Lauder X/C 2008 and other News
February 18th, 2008The final event in the Borders’ Winter Cross Country series was held in perfect weather conditions at Lauder on Sunday and saw a large turnout of runners from Gala Harriers in both junior and senior categories. Since mid November there have been 6 races on beach, hill and muddy fields, all of them testing the athletes over tough and challenging routes. Lauder was no different and after this event, the team and individual silverware that had been so hard fought for were finally decided in a packed presentation ceremony at the Leaderdale Leisure Centre.
With a light breeze, cool but bright overhead and firm underfoot, the junior race hugged the Mill Burn to start with before a bruising climb up through the whin which spread the field of 84 young runners, led home by the lads from Lasswade. But not far behind in 11 minutes 54 seconds and in 4th place, picking up 2nd prize overall in the 14-15 year old category was Cameron Fair, running a well-judged race after an excellent series. Only a few places down from him was Rowan Marr (12.35) in a stunning 8th place, followed by the posse of 11 year olds, Angus Beith (13.40), Cameron Gowans (13.47) and Ross Matthews (13.48) in 15th, 18th and 19th places respectively. In that category, David Bonnar took first prize, Rowan the second and Ross the third, so a clean sweep for the youngest harriers!
The girls too fared well and were led home by Hannah Jones (13.16) in 13th place ensuring her a joint first place in the 12-13 age category. Charlotte Brown would be well chuffed with her run which saw her finish 16th in 13.41, just pipping Emily Jones (13.44) in 17th place and followed by Lucy Morris in 14.12, giving her 2nd prize overall. Laura Anderson and Martha Douglas finished in 34th (14.50) and 39th (15.11) places respectively and both will look on this as good preparation for a tough race next weekend in Falkirk. It was difficult to separate the next few Harriers but Gillian Sandie (45th in 15.24) took home 3rd prize in 14-15 age category by just managing to hold off her training partners, youngster Kerry Sandilands (47th in 15.44) and Kerry Bonnar (48th in 15.45). Next home, just ten seconds back was Claire White with Katherine Arkley (53rd in 16.00) and Liam Howel (57th in 16.17). Jo Marr didn’t quite match the pace of brother Rowan but was pleased to finish in 63rd place (17.37) ahead of Gowan siblings Fraser (17.56) and Rhona (18.54). Completing the turnout for the Harriers with steady runs were the ‘two Rebeccas’ – Rebecca Young in 79th place (19.33) and Rebecca Allan (81st in 19.48).
Overall the Harriers juniors have performed consistently over the winter and turned out to race and train in some appalling conditions. On Sunday they made up over one-quarter of the total number of runners and deservedly took the prize of the first host team and second overall.
Although the senior team couldn’t emulate the success of the juniors and were 5th overall, there were more individual prize winners amongst the older ranks with 18 Harriers competing over the arduous longer course on the Southern Upland Way. For the men, first home for the club was Neil Aitchison (29.58) in 24th place, an immense effort considering he had completed the Carnethy Hill Race the day before. Martin Clarke was just seconds behind him in 30.07 in 25th, with John Cairns coming back to form in 30.47 in 32nd place. Not far behind were Alastair Lawrie (31.15), Iain Bell (31.34), Jack Knox (32.32), Robin Murray (32.40), Malky Gowans (33.13), Tim Howel (34.15), Will McDermott(35.01) and Allan Gordon (36.42). Club president Robin Murray achieved 3rd prize in the male 50-54 category and Allan Gordon 2nd in the 60-64 category. Well done guys!
Leading the Gala women home was Eileen Nicol in 37.45, followed by Fiona Shepherd running the series for the first time in 38.01, a superb effort. Equally impressive were the trio of Pauline Ballantyne (38.39), Dawn Grant (39.37) and Sheila MacNab (39.44), the latter two winning 3rd and 2nd in their respective categories. Louise Johnston(44.25) and Susan Howel (49.36) completed the set with steady runs over a demanding course. Jane Chalmers who didn’t need to compete in this race to count in the series took 2nd prize in her category.
Mentioned earlier was the tough Carnethy Hill race, held the previous day in perfect weather over 6 miles of 5 Pentland hills, with 2500 feet of climbing. Intrepid Harriers Fergus Johnston in 58th position with a time of 60 minutes and 12 seconds, Neil Aitchison, 89th in 62 mins 57 secs and Shelagh King, 446th in 107 mins and 10 secs completed the frosty course amongst a field of 461 runners. Congratulations to all three for their gutsy performances.
In a very different arena, another Gala Harrier has been chalking up excellent cross-country performances for the Scottish and UK police teams. Dianne Lauder, one of the stars of the harriers’ women team has been recording impressive results up and down the country, culminating recently in her selection to represent the UK police in Vichy, France next month. Since November, Dianne has run in Buckinghamshire for the UK police against the Prison, Fire and Civil services and in Wales against the RAF and Fire Brigade, claiming top five positions in each race, with a second place for the UK police at RAF Halton.
The next outing for the Harriers is on Saturday 23 February in Falkirk for the Scottish National Championships.
PHOTOGRAPH OF GALA HARRIERS’ JUNIOR ATHLETES WITH THEIR TROPHIES AT THE FINAL EVENT OF THE BORDERS WINTER XC SERIES AT LAUDER. PHOTOS OF SENIOR ATHLETES CAN VIEWED THROUGH THIS WEBSITE PHOTO GALLERY.
