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A nip in the air and a light dusting of snow on the Ochils was the backdrop for Saturday’s National Cross Country relays at Cumbernauld, held in perfect conditions which saw damp underfoot conditions but bright skies over a testing parkland course.

Juniors and senior relay teams from Gala Harriers turned out in force and in fact the senior men’s teams doubled in number from last year and, as well as improving on overall positions too there were also 2 boys’ teams for the first time in a good few years. Even the organisers were impressed by an increased turn out nationally, with record numbers competing across all the categories.

However, it was the girls’ teams which kicked off first, comprising 3 runners, each from a different age category – under 13,15 and 17 years. Jo Arres led her team off with a steady first leg in 11 minutes 58 seconds with Kerry Sandilands exploding around the course for the second leg in the 6th fastest time in her age group, picking up 10 places en route. This saw the girls lying in 20th place out of over 70 starting teams and Lucy Henderson-Morris overtook another 4 runners to finish her leg strongly in 11.11, giving the girls 16th place overall, an excellent result.

Two boys’ teams had entered, the ‘A’ team consisting of Nathan Cox, Rowan Marr and Cameron Gowans. Legs of 10.44, 9.32 and 10.48 respectively gave them a very creditable 32nd place out of over 72, with Rowan picking up 8 places in his very gutsy lap, after a strong run from Nathan put them in 24th place after the first leg. The boys’ ‘B’ team finished 50th with Alex Freer (11.24) Paul Henney (10.42) returning from injury lay-off and Fraser Wardhaugh (10.24) running in a higher age group than his age punching well above his weight.

Over the longer senior course, Gala was well represented by Fiona Dalgleish (17.55) Rachel Fagan (17.05) and Fiona Shepherd (19.29) competing strongly to finish 28th overall, with Rachel, like Kerry before her, catching 10 runners during her impressive 2nd leg.

Two and a half men’s teams were gathered on the start line of the senior men’s race with the ‘A’ team of Mark Bryson (15.23) Graeme Murdoch (14.05) Paul Daly (16.29) and Fergus Johnston (15.29) finishing 40th out of almost 130 starting teams. They lifted their final place by 20 between the first and last legs, with Graeme catching 27 runners in his storming second leg. The ‘B’ team ran as veterans and Billy McCulloch ((16.54) Tommy Knox (18.34) Alastair Laurie (18.01) and Malky Gowans (17.52) ran well as a team to collect 94th place overall. David Hunter (18.16) and Dave Nightingale (17.50) made up a half team and ensured that representation at national level within the club’s senior men had never been higher.

South of the Border in the Birmingham Half Marathon at the weekend, former Gala golden girl Katy Anderson recorded an impressive time of 1 hour 26 minutes across the 13.1 miles in her adopted city, where she currently works for UK Athletics following her move from Scottish Athletics last year.

Next up for the Harriers is the Jedburgh 10k, (both on wheelchair and on foot) and the Half Marathon on Sunday 31 October starting from the town’s Lothian Park at 11am.

Posted on Monday, October 25th, 2010 at 8:39 am and is filed under General Information, Race Reports, Race Results.
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