Like a Summer's Day in Autumn!

Sandy and Kay make a fast start

A week or so of reasonably dry weather provided close to the best conditions we have ever had in the last 15 years or so of competing in the National Cross Country Relay Championships in Cumbernauld. Once again, a record field had entered the the ladies' and men's events and this was visually obvious when the fields lined up on the start line. For the first time, the ladies' event was contested over 4 laps rather than the usual 3, just when we had managed to get 6 ladies signed up for the event for probably the first time ever! Never mind, one and half teams was still a great representation for the Harriers.

Julie Beveridge, our fastest woman

Our senior women A team comprised Kay Conneff on leg 1 (celebrating the anniversary of her first cross country race for the Harriers), Julie Beveridge on leg 2, Alison Lessells on leg 3 and Joanne McEvoy on leg 4, a very good and experienced team. Experience of the course and a further year of training benefited Kay considerably who smashed her course best by over a minute, finishing in 18:19. Julie has run this course many times before and coupled with her great, current form, stormed around the course in an excellent 16:14, around 40 seconds faster than in recent years and pulling the team back up from 49th to 34th position. Alison is gradually getting back to form and moved up to 30th position in 18:15. Joanne has also run this course many times before and also set one of her fastest ever times in 17:27 which brought the team up to 28th position out of a field of 40 complete teams. This was a great result for the Harriers in such a competitive field. A somewhat unwell Sandy Hayden was leading off our second team (but perhaps should not have been running). However, with plenty of encouragement from around the course Sandy ran well to finish in 20:29, handing over to Lorraine Buchanan who was also running here for the first time. Lorraine found this very hilly course tough going (at least that is what she said afterwards) however she looked strong, finishing in 22:26. Given that most of the 6 women running are relative newcomers and will improve considerably each year, we have the basis of a strong Calderglen team in years to come.

Eddie Reid near the start

For the men we had one full senior team of four, a partial team of two and two complete M50 teams of 3. Our senior A team was led off by Andrew Buchanan who was running here for only the second time. Andrew made a more cautious start than he did a few weeks ago at the West relays and consequently smashed his course best by 1:15 with a great time of 14:32. Andrew handed over to Jim Holmes who has run this course often enough for it to be a fitness benchmark. Despite feeling as though he was stuggling, Jim ran one of his fastest times ever, finishing only seconds outside his best in 16:33. Then (as I've said before this season) in-form Richard Lawton took over on leg 3 to set another major course best of 17:38, also over a minute faster than last year. Paul Rooney was on the 4th leg, running here for the first time and finding the last leg a bit lonely as it usually is. Pault ran around 17:42 (final official results not yet out yet) which puts him in a very tightly packed group of Harriers (take note for Monday and Thursday when the packs are decided!).

Stuart Waugh moves through the field

Our incomplete team consisted of Gordon McInally on leg 1 handing over to Russell Couper. Gordon was here for the first time but is an experienced enough runner, pacing it well to finish in 18:59. Meanwhile Russell ran an absolute stormer, setting his fastest time since 2006 to finish in 20:27! This was obvious from the way he finished the last 200 m loop, where he really was shifting. Well done Russell. Sub-20 next year I hope.

Jim Holmes strides out on leg 2.

As always, we were well represented in the men's masters age groups. This time we fielded two strong M50 teams (3 per team). Eddie Reid made a welcome comeback to the short, fast cross country racing with an excellent 16:25 which the record books will show is most probably his fastest time on this course and placed us 15th in the M50 race. I had been suffering from a cold and had missed a few sessions earlier in the week so wasn't even sure until I arrived at the course if I would run or not, still suffering from a light head. So I decided to go very cautiously on leg 2, particularly at the start and see how I felt. I've never run leg 2 before, usually running a 4th leg which is always quite spread out. However on leg 2 there were plenty to chase and this was very helpful as I was encouraged to be able to make good progress through the field without going at a crazy pace. It was a bit frustrating not to feel good enough to push really hard in the final half but the result was a consistent pace throughout and a strong sprint past a few more as I approached the line to finish in 14:25 which is the fastest time I have on record by 5 or 6 seconds (starting from 2002 on this course). I also had the breath to give Jim Holmes a brief hello on the way past in the final 500 m which does not often happen.

Richard Lawton breaks away from his pursuers

A scan of the M50 results shows what I thought though, as several of those M50's who I had been well in front of two weeks ago at Kilmacolm were well in front of me today. So definitely more to come if I can get healthy again. This brought the team up to 10th place. Billy Buchanan was feeling the pressure of taking over from me but he had nothing to worry about as he stormed around in 17:21, maintaining 10th position.

Andy Henderson makes a welcome return to form

Our second M50 team was led off by Stuart Waugh who is coming back to great form. Stuart finished in 18:02 in 17th position which is only just over a minute down on the time he ran 12 years ago on this course! Remarkable. Andy Henderson is also well experienced on this course but illness last year had set him back a bit. However, now he is definitely back, running a great 16:58, only 13 seconds down on his time from 3 years ago. Kenny Leinster completed this team who all were coming back from some sort of series of injuries or illnesses and here again we saw great signs of improvement with Kenny running a strong 17:45 (which is faster than Kenny's only previous run on this course in 2012), keeping the team in a very comfortable 16th position.

Billy Buchanan does not look under pressure

Well done to all on a day we will be lucky to see again at Cumbernauld with such perfect conditions for running. However it wasn't just the conditions and all the Harriers are to be congratulated on the efforts they have put in over the past months with a sequence of very hard sessions which are hopefully paying off now. Thanks also to our many supporters and photographers around the course, including Sandra, Maud and Mark. Photographs from Joanne, Kenny Phillips and me are in this album.
Alan