galaharriers.com

After weeks of the white stuff, it was almost a relief to be running in mud and rain – and Deans Country Park in Livingston provided plenty of both on Saturday as the long-awaited East District Championship and League races took place under leaden skies and over sodden terrain.

However, Gala Harriers seem to thrive in such conditions and overall it was a very pleasing day, with great results for junior boys and senior women in particular.

Under 11s are not permitted to compete in the East District Championships but the League event offered 5 young Harriers the chance to race around the undulating grassy 1.5 kilometre course. Andrew Hogg (6 minutes 44 seconds) Marshall Smith (7.34) and Mark Purves (8.14) all enjoyed their outing, as did Kara Hogg (7.15) and Rhiannon Fagan (8.03).

Another kilometre was added for the U13 races, in which Jo Arres (11.43) and Alex Pye (11.49) in their respective races did very well over the increasingly soggy route, with Jo recovering well to finish strongly after a stitch in the early stages.

The U15 girls were represented by Kerry Sandilands, who came in well within the top half of the 30 finishers in 15.19. In the U17 girls, represented by Lucy Henderson-Morris (8th in 15.09) and Isla King (12th in 15.52) both ran strongly to ensure that they placed 5th on the day and 6th over the season.

However, it was the U15 boys who stole the show for the juniors with the trio of Rowan Marr, Fraser Wardhaugh and Paul Henney who ran superbly over their 3.5k route both individually and as a team to bring home a well-deserved 3rd place in their category. Rowan ran out of his skin to take the silver medal, finishing in 2nd place in a time of 12.49. Fraser clinched 12th position in 13.58 and with Paul not far behind in 14.20, their medals were in the bag.

And not long after, another medal-winning run for one of Gala’s women, well supported by her team mates ensured a 3rd place in the League, well ahead of some of the large city clubs. Dianne Lauder, following her super race in Edinburgh last week fairly galloped through the field of 123 senior women in 25.26 to take 3rd place individually and with Rachel Fagan (28.28) Kirsten Maxwell on her debut at this event (29.08) and Fiona Dalgleish (30.20) the team were 6th in the Championship but clinched an excellent bronze medal position in the League, despite missing Georgia Nesbitt who has returned to her native Tasmania.

There were some good runs too from the senior men who fielded 9 runners battling against the 240 on the start line. Led home by Graeme Murdoch over the 10k course (24th in 36.22) the Gala men did well to finish 11th team out of 41 on the day, a consistent 11th over the season and a very creditable 10th in the Masters category. Following Graeme was Fergus Johnson (39.35) Mark Bryson (40.17) Euan Jardine (41.14) Martin Clarke (42.40) Magnus Inglis (45.05) Derrick Brydon (45.51) Dave Nightingale (46.00) and Alistair Laurie (46.46).

NEXT FIXTURE: 2nd round of the shortened Borders Winter Cross Country Series, Sunday January 23 at Spittal. Juniors 11.30, seniors at 12 noon.

Posted on Monday, January 17th, 2011 at 9:51 am and is filed under News, Race Reports, Race Results.
Comments are currently closed.