Inter District Cross Country: Edinburgh
January 11th, 2010Cross country athletics is rarely if ever cancelled but in recent days there has been a flurry of events up and down the country which have been postponed or suspended because of the weather and the serious implications for health and safety, not least the Galashiels leg of the Borders Winter XC series due to have been held on Sunday.
Not so the Inter district cross country races on Saturday in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park and the popular Great Edinburgh Cross Country Run that is held alongside them. Four Gala juniors had been selected to pull on the black East District vest and all had made incredible efforts to get to the starting line from a snowbound Borders. From a heater to keep the 4×4’s diesel tank from freezing overnight to a flight from Nottingham, the four juniors – Paul Henney, Kerry Sandilands, Rowan Marr and Alice Haining all gathered in the winter wonderland under Arthur’s Seat to race in conditions more familiar to cross country skiers.
The East District were competing against teams from the West and North and under blue skies and in crisp cold air, Paul Henney acquitted himself well for the Under 13 boys in his first race at this level for such a fresh talent, finishing in a creditable 11 minutes 52 seconds over the snowy two lap course.
Next up was Kerry Sandilands in the U15 girls, won by her East team with Kerry digging in well to finish in 12.52.
Rowan Marr just missed being a counter for the successful East team in his U15 boys’ race (the first 6 home in each team count towards the final positions) but his 13th place overall and 7th for the East in 10.34 was a sensible piece of running.
The U17 girls’ race was run over 3 laps of the same course and the conditions underfoot were getting more difficult but Alice Haining again was part of the winning East team in this category, finishing 6th in a fine time of 17.26.
Dianne Lauder had been selected to race for the East team in the senior ladies race but was disappointed not to be able to make it to Edinburgh. However, her East teammates, as well as the senior men ensured that victory overall went to the East of Scotland.
The next outing for the Harriers is the East District XC League on Saturday 16th January in Broxburn.
