When we woke up to snow on Saturday morning I had visions of running through knee deep snow at the West District Cross Country Championships, so it was a surprise that there was barely any snow at all in Strathaven, however it was still freezing and slippy underfoot for those without spikes.
Injury and illness depleted the number of harriers running on the day with 2 juniors, 2 senior ladies and 3 senior men competing.
First up we had Jack Flannigan in the U15 boys 4.1k race who finished strongly in 22:15. Kai Wheeler was in the U17 Boys 5.5k race and despite taking a tumble in the slippy conditions and winding himself got up to finish in a great time of 23:43.
On the start line of the ladies race I decided I had too much clothes on, however the V for Very old on my back was also pinned through my long sleeve T-shirt so there was no time to take this layer off… Looking around at some people visibly shivering on the start line (even ones with 2 layers) on I thought it probably wouldn’t be too bad to have this extra layer on. Both the senior male and female race was a 3-lap course totaling 7.5k. The 3 laps meant that there was plenty of support all the way round. It was a relief to get to the top point of the course on the 3rd lap and know it was mostly downhill to the finish now, unfortunately it was only mostly downhill from there and the finish was uphill making it a tough finish for everyone. I crossed the line in a time of 36:34 with Julia Pechlof not too far behind and finding it slippy in trail shoes in a time of 37:38.
We had 3 harriers in the men’s race with Jordan Stewart, competing for us in the cross country for the first time since joining being first harrier home, running strongly and finishing in a great time of 29:50, Jim Mearns was next harrier in a time of 36:15 (delighted to beat his daughter's friend's dad) followed by Russell Couper in 46:20.
Well done everyone and thanks to all who came along to support the runners it was much appreciated, we all agreed that it definitely helped us all keep pushing on all the way round. Thanks to Andy and Lorraine for bringing the tent and to Russell for taking it home again.
Alison
3 comments:
Great report Alison and well done to all who were able to compete for the Harriers at Strathaven on a chilly day. (Alison, note that the V on your back stands for "verging on old"; you are definitely not old yet!).
Alan
Been a while since we have seen a race report on the blog, well done "old"!! Alison.
Billyb
V for Very Old. Love it
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