National 4k Cross Country Championship

(Scottish Athletics videos added at the end of the post)

Every year it seems that championship cross country races in Scotland have record entries, a fact that is reflected in the steady stream of Scottish athletes who are excelling on the international scene, all of whom have competed as juniors and seniors in these championships in years gone by. The future continues to look bright for Scottish Athletics as this year once again saw record fields in the men's and ladies' 4km races in Kirkcaldy. Despite the heavy rain during the morning, conditions remained dry for the senior races and this relatively flat, parkland course held up well to the hundreds of feet pounding it through the various age group races. The Harriers had a good representation in both the ladies' and men's events, with several first timers and even a prodigal son returning to the amber and black stripes.

Consistent training over many months is the secret to improving performance and both Alison Lessells and Andrew Buchanan ably demonstrated this in their respective races. Both have been steadily working their way back to their form of old. Alison ran a fine 16:59, well clear as first Harrier whilst Andrew ran a fine 14:45, demonstrating a steady improvement in form through each of the preceding cross country races this season. In her first XC race of the season, Julie Thomson ran strongly to move through from third Harrier on the first 2km lap to second Harrier on the second lap, finishing in 18:17 in a very close race with Frances Ferguson (18:24) and Julia Pechlof  (18:27). However, the leader of both the Grand Prix and Club Championships is now Lorraine Buchanan who has also continued to improve with each race, just like husband Andrew, finishing in 21:29.

The gaps between the Harriers were just as close in the men's race. Behind Andrew, Duncan McKellar again demonstrated strong cross-country form, finishing in 15:02, closely followed by Gerry Connelly, who had been the leading Harrier on the first lap, in 15:04. As far as I can tell, this was Gerry's first Grand Prix race in a Harriers' vest since the Grangemouth 10k in March 2013, having been working in Stornaway for a decade or so. Welcome back! Kevin Farmer had another well paced race, finishing in 15:24. After a bit of a gap, another closely contested Harriers' battle was won by Jim Holmes in 17:03, with Jason Grant on his tail in 17:22. The rapidly improving Gordon McInally was another twenty or so seconds behind in 17:47, which made this Gordon's fastest paced cross-country race ever. Then we had David Wardrope in 18:15 and Kenny Leinster in 18:43. Both David and Kenny's training is restricted due to injuries but this relatively benign course should not have made those injuries worse, I hope. Finally, Russell Couper finished in 20:54, making this his fasters XC race of the season by a long way.

After all of that, Duncan McKellar hangs on to a slender lead in both the Grand Prix and the Club Championship. Well done to all on some very fine racing.

Photos of all the Harriers in action are in this album.

Scottish Athletics videos: 

Senior Women (Harriers to the fore at 1:50 and 6:50)

Senior Men (Harriers prominent 15 seconds in and sporadically throughout)

Alan