Border X/C Series 10/11 Final Leg: Dunbar
February 28th, 2011A fine but breezy day greeted runners as they headed for Dunbar’s Whitesands and the last round of the shortened Borders Winter Cross Country series on Sunday, conditions that clearly favoured Gala Harriers of all ages with the club returning with a wide range of silverware.
The club’s juniors and seniors have turned out a large numbers to all four rounds over the season and this paid dividends in terms of winning both the Junior and Senior team prizes, the juniors retaining it from successfully scooping it last year. Individual performances, both at Dunbar and over the first three rounds ensured that there were also many prizes won in age categories.
Terrain is a mixed bag at Dunbar – wet and dry sand, pebbles and dunes and both junior and senior Gala runners thrived in the rich variety. 60 juniors were led home by Lauderdale’s Adam Craig, but in hot pursuit were Rowan Marr (2nd in 10 minutes 39 seconds) Fraser Wardhaugh (3rd in 11.15) Cameron Gowans (7th in 11.37) and Nathan Cox (9th in 11.54), all running extremely well to consolidate their team and individual standings. For the girls, Kerry Sandilands looked very strong in 11th place with a great run of 12.12, closely followed by a gutsy run from Isla King (13th in 12.17). Some of the best performances over the season have come from the youngest Gala runners and Andrew Hogg (12.25) led home those from those categories, followed by Alex Freer (12.55) Zoe Pflug (13.28) Cara Hogg (13.31) Jo Arres (14.11) Marshall Smith (14.13) Morvern Cawthorn (14.55) Rhiannon Fagan (15.43) and Billie Pflug (16.22).
Consistently good junior showings over the series meant that there were prizewinners in almost all of the age categories: well done to Andrew Hogg (2nd in M8-11) Nathan Cox (3rd in M12-13) Rowan Marr (3rd in M14-15) with Fraser Wardhaugh and Cameron Gowans tightly grouped behind him in 4th and 5th respectively. For the junior girls, there were prizes for Cara Hogg (joint first in F8-11) Zoe Pflug (2nd) Kerry Sandilands (joint 2nd in F14-15) and Isla King (1st in F16-17).
13 might be unlucky for some but it reflected the number of senior Harriers stepping up to the mark on Sunday and proved to be lucky for them as they romped home with the coveted team prize overall. Mark Bryson has always featured in the top ten and was 8th in 25.23 with a strong race, ensuring pole position in his age group. Competitive races also came from David Moffat (26.19) Colin McCall (26.35) Paul Daly (26.57) Bob Marshall (28.57) Alastair Laurie (29.23) Dave Nightingale (29.47) Malky Gowans (30.26 Tommy Knox (31.04) Graham Capper (33.08) and James Purves (33.16). Fiona Shepherd and Dawn Grant have always turned out for their club across the series and were rewarded with placings on the day and overall with their runs of 32.43 and 35.00.
As predicted, Mark Bryson took the top honours as first placed in the M40-44 category, but congratulations must also go to Dave Nightingale (2nd in M55-59) Bob Marshall (1st in M60-64) Dawn Grant (3rd in F35-39) Fiona Shepherd (joint 1st in F40-44) and Shelagh King (2nd in F55+).
