galaharriers.com

A winter wonderland greeted the large turnout of runners, both junior and senior who gathered on St Andrews Day at the Gala Policies for the second fixture in the Borders Winter Cross Country series held on Sunday. The first round held at Lauder a fortnight ago saw a record turnout of 176 senior runners– and the numbers at Gala were not far short of this, with 155 seniors and a heartwarming 90 juniors.

The clear, frosty morning meant that underfoot conditions were very different from the mud usually encountered on this and every other course in the series, with the ‘earth as hard as iron and water like a stone.’ The bleak midwinter temperatures ensured that only the most hardened competitors ran in vests and shorts and the wonderful soup made by the catering staff at Borders General Hospital was a welcome warm up after the athletes had completed the circuits of the policies and the outlying fields and woods.

The junior race takes in bark paths, slippery inclines and a few water jumps and as usual, Cameron Fair and Rowan Marr put in sterling performances to finish first in their categories in 14 minutes 3 seconds and 14.17 respectively. A good run from Andrew McCrirrick brought him home in 14.49 and into 4th position in his section.

Charlotte Brown was a well-deserved first girl home for the Harriers in 16.13, giving her 2nd position in the 14-15 year old girls, just beating Lucy Henderson-Morris in 16.14 who was placed 1st place in the12-13 year old girls. There were good runs from Hannah Jones in 16.38, (3rd in the 12-13 girls) Kerry Sandilands in 16.46, Cameron Gowans (16.47) Emily Jones (17.09) Alison Brown (17.16) Martha Douglas (17.42) Claire White (17.56) Skye Shiell (18.00) Michael Hutchison (19.41) Fraser Gowans (19.34) Gillian Sandie (19.41) Liam Howel (20.33) and Rebecca Egan (24.35). These performances meant that the junior teams are lying in first place overall after 2 races.

Visiting clubs are picking up the lead in the senior categories and Gala Harriers are lying currently in 8th place out of 23 clubs, so plenty room for improvement there, although individual performances from Rachel Fagan (30.30), Gillian Duncan (33.07) Melanie Goodson (33.40) and Jane Chalmers (35.18) mean that they are lying in 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their respective sections.

There were 20 Harriers who braved the chilliest Sunday run this year and good runs came from: Rob McCrirrick (28.32) Alan Goodson (29.00) Derrick Brydon (29.26) Alastair Laurie (29.32) Stephen Taylor (31.07) Malky Gowans (33.11) Leanne Haining (33.56) Tim Howel (34.12) Eileen Nicol (35.10) Gerry Moss (37.11) Gina Allen (37.12) Dawn Grant (37.22) Anne Weir (38.08) Shelagh King (41.00) Susan Howel (44.12) and Anne Purves (45.34).

Photo’s in gallery

For the Sporting Week Ahead – East District Championships, Cupar, Fife on Saturday 6th December.

Posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 6:33 pm and is filed under News, Race Results.
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