Alice brings home Inter-district title for the East
January 15th, 2007Alice Haining superbly defended her Scottish Inter-District Cross Country Championship title at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh on Saturday, with a convincing win in the 3.2km under-13 girls race.
Gala Harrier Haining, the National Cross Country champion and recently crowned East District Cross Country champion, handled the heavy underfoot conditions and windy conditions with ease as she swept aside her opponents to take the title in 13mins.52secs.
The race set the standard for an outstanding days competition, with the International elite gathering in the capital for the EventScotland Great Edinburgh International Cross Country, the likes of 10 times World Cross Country champion Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia), World Road Running Champion Zersenay Tadesse (Eritrea), Euopean Cross Country Champion Mo Farah (Great Britain), World Short Course Champion Gelete Burka (Ethiopia) and former World Cross Country Champion Benita Johnson (Australia), toeing the line with the Scottish District stars in the senior races.
It was Haining’s dominating performance which attracted the early attention, however, as she lead the East District home in a clean sweep, taking the team prize in addition to the individual honours.
Emily Owens (Edinburgh Southern) and Kathryn Pennel (Pitreavie AAC) took second and third places respectively.
Congratulations also go to local girl Laura Goodson (Edinburgh Southern), representing the East District, who finished in 7th position in the under-15 girls event with a time of 14.31.
Other Borders athletes competing in the Edinburgh event were Chris O’re who won the boys U17 race in 15.40, Stewart Fraser 7th in the same race 17.00. Jonathon Wolf from from Kelso was the leading East runner the boys U15 event and 2 athletes from Moorfoot Runners also represented the East of Scotland, Scout Adkin was 24th in the U15 girls race and Alexandra Campbell placed 14th in the U17 girls race in 20.42.
