Senior/U20 Event Report 11 th December 2024

It’s hard to believe it, but we’re now well into December! XC is still at the forefront for a lot of
our athletes, whilst others have started their indoor campaigns already. Whatever your aims
are currently, it is fair to say that as a club we are continuing to smash it – 2024 has been a
fabulous year and hopefully we can build on this in 2025!

We start this week with an event we were waiting on results for – the Falkirk Victoria Open
Graded at Grangemouth on the 24 th of November. Our sole senior at this event Adam Todd
opened his 60m sprinting account with a fine 2 nd place in his race in 7.93s – great running
Adam.

Showing his versatility, Adam was also on the start line of the November edition of 3k on The
Green on Friday the 29 th of November alongside 3 other Harriers who made the most of the
unseasonably pleasant conditions for a lunchtime runout along the Clyde. First home in 12 th
overall and 1 st Female was Laura Haggarty who ran a fine PB of 10:16. By my reckoning
Laura has been first lady at this event every time she has gone this year and it is great to
see the times just getting better and better! Next home was Mark Alexander in 17th (10:33),
then Adam Todd in 32 nd (11:09), and rounding up a strong set of results was Mhairi
Ballantyne in 76 th (13:59) – well done all!

Saturday the 30 th saw a team of athletes travel to Erskine for the West District XC
Championships. In the U20 men’s race, Jonathon Downey was 4 th around the 6.3km course
in 18:36, and teammate Connor Scobie was 31 st in 22:42. For the U20 ladies, Izzy Caufield
was our solo runner and she finished in 19 th place (26:50) – great running from our younger
athletes. In the senior women’s race, Kat Kelly was 1 st Harrier across the line in 15 th place
(27:01) around the 7.5km course, also picking up the bronze W40 medal – well done Kat,
hopefully you will also get a West vest for your efforts! Eilidh Ballantyne was next back in
63 rd place (31:37) and Bethany Ross rounded up a fine set of performances for the ladies in
86 th spot (33:39). We had a bigger men’s squad than we have seen in recent years, and it
was great to see Martin Brown back in the blue and white slogging through the mud to be
first Harrier home in 23 rd place (23:41). Craig Ferguson was 31 st (24:06), followed by David
McLure and Tom Flood in close order in 71 st and 72 nd respectively (26:22 and 26:24), then
Ross McNaught in 118 th (28:23). Greig Glendinning was next back in 161 st (30:26), followed
by Gary Martin in 172 nd (31:19), Nick Carter in 184 th (31:49) and Murray McDonald in 208 th
(33:31). Brilliant to see depth in our squad at this level! Our top 6 men were 9 th team
overall, as was the Masters team – well done guys.

Sunday the 1 st saw your ladies captain Jennifer Beattie travel down to Manchester for the
Sale Harriers Open to open her indoor season over 600m. 2 nd place in 1:50.6 made the trip
a good start to the season.

The weekend just gone was a bit on the quieter side, but it did feature our next league race –
Cyclists V Harriers held at Irvine Sports Club. Jonathon Downey was 1 st runner back and 2 nd
overall in 27:44, and Kat Kelly was 1 st lady home in 10 th overall (7 th runner) in 32:52. Also
picking up valuable league points on the day were Eilidh Ballantyne who was 26 th overall and
2 nd lady in 39:17, and sister Mhairi Ballantyne who was 34 th in 45:27. Well done to all who
took part!

From a championship perspective there is no change at the top of the senior ladies table,
with Eilidh Ballantyne retaining top spot with 59 points and Kat Kelly hot on her heels with
54. Laura Haggarty still fills 3 rd spot with 24 points. Our U20 ladies also sees no change,
with Izzy Caufield still at the top with 51 and Mhairi Ballantyne close behind with 46. Jennie
Munro retains 3 rd with 14 points.

In the senior men’s table, Tom Flood holds his lead with 33 points, with Jamie Nix in 2 nd with
25 and Nick Carter hot on his heels with 24. In the U20 men’s table Jonathon extends his
lead at the top with 54 points, and Connor Scobie now runs level with Matthew Monachello
with 23 points apiece. There are two opportunities to earn more points this coming weekend
at West League XC at Linn Park on Saturday and the Christmas Handicap on Sunday –
please let John Gebbie know if you are planning to come on Sunday.

The full tables can be seen here – Winter points 24.5 (1)

Going forward, the next events will be the Beith Harriers 10k and the second West League
XC match before we start preparing for the big one at Falkirk! We will also be starting to
organise teams for the Allan Scally relays in March come early January so watch this space!