Senior Roundup 26th October 2022

Cross country season is now well underway, with our senior athletes taking part in the National XC
Relays at the weekend. Following a brief hiatus due to Covid and a change of venue to Scone Palace
last year the relays were back at where many consider to be their spiritual home at Cumbernauld
this year, and a total of 18 senior/U20 athletes braved the rain and mud to represent the club over
the testing 4k course.

The ladies got the better of the weather and ground conditions heading out on the course after the
younger athletes, but it was by no means easy out there! The ladies A team of Jennifer Beattie,
Laura Haggarty, Amanda Bryden and Lorna Baird completed in a total time of 1:08:31 which was
good enough for 23 rd overall senior ladies team, and Sasha I’Anson and Bethany Ross also had
excellent runs as a partial team – well done ladies! By the time the men’s race started the heavens
had completely opened and conditions underfoot had gone from bad to worse, however there were
still some really strong performances from our men. It was great to be able to field 3 full teams in
this race, and our first team home were Craig Ferguson, John Speirs, David Sherrington and Jamie
Nix who finished agonisingly close to completing in under the hour – a total time of 1:00:06 was
good enough for 52 nd senior team however in a very competitive field. The B team of Charlie
McNulty, David Anderson, Ross McNaught and Neil Todd were next back in 77 th place in 1:07:01 and
the C team of Paul Black, Russell Duncan, Nick Carter and Stewart McAllister rounded up the
proceedings nicely in 90 th in 1:13:18. Much as the weather was grim, I think everyone would agree
that a great day out was had by the senior teams and the levels of support were incredible!
Also ‘enjoying’ the conditions on Saturday, some of our U20 athletes were at Grangemouth for the
SA Autumn Throws meeting. Hannah Henderson won her section of the ladies hammer throw
(33.51) whilst Logan Mitchell also won his section with a throw of 38.93 and also the U20 discus with
31.97. Congratulations also to our younger athletes who also had some fabulous results on the day.
Sunday saw John Speirs double up his weekend racing with an entry in the Duncan MacFarlane Race
(The Dunky), a multi terrain race held at Mugdock Park in Glasgow. Despite a tough run in the mud
on Saturday, John still managed to finish in 7 th overall – well done John!

Also hitting the trails on Sunday, we had 3 Harriers participating in the Stevie Gilmour Memorial 10k
at Eglinton Park. First back was Gordon Sandler in 35 th place (53:12) followed by Jacqui Sandler in
59 th (59:21) and Robin Bourne in 60 th (59:26) apologies if I have missed anyone on this one.
The next race of the winter season is the National Short Course XC at Kirkcaldy (entries have closed
already for this one). Looking forward, we will soon be looking for entries for the Ayrshire XC
champs at Rozelle on the 12 th of November, the first West League match at East Kilbride on the 19 th
of November and the West District XC champs at Kilmarnock on the 3 rd of December – watch out on
club social media! Entries are also now open for the Turkey Trot on Boxing Day – the 10k will count
for the winter points league.

Now the race calendar is hopefully completely finalised (winter dates), we have updated the winter
league tables taking into account the first 3 races of the season (winter points). It has been participation points in
relays up until this point, but moving further into the winter months it will be all about individual
performances. Remember that your best 7 events will count, so get planning that race calendar
now!