AYRSHIRE CROSS COUNTRY RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

LARGE TURNOUT AT COUNTY RELAYS

On Saturday 18th October Kilmarnock Harrier and AC took their usual large representation of athletes along to Irvine Beach Park for the 2014 staging of the Ayrshire Cross Country Relay Championships.

The day started well with an excellent Silver Medal for the Under 11 boys and the trend continued as the rest of the Junior Age Groups set off.

In the Under 13 category the Girls struck Gold with the Boys earning a bronze and to finish a successful Championships for the younger athletes the Under 17 Girls scooped a well earned Silver so well done to everyone who competed in blustery conditions.

Next up were the Seniors and Captain Cammy Wilson was in the envious position of having the largest number of athletes to make his team selection from, although with the Men having won the old trophy the previous 3 years the pressure was on to add to this sequence. With injury and work commitments forcing the Top Team to lose Graeme Cameron and James Wales from the 2013 quartet a bit of juggling was required and Neil Walker and Roger Naughton deservedly joined Cammy and Scott Martin from last year’s team.

The Ladies too were defending Ayrshire Champions but with Ayr Seaforth improving rapidly they went into the Race as underdogs and with a much changed Team. It was trio Lindsay McMahon, Bethany Ross and Natalie Boyce who made up the Killie top string with all 30 Harrier athletes roared on throughout the course by a large number of supporters.

The format has each team member taking on a lap of 4,000 metres around the Beach Park and blustery conditions made it a test for all involved. Roger Naughton was amongst the athletes setting off first and had one of the day’s fastest runs to set the Killie A Team up nicely for second leg runner Neil Walker. By this time the race had developed and Neil had a ding dong battle with Ayr Seaforth’s Steven Reid along the course with Billy Richardson of Irvine now in 3^rd after a blinding run as the race hit the halfway point.

Neck and neck with Ayr at the start of leg 3, Cameron Wilson scythed through the course battling for every second as with Irvine danger man David Millar last off for hosts Irvine, the battle could come down to the wire. Running one of the fastest legs of the day by any athlete however, Cammy handed over to anchor man Scott Martin with a bit of daylight between Kilmarnock and Ayr Seaforth, with Irvine in 3^rd.

Scott brought Kilmarnock home about a minute clear to secure a 4^th consecutive Ayrshire title for Kilmarnock while behind Ayr took silver after a fantastic effort by Stephen McCrorie held off David Millar with a couple of seconds to spare.

With Roger and Cammy clocking in the low 12 minutes, backed up by Neil and Scott who also ran under 13 minutes consistency was the name of the game for Kilmarnock as well as spot on team selection. With a number of Kilmarnock Teams also finishing in places from 4^th to 10^th, athletes still to return the future, and competition for places amongst the athletes, the future is bright for the Club especially with Junior athletes improving on a weekly basis.

In the Ladies Race, multiple individual race winner and Internationalist Lindsay McMahon led off and showing some return to form had a very good run to hand over in second not too far behind inform Laura Wallace of Ayr Seaforth.

Bethany Ross had a strong run to consolidate the Team’s position and as she handed over to anchor Natalie Wales the team were looking good for the podium.

Natalie put her recent good training form into practice in a race environment and had an excellent run to bring Killie home in the Silver Medal position and with such a young team the future likewise looks good for the girls.

Special mentions go to the returning Laura Haggarty and her Dad Graham Cairns, also to Mark Lyden who was making his debut for the Club, as well as all the event organisers.