Broxburn East District X/C
November 25th, 2008It must have been the memory of the aptly named Lungbuster Hill at Broxburn which kept Gala Harriers at home on Saturday as, to the disappointment of Head Coach Neil Renton, only a handful of junior girls, no boys, one senior woman and 6 men made it to Broxburn for second of the East District Cross Country League fixtures.
The day was piercingly cold but conditions were favourable with no wind and bright skies and the fields were dry underfoot as young Sarah Glenfield set out for her first ever competition at this level in the Under 11 girls, a route of 1.5 km which nevertheless took in the ghastly hill. She ran a fine race and finished a creditable 17th in 6 minutes 52 seconds. The 2.5 km U13 girls’ race saw experienced Kerry Sandilands finish an excellent 10th out of 35 in 10.42, not far ahead of Alison Brown who was 14th in 11.05.
Despite falling at the start and being trampled in the 4km U15/17 girls’ race, Hannah Jones picked herself up and raced well to catch the field and finish a well-deserved 8thth place in 16.38, with her twin sister Emily running a patient race to finish in 11th place in 16.57, coming steadily through the field of 44 runners. Charlotte Brown was just a few seconds behind her in 14th place, running a solid 17.10. In the same race, Gillian Ingles was 10th in her age group in 17.54.
Rachel Fagan was the sole senior womens’ representative from the Harriers and ran an excellent race, finishing in 16th place from 79 runners in a time of 24.45. The senior men however had managed a full team and were led home by a spritely Graeme Murdoch who finished 15th in a superb 30.55, followed by Euan Jardine (30th in 31.55), Fergus Johnston (79th in 35.33), Gregor McAneny (90th in 36.13), Alastair Wright (126th in 38.29) and Magnus Inglis (132nd in 39.01). There were 204 runners.
The next fixture is the 2nd in the Borders Cross Country series on Sunday 30th November and will start at Gala Swimming Pool at 11.30 for juniors and 12 noon for the seniors.
