PANCAKE FLAT RACING

Well today the short course XC was held on a new course in Renfrew. I wouldn't describe this as XC but just running on grass. The only flatter course ive ever ran on is a track. The only incline was the pile of woodchips they put down to cross paths. That said its still a race and the effort must be put in.
First up was the Ladies race with the Harriers fielding 3 women. Competing against eventual winner Laura Muir didn't faze them in the slightest with Joanne McEvoy finishing in 17.38 followed by Kay Conneff in 18.36. Our final Lady on her debut season was Lorraine Buchanan 22.24.
Onto the Mens race and we had 9 Harriers lining up in a field of 364 runners. Off we went with the usual cavalry charge to the first corner and I found myself out the back except one. With it being a flat open course you get a surprisingly good view of whats going on from the back of the field. Enough of the sightseeing time to move up some places. I set my sights on the Greenock runner in front of me and put in a wee effort after about 1k to move past him and move away soon passing another. Coming back into the start/finish area I passed another Greenock runner and with the cheers from the girls and Neil Green at the start area to push me on I passed a Metro Aberdeen runner. Onto lap 2 and I still had Gordon, Kenny and Richard in my sights but there was a big gap. Had a motherwell runner in my sights but when I went level with him he kicked and moved clear. I thought he would come back to me after that but he kept that new pace going to the end. As the field was strung out a bit by now I could see Richard had moved about 15 metres clear of Kenny. Thinking that would be the finish line result I was surprised to find later that Kenny had caught and passed Richard only for Richard to press him at the end with Kenny saving enough in the legs to win the sprint for the line. Results for the men where. A Buchanan 15.23, M Saez 15.43, M Howell 16.35, J Holmes 17.16, A Henderson 17.30, K Leinster 18.07, R Lawton 18.09, G McInally 18.53 and R Couper 21.06. Many thanks to Neil for the cheers today and the children cheering us on too.