings Park. Zackary Walker ran home in 8:56 while the final Under-13 runner, Alastair Gingles, sprinted for home a lap early and, unfortunately, did not finish the race.

There was another impressive turnout of Under-11 Boys with this proving to be the most hotly contested category of the series. With Seonaigh Logan (7:11), Hugh Thomas (7:15) and Sam White (7:28) all tied on 5 points the series result came down to head to head results with Seonaigh taking the series win from Hugh and Sam. Finlay Gallagher (7:37) was also close up in the series and there were further good runs from Brodie Scanlon (7:40), Fraser McDonald (8:12), Lachlan Carruthers (8:25) and Tom Forde (9:52). Under-9 Boy Harris Robertson (7:16) had perhaps the most impressive run of the day to win this category and the unluckiest runner proved to be Hamish Gallagher who was bowled over by a loose dog but still came second Under-9 Boy in the overall series.

Once again there was plenty of top class performances from the Girls and here it was Under-15 Girl Emily Stanford (6:32) who continued her fine season to win on the day and also lift the series trophy. Katherine Mitchell’s strong run (7:10) saw her finish second Under-15 Girl on the day and it was Fia Watkin (7:38) who lifted the second place series trophy ahead of Ella Tanner. Evie Low (8:02) and Nora Thompson (8:12) both ran well on the day and throughout the series. The Under-13 Girls category was hotly contested and here Nicole Taylor (7:39) proved the strongest to take the series win from Emie Smith (7:48) and Sophia McMahon (7:52) with further good runs in this age group from Emily Watkin (8:16), Jessica Walker (8:41) and Briony MacKinnon (8:43). Lila Robertson (8:11) had another impressive run to win the Under-11 series category from Summer Johnston (8:56) and an ever present Iona Clark (10:11). Ruth Thomas (9:25) again showed great resolve to win the Under-9 Girls series.

Full results are in this spreadsheet:

Thanks are again due to the volunteers who helped at King’s Park and throughout the series with special mention of Derek Easton, Craig Walker, David Eckersley, Jane and Alex Dunlop, Beccy Osborne, Elaine Paterson and Claire Thompson.

The running was followed by a prizegiving for the overall series organised by John McDonald. Congratulations to everyone who took part in the series, and to those who won prizes.