West District XC Relays - Rouken Glen

19 senior Harriers enjoyed/experienced (delete as appropriate) perfect cross-country conditions in the West District XC Relays at Rouken Glen Park today. Each runner completed 2 laps of a gently undulating grass course to give a total distance just over 4km. Under foot conditions became softer, stickier and muddier as the races progressed, particularly on some of the tight corners but overall the course was fast.

Mary Goldsmith led off our ladies team and finished strongly in 19:34, handing over to Frances Maxwell. Frances powered around the course in 18:44. Unfortunately we were short of a lady to complete the team but we do have several more of our ladies available for the National in 2 weeks time, so that will be encouraging to see.

Despite a few regular competitors from the previous 2 races being unavailable, we had a record number of men competing today with four and a quarter teams fielded, including a revamped vet's team aiming for a West District Masters medal. On first leg duty for the vets team was a returning from holiday Alan Cullie who perhaps found this short race a shock to the system, finishing in 16:28. Martin Duthie took up the chase on leg 2 and pulled in 8 places to finish in 15:20. Eddie Reid came straight from his work to rejoin the vets team on leg 3, running a steady 16:38. Finally Alan Derrick had one of his best cross-country legs for a few years, maintaining a virtually even pace throughout to finish in 14:34, gaining a handful of places in the process but alas not enough to bring the vets team into the medals.

A very evenly matched "A" team had Jim Holmes on the first leg who powered round in 17:14, a time that once again was to be pipped by the narrowest of margins by yet another Harrier. Super vet Stuart Waugh continued his impressive form with a 17:30 leg. Effort of the day came from David Herbertson who had just stepped off a plane from the USA and must surely have been jet lagged. This makes his time of 17:41 even more impressive. Graham Lindsay completed the team with his first appearance of the season in a solid 18:18. George Stewart, Ian Rae,  and Chas Steven were the first leg runners for the B, C and D teams respectively. A still under the weather George seemed to be struggling a bit here too, finishing in 18:55, well down on Ian 17:58. Chas had been on his feet all morning looking after the Calderglen Young Athletes but still ran a steady 21:03. On leg 2 we had Ian McKenzie and David Wardrope. Ian has stepped up a lot this year and finished very close to George in 18:56. David looked more comfortable this week finishing in 19:27. On leg 3 for the C team, Stephen Phimister looks to be finally over his long-term injury and duly took up the challenge of overhauling the D team which he did in a remarkable time of 17:13, 5th fastest Harrier of the day. Russell Couper was relishing a run on leg 3 for a change and finished in 21:55. On final leg duty for the first time, Colin Banks needed a bit of en-route encouragement to spur him on, finishing in 19:03. Richard Lawton had been out with an injury for some months and hence took a no-pressure 4th leg to launch his come back, finishing in 20:34.

This really was a fantastic turn out from the Harriers (across all the age groups) and thanks are also due to our many supporters around the course (Maud, Malcolm, Sandra and Christina to name a few). It was also great to see our official club video diarist Barry Cockburn out on course and as enthusiastic in his support as ever.

An album of dozens of photos is available here  with contributions from Frances, Kenneth Phillips and David Wardrope.

Very well done to all!
Alan