"Cawld" in Cumbernauld

Kay Conneff enjoying her first XC race

The Harriers fielded 5 teams at the National Cross Country Relays in Cumbernauld this afternoon, a great turn out and even more so as we had several first timers in a Harriers vest and also first timers in a cross country race. Making their debuts were Kay Conneff on the first legs for our ladies' A team, Andrew J Buchanan in the men's senior team first leg and Martin Howell (not the first time in a Harrier's vest but the first time in a cross country race after many years of road running). There is no better course to make your XC debut on either as it has a little bit of everything (hills, mud, twists and turns, great views of much of the course) but not so much of anything that it is off putting.

Karen Allen picks up the pace towards the finish

The weather through the night and in the morning was horrendous but fortunately the forecast for clearing skies and "only" blustery showers was correct so the lack of the club tent was not a serious problem and we rekindled old memories by setting up Calderglen base camp under a tree just like the old days! The ladies were off first and this year we were able to field two teams (almost). In the first team we had Kay Conneff, Joanne McEvoy and Alison Lessells whilst in the second team we had Karen Allen and Frances Maxwell.

Frances Maxwell climbs strongly

Kay and Karen both had very competitive runs, with Karen gradually extending her lead throughout the 4km lap to finish in 19:07, actually about 20 seconds faster than she ran on the considerably flatter Hamilton Racecourse 4km lap 2 weeks ago. Kay had a strong run for her first cross country race and maintained great form all the way to the line in 19:34. This meant that the plan to give Frances Maxwell a no pressure leg only 6 days after the Amsterdam marathon was out the window as Frances was the leading Calderglen lady on leg 2. Indeed, it seems that Frances did not need a rest as she was our fastest lady today, finishing in 18:24, amongst the fastest F50 ladies. Joanne McEvoy has had a bit of a runny nose all week and today was not the day to help that situation as the driving rain started during Joanne's leg. However, Joanne was very happy with her run as she was strong throughout, finishing in 18:51. Alison Lessells continues to make huge strides back to full fitness and rounded off a very well matched Calderglen ladies' performance with a great time of 18:44. Well done to the ladies and we hope to have even more teams out in future relays given the ever increasing number of new members.

Andrew Buchanan powers through the field

For the men we had one senior team (4 per team), one M40 team (4 per team) and one M50 team (3 per team). Our senior team was a mixed age group team and was led off by Andrew J Buchanan (we now have two Andy Buchanans in the club and both are young & fast, so the only way to differentiate them is with a middle initial) on his first race for Calderglen and his first XC race. Andrew was supported by his entire family and was very strong, particularly on the hills where he was making up places like nobody's business. Andrew crossed the line in a fantastic 15:47. The very much in form David Herbertson was leading out the M40 team and chased hard to finish in 16:45. John McBride was put under pressure, coming straight off night shift to run the first leg in the M50 team. John continued to demonstrate great form, finishing in 18:50. Richard Lawton took over from Andrew and had the unusual experience of being chased down by two Harriers' teams. Richard is another one who has really found great form this year and, despite being caught and passed by Martin Howell, kept it going to the line in 18:43, contributing to some very close finishes among the Harriers. Martin has run for years (decades even) albeit with a long "rest" period from his youth until quite recently and, surprisingly, had never run a cross country race, as he felt that he didn't have the strength for it. However, there was no sign of any weakness today and Martin finished in 17:20. Stuart Waugh was representing the M50 team on leg 2 and is coming back to great form, finishing in 18:39, near the top of our tight finish group.

Jim Holmes on leg 3 for the M40 team was now leading the Harriers' charge and hoped to run as well as he did at Hamilton Racecourse 2 weeks ago. Jim kept the M40 team in front with a storming 17:25. The other leg 3 runners were Hugh Simpson for the senior team and me for the M50 team, hoping to catch both Hugh and Jim. Hugh is really getting the miles up these days and this is showing in a gradual return to his previous form, finishing in 20:53 with a smile on his face as always. Meanwhile, I found myself setting off just before the leading team on the 4th leg, Central AC who had saved the best to last with British Champion Andrew Buchart. So I had the pleasure of watching a class runner fly past me 200m into the leg (and 3 or 4 other leading teams) and felt that I was running well too on the first half of the lap. However, 3 weeks of limited training due to injury were soon exposed by burning lungs in the cold air and I struggled with my breathing on the second half. Still, the time was a good enough 15:21, a minute faster than last year with more in the tank when the lungs are working again. This brought the M50 team home in 8th position in that category.

Our 4th leg runners were Jim Mearns for the M40 team and Russell Couper in the senior team. The field was very sparse by this point so it needed experience and mental strength to keep the pace going in isolation. Not a problem for Jim and Russell. Jim finished in 18:37, fastest of the "tight pack" whereas Russell felt and looked strong throughout, crossing the line in 22:11.

So another great day of cross country in Cumbernauld. There was encouraging evidence of many Harriers in good form today and very tight racing which will make the first head to head races of the season very interesting and unpredictable. Thanks to the many non-running Harriers and family members young and old who came along to support today. Every shout we get out on the course spurs us on.

The few photos taken today are in this album.
Alan