Lauder Winter Cross Country is a Fitting Tribute to Mollie
February 14th, 2006The Winter Cross Country Series lost one of its great servants this week with the sad death of Mollie Scott. Mollie was one of the chief organisers and officials in the series since its beginnings and will be greatly missed by everyone who met and knew her.Les Turnbull from Norham Running Club paid an emotional tribute to Mollie before the start of the senior race and asked everyone to think of Mollie as they ran round the 4 mile Lauder course.
The senior race was over a hilly and demanding course, which proved a tough test for everyone involved. Shrugging off any signs of tiredness after their efforts at the Carnethy 5 Hills Race the previous day were Brian Marshall from HELP and Damon Rodwell from Gala Harriers, who battled it out for first place. In the end it was a strong finishing run over the last mile, which took Marshall to his third win in the series.
Fergus Johnston put in a great run to finish in 4th place, with Rob McCrirrick also having a great run finishing 14th to give the harriers a 20 point winning total in the team event. Graeme Murdoch continues to be one of the most improved runners in the club by finishing 16th, with Iain Bell and Tony Lunn very close behind in 18th and 19th places, respectively. The Selkirk section of the harriers packed close together as usual, with Ewan Lindores (25th), just holding off Alastair Laurie (26th) and Jack Knox picking off Martin Clarke just before the line to finish 27th and 28th respectively.
Robin Murray was next harrier home in 33rd place, with an excellent run by Alan Goodson, finishing in 38th spot. There was then a steady finish of Gala runners crossing the line, with Graham Capper (40th), Leanne Haining (42nd), Malky Gowans (44th), Paul Morris (47th), Will McDermott (50th), Tim Howel (56th), Melanie Goodson (64th), John Paterson (66th), Caroline McDermott (89th) and Susan Howel completing the harrier compliment of runners finishing 90th.
The junior race had a couple of absences from the Gala ranks but they still managed to clinch the top team spot with fine runs from Laura Goodson, who finished 6th overall and Murray Lemmon and Dylan Howel who produced strong runs to finish 8th and 9th respectively. James Haining ran well to finish 12th overall and 3rd in his age category, followed by Iain Frater 13th and Emily Douglas 17th and 1st in her age category.
Cameron Gowans found the steep climb halfway round the junior course very tough but he pushed on to finish 19th and 3rd in his age category, while Martha Douglas and Claire White completed the harriers turnout, finishing 27th and 30th respectively from the 36 starters.
Next race for the harriers is the National XC Championships at Falkirk on Saturday 18th February. There is an excellent entry for the championships in all age categories and the harriers will be running two minibuses to the event. The first bus will leave from the Volunteer Hall at 9.30 am, with the second leaving at 11.30 am.
