West District Cross Country Championships - Freezing but Fun

After a few year's absence, the West District XC returned to the firm and fast course at Irvine Bogside on Saturday. With a record total entry across all the District championships, Irvine played its part with a particularly large field for the senior and masters ladies' race. Calderglen continued the trend with a fine turn out from our ladies. With temperatures only just above freezing, the course was firm everywhere except for the usual place on the home straight. This was an excellent introductory, longer distance cross country race for many of our ladies, some of whom had made their cross country debuts earlier this season on the 4km relays at Hamilton Park Race Course. This time the distance was about 6.7km (2 laps of the course) over a mixture of firm grass, twisty narrow paths through the gorse covered dunes and up and down a couple of short, sharp hills.

Kay leads Emma on the start of lap 2 (photo by Gordon McInally)

Our leading ladies were Kay Conneff and Emma Craig, both of whom are relative newcomers to cross country running and get better and better with every race. After a fast initial start by Emma, Kay eased ahead as the race progressed but they remained close all the way to the finish with Kay finishing in 45th position overall and an excellent 5th F40 in 30:19 with Emma just behind in 47th in 30:24. Frances Ferguson was not that far behind and would have had the battle ahead in sight as she finished in 31:12 in 64th position and a fantastic 3rd F50. According to the official (provisional) results, Holly Rankin and Julie Thomson dead heated on the line in a time of 36:13, something that we don't see between Harriers very often in individual races! Lorraine Buchanan and Allison Johnston seemed to be smiling more than most out on the course (although Lorraine later claimed to hate it!) and through good pace judgement were working their way through the field as the race progressed. Lorraine finished in 39:04 and Allison in 39:32. All the ladies have progressed hugely since joining the Harriers and we expect to see this continue with every race.

The senior and masters men's field was not as large as I had expected, given the record overall entries, with just over 200. However, that was perhaps no bad thing as the dunes section of the course was very narrow and impossible to pass on so the fewer in the race the better! Winter colds had knocked out a few of the Harries entries but we still had an impressive 11 men lining up in vests and shorts on the day for the 3 lap, 10km course (accurately measured too according to the Garmins). The first 150m was wide open and great running before narrowing slightly between the first of the gorse sections followed by a sharp right turn. I decided to go quite fast for that first 150m to establish a position and then ease back for the narrow bit. What I hadn't noticed on the recce warm up lap was that there was a deep "crater" after about 100m. Both myself and one of the Cambuslang runners both found ourselves airborne at this crater with nothing under our feet and legs spinning cartoon style, which generated a bit of a laugh for both of us but fortunately we both stayed on our feet. By the time we reached the narrow part, the field was still quite bunched and all of a sudden we came virtually to a stop with some accidental pushing and shoving going on. It was at this point that Andy Buchanan decided to dart past me and the few in front of me to get a clearer run. I was happy to take a wee rest in the queue though! Thereafter the field thinned out and the running was good. Andy stayed about 5 to 20m in front of me for much of the race and I maintained a pretty constant pace. I noticed that Andy was fading on the third lap and coming back to me but when he spotted me on a tight turn, he spurted away again, a pattern that continued to the end. As we approached the bigger of the two hills for the last time, about 50m ahead, I spotted the Shettleston vest of one of the M50 runners selected ahead of me for the Scotland team (who I had beaten in the trial) and I decided I was having him. Andy was closing in on him too. I caught and passed him between the two hills and quickly stretched away, closing on Andy in the process. However, I had no intention of getting involved in a sprint finish with Andy, having seen it deployed at the Lanarkshire Road Relays, so was happy enough to run steady to the line (Andy did put in a bit of a sprint though). Andy finished in 38:30 in 80th position with me just behind in 81st (38:35) and 4th M50. I was nowhere near the first 3 M50's which was a bit disappointing but not surprising given my current form. When I saw the time, I thought the course must be short but looking at all the Garmin measured distances, it definitely wasn't short, so well done to Andy on a solid 10k time on the country.

The great thing about this course is that you occasionally got to see your club mates passing in the opposite direction at various sections in the middle of the course (and the race leaders too). I was thoroughly impressed with how strong all the Harriers looked when I saw them, holding good form and pulling gaps on those around them. Stephen Phimister is gradually getting his race fitness back and hinted that he is heading back to 40 minute (road) 10k form with a time of 42:58. Kenny Leinster continues to surprise himself with great form, the result of consistent training earlier in the year, despite a period of injury in the late Summer. Kenny finished in 45:15. Jim Holmes has been struggling for a while with various aches and pains and just wanted to get this final GP race of the year over with. Fortunately, although exhausting, cross country rarely aggravates aches and pains and Jim continued to the finish in 47:02. This was a rare individual race appearance for Geo Ferguson who was running very powerfully in the middle section of the course and must have been closing in on Jim at a rate of knots towards the end to finish in 47:23. This definitely establishes Geo as a fast to medium pace pack runner and probably ends his days of slipping out with the slower packs on training nights! Calderglen's battle of the titans was between Richard Lawton and Billy Buchanan. Billy took a tumble on the first of the narrow twisty bits but literally bounced back to his feet and eventually latched on to Richard. It came down to a sprint finish at the end, youth (in Calderglen terms) winning out, with Richard crossing the line in 48:42 and Billy in 48:45. Billy was second M65. Gordon McInally is not quite firing on all cylinders yet but did look strong when I saw him. Gordon finished in 51:24. John Boyd returned to his old stomping ground of Irvine and ran what was probably his first individual cross country (rather than relay or  trail) race. John finished in 52:44. Given that it was not so long ago that Russell was frightening the 1 hour mark for 10k's on the road, it is great to see Russell back in the mid-50's time wise. When I saw him on the course on my last lap, he was running very strongly and appeared to have John Boyd in sight. Russell finished in 54:18.

Well done to all the Harriers for representing the club so well. A big thanks to those who brought the tent through and set it up. It was much needed on a bitterly cold day. Also a huge thanks to winner of the home baking competition, Emma Craig. This is not a title she is likely to lose anytime soon if the last few races are anything to go by. There are plenty of photos on Facebook (Gordon and Frances at least) and Bobby Gavin via Scottish Athletics.
Alan