Alice triumphs in Wales While Harriers bask in Ladhope Sunshine
October 17th, 2007Adding yet another trophy to her mantelpiece, Alice Haining pulled on her Gala Harriers vest on Sunday for the Junior Home Hill running International, held this year in Wales near Abergavenny on the aptly-named Sugar Loaf Mountain.
Alice came home first in the girls’ under 14 category in 13 minutes 29 seconds over a gruelling mile-up, mile-down race and was only beaten by 5 boys, placing 6th in the race overall.
Her coach Neil Renton described her win as a “superb effort, repaying the commitment Alice always makes to her training and preparation”. Just the day before,
Gala Harriers staged its annual handicapped Ladhope Cross Country race, two months before it is traditionally held, thus avoiding any threat of snow, icy winds and ankle-deep mud.
Kicking off the cross country season in style – and in gloriously warm sunshine, Rachel Fagan (38.06) stormed home as the winner over 4 laps of the arduous course, followed by Katy Anderson (37.49) and Martin Clarke (37.26) in second and third places respectively, only overtaking the first starter Shelagh King halfway through the final lap, who held on to a gutsy 7th place overall in 53 minutes 55 seconds.
The other 9 brave Harriers tackling this toughest of courses in the order of finishing were: Graeme Jones (39.29)Derek Brydon (38.49)Graeme Murdoch (34.01) – the fastest time of the day Malky Gowans (41.54)Angela Foss (50.07)John Paterson (45.01)Billy McBane (48.16)
Making good recoveries from their superb efforts last weekend at the Great North Run are Neil Aitchison and Dave Nightingale who clocked times of 1 hour 25 mins 3 secs and 1 hour 32 mins 14 secs over the warm and breezy 13.1 mile course.
The next commitment in the Harriers’ competitive calendar is the East District Cross Country relay Championship at Duloch Park in Dunfermline on Saturday 13th October, where both junior and senior teams will be represented
