The East District Cross Country Championships took place on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Peebles on 12th October 2014. It is the first time that I can recall this or any other East District event being held in Peebles so I was looking forward to a seeing the course. Although hilly and challenging the course looked great and was ideal for spectators, there were a few barriers for the runners to hurdle and also a little bit of water….roll on the first race!
Lasswade AC had a total of nine teams, two young female teams, five young male teams, one ladies team and one complete men’s team, with one athlete in an incomplete second team.
Expectations were high as both the young females and males had done well last year. The young females were up first and they didn’t disappoint! Our under thirteen girl running the first leg was Hannah Little. Hannah ran a strong leg to keep us in contention handing over to Sarah Tait in 8th place. Sarah Tait, last seasons under thirteen National Cross Country runner up began the chase, looking strong she closed down on the runners ahead, pulling back several positions Sarah recorded the 4th fastest time of the day to hand over in 4th place to our final leg runner Lauren Dickson. Lauren still an under fifteen was running as an under seventeen but looked like she meant business as she set off! Going up the first climb Lauren was looking strong and moving much quicker than the runner ahead in 3rd place. At that point it was clear Lauren would get 3rd. There was a large gap to the second placed runner and the silver medal but Lauren was up for the challenge and the chase, catching the Central runner with a couple of hundred metres to go and running the 2nd quickest time of the day! A great performance by all the girls and a well deserved silver medal.
The young males were up next and we were really pleased to have five complete teams running. Our first team was led of by our under thirteen Rory Ferguson who ran a solid leg after falling down a rabbit hole and handed over to Magnus Tait in 18th place. Magnus who is always strong over the country began to close on the runners ahead pulling back 10 places to hand over in 8th place to our final leg runner Cameron Steven. Cameron ran a good final leg and looked strong pulling us up one further place into 7th. Our other teams were 14th, 19th and 25th. Our first leg runner in the final team had an asthma attack and was unable to complete his leg, the officials did let our second and final leg runners in that team run round the course which allowed us to get a time for the boys. Well done to you all!
The next race was the women and leading us of was Keira Murray who ran well considering she had been suffering from a cold and had to pull out of a half marathon the previous weekend. Keira looking strong handed over in 8th place to Debra Murray on the second leg. Debra, found the hills tough going and confirmed that she was ‘just going through the motions at one stage’. Debra handed over in 19th place to Cathy Dickson our final leg runner. Cathy ran well over the final leg to bring the ladies home in 20th place and confirm she thought the course was easier than it looked. Well done Ladies!
The final race of the day was our men with Martin Gore leading off the first team and Gavin Calder a solo runner in or second team. Martin having been suffering from a cold recently had a solid run to hand over in 20th place to one of our new members Alistair Smith. Alistair chased down the runners in front, pulling back one place and closing the gap on runners ahead. Next up was Paul (you need to train) Benham who ran a strong leg off no training, pulling back four places and handing on to Paul Bellamy in fifteenth place. Paul found it tough on the hills but ran well to bring the men home in 23rd place.
For full results click here
A fantastic day in the country. I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as we did and look forward to seeing you all at the next event at Stirling on 18 October 2014.
