A record number of 48 Young Harriers competed successfully at our own Kilmarnock Harriers Open Cross Country Races

Kilmarnock Harriers open cross country races where traditionally held at the edge of Dean Castle Country Park leading along the fields opposite Kennedy Drive. Our cross country race was widely regarded as one of the toughest races in the cross country calender due to the variety of terrain with its associated challenges, a steep hill in the middle of the course being one of its main features. This year saw a  break with this long established tradition and a new course at Scott Ellis playing field was set up, taking advantage of the changing facilities at our new training base at the Ayrshire Athletics Arena. 

The same course will also be used for this year’s West District Cross Country Championships so our youngster took full advantage to familiarize themselves with the challenge ahead in 3 weeks time.

This was the third race in our junior xc club championship and after the recent Ayrshire relays, it was all about individual times and places. The youngsters were blessed with a beautiful autumn afternoon and nice warm sunshine despite the early morning frost. The coaches of the junior section can be very pleased with the good turnout as Kilmarnock were able to enter a record number of 48 junior athletes. Again it was the younger age groups, which were represented with the biggest numbers. These are very encouraging signs that so many youngsters are now competing for the club and there have also been excellent individual performances.

There were 3 Harriers among the top 15 finishers with Jonathon Houson being the outstanding U11 boy who finished second place in 4:48 narrowly missing out for first place by only 9 seconds. Andrew Spencer closely followed his club mate in 9th place in a time of  05:09 and Andrew Heaney crossed the line 7  seconds later in 15th place.

The top three U11 Harriers girls were  Emily O’Shea 5:57, Mhairi Chalmers 5:59 and Emma Stark 6:05.

Aidan Hessett 13:35 and David Stark 13:53 finished both among the top U13 boys, whereas Phoebe McCutcheon 15:52, Sophie Rowan 16:18 and Leonie McCutcheon 16:42 placed themselves for contention for a trophy prior to the last xc championship race in 3 weeks time.

In the U15 boys category it was  Scott Caldow 16:07 and Tom Nicol 17:14, who finished among the top 15 athletes. Cailtin McClounie 16:38 was the fastest U15 girl followed closely by Claire Orr in 17:15, 27.

The Kerr’s were the fastest U17 Harriers with Angus Kerr 25:54 finishing 6th overall and Lorne in 5th place with a time of  22:55.

The full results are as follows:

U11 boys: 2. Jonathon Houson 4:48, 9. Andrew Spencer 5:09, 15. Andrew Heaney 5:16,
29. Lewis Hill 5:42, 38. Euan Holland 6:12, 39. Thomas Gavin 6:14, 42. Jon Grant 6:24,
44. Aidyn McMahon 6:35,

U11 girls: 31. Emily O’Shea 5:57, 34. Mhairi Chalmers 5:59, 40. Emma Stark 6:05
42. Eilidh Ballantyne 6:09, 46. Josslyn Fletcher 6:20, 48.Kara Campbell 6:25
49.Kirstyn Park 6:28, 50.Hannah Burn 6:32, 56. Abbie Smith 6:54, 57. Sara Barbour 7:27
59. Rhiannon Douglas 7:47, 60. Sophie Chalmers 7:53, 62. Niamh Craig 11:13

U13 boys: 8. Aidan Hessett 13:35, 11. David Stark 13:53, 20. Callum McClounie 15:24
22. Callum Douglas 16:40, 23. Roan Creed 16:53, 24. Callum McFadzean 00:00, 25. Craig Riordan 00:00

U13 girls: 22. Phoebe McCutcheon 15:52, 25. Sophie Rowan 16:18, 27. Leonie McCutcheon 16:42, 28. Erin Pastulovic 16:45, 32. Natalie Sharp 17:37, 37. Lauren Greig 19:13
38. Robyn Fletcher 19:46, 41. Kayleigh Duff 22:13, 42. Cody Forster 22:30

U15 boys: 9. Scott Caldow 16:07, 15. Tom Nicol 17:14, 23. Aaron Young 18:28

U15 girls: 12. Cailtin McClounie 16:38, 16. Claire Orr 17:15, 27. Shona McBean 19:18

U17 boys: 6. Angus Kerr 25:54, 9. Stuart McClarty 26:47, 10. Terry Mullholland 31:48

U17 girls: 5. Lorne Kerr 22:55, 7. Kirsty Pattinson 24:50