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CENTRAL ATHLETIC CLUB

The premier athletic club in the Stirling and Clackmannanshire districts.

Our philosophy, regardless of age and ability, is to encourage and support our members to achieve their goals in a competitive environment

East District Cross Country League, Livingston, 22 January 2022

Jan 24, 2022

The third and final set of East District Cross Country League races of the season were played out at Dechmont Law in Deans, Livingston with fairly benign conditions for the runners, and the normal undulating and challenging course provided by the local clubs.

Once again there were few Central Athletic Club youngsters featuring but those who did proved equal to the conditions. Under-11 Boy, Finlay MacAdam was first of the Central contingent to compete and here acquitted himself well to cover the 1.6 kilometre course in 7 minutes 10 seconds to finish 18th in this age group. Joel Gillan always brings a ‘can do’ attitude to races and tackled the Under-13 Boys race over a 3 kilometre one lap course to finish a respectable 17th in 11:43.

Most of Central’s women’s team

The next of the events on the day was the Women’s 6 kilometre race and here Morag Millar set off in determined fashion and was never challenged as she powered round to win in a tasty 21 minutes 20 seconds. Under-20 Grace Tindall was another to catch the eye as she finished in 22:53 in an excellent fifth place overall and second in the Under-20 age group. Heather Scott put in another strong performance to finish 19th (24:09) while Rosie Eckersley (29th; 24:48) led in a string of Central athletes including Claire Houston (36th; 25:33) who had just prevailed from Cliona Diamond (37th; 25:34). Louise Torr (59th; 27:17) should be pleased with her run ahead of Julia McAfee (74th; 28:27), Alison Lunn (94th; 30:16) and Jane Waterhouse (97th; 30:28) who once again rolled back the years. Central’s Women were second team on the day and finished the season in fourth overall.

Aaron Middleton and Killian Trenholm contested the Under-15 Boys course of some 4 kilometres with both showing great resolve, Aaron finishing 19th with 15:27 and Killian 37th with 17:07.

Hamish Hickey took the lead early on

The penultimate race of the day featured a combined Under-15 Girls and Under-17 Women’s race, also over a 4 kilometre course, and here Catriona Kane stood out as she finished fourth overall and second Under-17 in a time of 15:50. Under-15s Robyn MacKerracher and Tabatha MacKenzie kept their concentration throughout to finish 31st (18:31) and 38th (19:24) respectively.

The Men’s race was again the final race of the day and saw the Central Team retain the Sandilands Shield as League Champions. Hamish Hickey was somewhat disappointed to have not been considered for the Scottish Team at the Celtic International but here underlined his talent with a determined runaway win in 28 minutes 21 seconds. Alastair Hay was always close to the front of the race and here finished fourth (28:58) while Calum Phillip (seventh; 29:07), Scott Brember (12th; 30:11), Josh Wood (24th; 31:06) and Dale Colley (38th; 31:36) saw the team close in on the title with Scott, once again, the top Masters runner. The necessary back-up was provided by Colin Logan (44th; 32:02), Andrew Irvine (66th; 33:16), Will Hensman (88th; 34:47), Craig Coull (99th; 35:11) and Neil Ferrier (110th; 36:00). The Masters were well represented by Craig Walker (127th; 37:28), Jens Subke (141st; 38:02), Iain Dunsmore (170th; 39:13), Hugh Buchanan (184th; 39:47), Allan Gall (231st; 45:51) and Cameron Campbell (238th; 47:22) again all finishing the course in style.