Not a great day for cameras, spectators or runners but (almost) all the Harriers braved the elements on Saturday to contest the National Cross Country Relays in Cumbernauld. These were probably the worst weather conditions ever at this venue but this made it a true cross-country event. Our strong ladies' trio of Mary Goldsmith, Sandra Reid and Frances Maxwell set the senior ball rolling in a very large and competitive field. Sandra is pictured on one of the firmer parts of the course. Final position for the team was 36th, 3 places higher than last year and 7th veteran team.
The men covered the same 4km (actually closer to 4.2km according to the Garmin GPS) course as the ladies, although as the event progressed the wind and rain increased and the mud became deeper. It was definitely a day for the strong men as it was even a struggle to keep on certain parts of the course due to severe cross winds. Being tall helped too as the mud was knee deep in places and at least one competitor was witnessed falling flat on their face in a sticky patch. With the masters category starting at age 35 for this event, all 3 complete Calderglen men's teams were veteran teams. The A team, Scot Hill, Jamie McMonagle, Eddie Reid and Alan Derrick displayed mixed form, with Scot and Eddie running strongly but Jamie and Alan struggling with the conditions, Alan in particular dropping two and half minutes compared to last year. The team finished 50th overall and 13th veteran team.
The B team comprised Stephen Phimister, Jim Holmes, David Herbertson and George Stewart. Stephen ran his first (and possibly last if his post-race comments are to be believed!) "proper" cross-country and is now challenging for a place in the first veteran (M35) team. Both David and Jim overturned recent defeats by George although it is certain that there will be some ongoing debate over the reasons for this. In the C team, Graham Allan, Graham Lindsay, Ian Rae and Alan Cullie ran consistently, given current fittness, and will hopefully have benefited from this "strength" session. The incomplete D team comprised Colin Banks, Russell Couper and Malcolm Buchanan. Malcolm had a particularly strong run considering his limited training due to long-term injury.
A special thank you to the tent pitchers (Scot Hill and Ian Rae) who saved the day for the seniors by installing the club tent ahead of the event to provide shelter for the athletes and supporters. Ten out of ten for effort to the team of 9 who then made a meal out of taking the tent down after the event!
The Grand Prix results have been updated, use the menus on the left to see them.
Ladies' times are here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvMmvp09KROaJw&hl=en_GB
The men's times are here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvPkN9jvTGqwTg&hl=en_GB
No comments:
Post a Comment