East District Indoor & Inter District X/C
January 14th, 2008While most Harriers were doing their normal weekend training, some of the club’s talented juniors and two selected senior women lined up with the world’s best in Holyrood Park and Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall on Saturday, for the Inter District Cross Country and the East District Indoor Championships respectively.
Travelling through to the west were Demi York and Sophie Elder and their kit bags weighed a little heavier on their return with a superb medal tally of 2 golds and a bronze between them. Demi was competing in the Under 13 long jump and 60 metre sprint and came out top over the sprint, finishing a very convincing winner over her rivals in the final in 8.53 seconds, exactly the same time as she had run in her semi-final. She was able to add another medal to her personal haul with an excellent 3rd place in the long jump, with a leap of 4.17 metres giving her the bronze medal.
Sophie was competing in the Under 15 60 metre sprint and after a well-judged second place in the semi final in 8.53, she stormed home first in the final, taking gold in 8.45. Both girls should be congratulated on their mature and confident performances.
Some of their clubmates would have been envious of the cosy indoor conditions in Glasgow as they warmed up for their events in sub zero temperatures in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park. BBC cameras showed picturesque wintry scenes in the park against the stunning backdrop of Arthur’s Seat where thousands of athletes had gathered for a series of cross country races, staged as a forerunner to the prestigious World Cross Country Championships to be run there in March.
One young Harrier had been picked to represent the East District in the Under 13 girls because of her excellent season’s results to date and Hannah Jones’ performance on Saturday was an exceptional justification of the selector’s confidence in her. She took a stunning 6th place overall out of 32 in a time of 11 minutes 27 seconds, contributing to an easy win in that category for her East District team.
Watching on the sidelines was Alice Haining, returning to race fitness but not quite ready to pull on her east vest but in the Under 15 race her team mates in the east also pulled out a convincing win over their west and north rivals.
Junior coaches Neil Renton and Graham Capper were delighted with the juniors’ performances both in Edinburgh and Glasgow. “The tough winter training the girls have been putting in is really beginning to pay off with these results.”
Not to be outdone, Gala’s senior women were also representing their District with both Dianne Lauder and Kate Jenkins donning the navy vest of the East and starting their race not far behind the almighty African women distance runners, who dominated the event. Dianne finished in a tremendous time of 24.01 looking strong all the way and beating the Scottish internationalist Morag McLarty (see photograph). Kate Jenkins wasn’t far behind in 24.39, ensuring that again the East District completed a whitewash of their rivals across all but one of the events.
Holyrood Park was also the venue for the Great Winter Run, a 5 kilometre mass event which attracted thousands of runners, including the club’s Will and Caroline Mc Dermott, Fergus Johnson and Dawn Grant who all finished strongly despite the chilly conditions.
The next outing for the Club is the crucial East District League race in Livingston when the Club’s women, currently lying in second place compete for a medal in the final event of the series.
