Tough Going For the Harriers at National XC Relays
October 24th, 2005Cumbernauld isn't an easy town to get to and Gala Harriers struggled to find it and teams to run there in the National XC Relays on Saturday. Despite the efforts of a multitude of roundabouts and a complete lack of sign posts the harriers turned up with a junior male team, a senior ladies team and two senior male teams. The junior team for Gala Harriers consisted of Murray Lemmon, Cammy Fair and Iain Frater. Their finishing position of 53rd from the 64 teams that started was a bit disappointing but there were some promising performances from Murray and Cameron, while Iain was up against some strong runners in his U17 category.
The ladies team of Katy Anderson, Melanie Goodson and Fiona Dalgleish, produced the best finishing position of the day coming in a very creditable 16th from the 50 teams starting.
Struan King, Graeme Murdoch, Rory Methven and surprise pick Davy Darroch finished 55th in the senior men's race, while the veterans team of Iain Bell, Malky Gowans, Jack Knox and Martin Clarke were not too far behind in 68th spot from the field of over 100 teams.
The dates for the popular Borders Winter Cross Country Series were confirmed at a meeting held in Norham last Thursday. For the first time Moorfoot Running Club will be hosting one of the races in place of Athletics Club Eyemouth.
First race in the seven race series will be held at Wooler on Sunday 20th November, followed by Dunbar 18th December, Galashiels 8th January, Berwick 22nd January, Lauder 12th February, Peebles 26th February and finally Norham on the 19th March.
As usual runners must compete in at least four races, while the team prize, currently held by Dunbar Running Club, is the best three finishing places from six of the seven races.
Next race for the harriers is the Jedburgh Half Marathon on Sunday 30th October, this years race promises to attract the biggest field yet, with over 800 runners entered so far.
