West District XC Relay - Irvine

On Friday Ayrshire was flooded but by the time of the West District XC Relay at Irvine Royal Academy on Saturday, the course was flooded with warm sunshine. "Fresh" from the British Masters XC Relay the previous weekend, Frances Maxwell once again led the ladies off completing the 4km course in 17:34 to hand over to Sandra Reid. Sandra was suffering from the club cold and, were it not for the warm sunshine, should probably not have run. However her time of 18:28 was even more competitive than the previous week.

The men fielded 4 teams of 4. Stuart Gibson was the star performer with a top 10 finish on the first leg in a time of 13:24. Stuart handed over to his somewhat older team mates who then battled to maintain position. Alan Derrick (14:10), Scot Hill (14:51) and Eddie Reid (15:08) completed the A team which finished 15th. The depth of competition in Calderglen's B and C teams was immense with only seconds separating many of the members. In the B team, George Stewart led off (16:04), handing over to Alan Cullie (15:40). Then Stephen Phimister demonstrated how much he has improved in the last year with the impressive time of 15:37 before handing on to Stuart Waugh making his relay season debut in a time of 16:39, bringing the team home 34th. David Herbertson led off the C team, chasing B team leader George Stewart in a time of 16:09. Unbelievably Jim Holmes and Gerry Mullen recorded identical times of 16:16 on the second and third legs. Graeme Lindsay rounded out the team with a time of 16:43 finishing 36th. The D team was a mixture of regulars and comeback "kids". Ian Rae, still recovering from injuries sustained in his last race (95 miles) found the 2.5 mile leg less painful, finishing in 16:38. Kenny Beattie was not far behind with a time of 16:43, handing on to the steadily improving Russell Couper (20:16). Finally, Malcolm Buchanan had his first race outing since knee surgery and was glad to be part of it again, finishing in 20:53. Note that all times are official times.

Frances Maxwell now takes the lead in the women's grand prix and David Herbertson now takes the lead in the men's event.

Women's Grand Prix http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvNWEjkt38f0cA&hl=en_GB

Men's Grand Prix http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvMYhyDPRDL5Ug&hl=en_GB

Women's Times http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvOju9PBfl3CKw&hl=en_GB

Men's Times http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p_aBIInrxrvM9oz14QocaWw&hl=en_GB