LASSWADE ATHLETIC CLUB

This year’s National cross country championships were once again held at Callendar Park, Falkirk. It was two years since they had last been staged due to the Covid19 pandemic so it was great to have the largest cross country event in Scotland taking place again. The expectation was for a very muddy course due to the recent rain and snow, however the course was in remarkably good condition and not as muddy as expected. The weather on the day was windy but mild and dry which was a bonus!

There were Lasswade AC athletes competing in most races but unfortunately only one complete team in any age group which was disappointing.

The first race of the day was the u13 girls and there were two Lasswade athletes in the race. First home in a very large field was Beth McWilliam in 75th place closely followed by team mate Emma Thomson in 77th place.

The u13 boys was the next race and the only race where we had a complete team of four runners. There was a close battle between club mates Jonathan MacQueen and Rhuaridh Wood with Jonathan coming home first for Lasswade in 57th, Rhuaridh was not far behind in 61st place. Next home for the club was Lauchie Welsh in 91st with club mate Nathan Lawrence completing the team in 115th.

In the u15 girls race we had three Lasswade athletes, Freya Mowbray, Bethan Kitchin and Amy Rutherford. Freya has been running well throughout the cross country season and had another strong run to finish in 16th place , Bethan was next home in 39th with Amy bringing the team home in 79th place.

Andrew McWilliam, Rowan Taylor and Patrick Snowden were our three athletes in the u15 boys race. Andrew was first home just being run out of the medals in the finishing straight to finish 4th. Not too far behind was Rowan with a fine run in 7th place. Patrick in his first National cross country finished 87th.

Unfortunately we had no u17 boys competing today.

There were two u17 women from Lasswade competing. Olivia Meikle was first home with a strong run in 19th. Fiona Eades finished in 56th covered head to toe in mud after falling in a ditch out on the course.

There were no Lasswade athletes in either the male or female u20 races.

The women’s race was the penultimate race of the day and we had three Lasswade athletes Sarah Tait, Amy Frankland and Amy Smith. Sarah Tait and Amy Frankland had a personal battle over the 10k course with Sarah coming home in 7th closely followed by Amy in 8th. Amy Smith was a bit further back in 55th after hurting her foot on the first lap.

The finale was the men’s race and Lasswade athlete David Woods did the same as Fiona Eades and came home in 204th place covered head to toe in mud after a fall (caught on video). Dave Scott was the only other Lasswade finisher in 460th place.

A fantastic days athletics with lots of great performances. Hope that you all had a great day and thanks to our volunteer marshals Ken McWilliams and Steve Brown. Thanks also to our official Linden Nicholson who regularly officiates at these events throughout the winter.

For full results please click here

Looking forward to the track season now!

Look at this fantastic noticeboard that Andy Sobik has put together for the 40th Anniversary Celebrations. He’s even had his knitting needles out!

All it needs now is your contributions of photographs and memorabilia to add to it. Please bring your contributions down to the track or get in touch with Andy.

Have you got your ticket yet?

Deadline for tickets is 2nd of March.

Saturday, 2nd April at the Dalkeith Masonic Hall.

Booking is now open for the event of the year and here is all the information you need to secure your ticket…..

Click here to download the Booking Form which can be completed online and emailed to cathy.dickson@talktalk.net or printed, completed and returned to –

Cathy Dickson
3 Buckstane Park,
Edinburgh,
EH10 6PA.

Please indicate how many tickets (A or B) you would like to book and fill in your name and address so they can be posted out to you.

The payment options are included on the form.

Bank transfer to the club account

Lasswade Athletics Club
Sort Code: 80-06-29 Account Number: 00493746
Ref Lass40A and your name or Lass40B and your name.

Or a cheque made payable to Lasswade Athletics club with your name and the number of A or B tickets ordered on the back.

When ordering A tickets please also complete the attached menu form to select your Starter, Main and Dessert for the evening and send this back either by email or post with your ticket order form.

Deadline for bookings is Wednesday, 2nd March 2022 …book now and don’t miss out, it will be a good night!

If anyone has any photographs or memorabilia (club kit, spikes, trophies etc) from the club over the past 40 years and is willing to lend them to us we would be very grateful. We would like to create a display to showcase the clubs history, there may be several familiar faces….

Hope to see you there!

Inter District Cross Country Championships – Irvine 15/01/22

The Inter District Cross Country Championships took place at Beach Park, Irvine this weekend. It was great to see an event back at this location which has been used for National Cross Country Championships and Scottish Schools Championships over the years.

The conditions were good for running, it was a cold dry day and the course was firm with a number of short but challenging hills to break up the rhythm of the runners in a very open course.

Lasswade AC had nine runners competing with five representing the East of Scotland. Freya Mowbray, Andrew McWilliam and Rowan Taylor all u15, Olivia Meikle u17 and Amy Frankland in the senior Women’s team. In addition we had four athletes in the Scottish Universities team, Sarah Tait, Magnus Tait, Christian Graham and Harry Henriksen.

The first Lasswade athlete in action was Freya Mowbray in the u15 girls. Freya went off fairly quick and had a solid run to finish in 24th place.

In the u15 boys Andrew McWilliam and clubmate Rowan Taylor were together battling for 3rd spot for much of the race with Rowan fading slightly towards the end of the race. Both boys did well to finish 3rd and 7th respectively and help the East of Scotland to team gold in that race.

Olivia Meikle was in the u17 women’s race and had a good run to secure a top 20 finish in 17th place.

The next race with Lasswade athletes was the senior women with Sarah Tait and Amy Frankland. Both girls have been running well over the country so far this season with Sarah gaining a couple of u23 Scottish team selections. Sarah had started off quite hard and was up in the top 4 for a large part of the race, Amy had a more conservative start to the race but worked her way back towards Sarah taking the lead at one point but then Sarah rallied and passed Amy on the final run into the finish. Sarah finished 7th and Amy 8th. East of Scotland won team gold.

The final race of the day was the men with three Lasswade athletes all running for Scottish Universities, Christian Graham, Magnus Tait and Harry Henriksen. All had been running well over the country this season with Christian securing Scottish u23 selection for Liverpool and again for Belfast next weekend. Magnus and Harry had also been running well and had been fairly closely matched in their races so far. The race started off fairly fast and Christian wasn’t too far off the pace in about 6th place with Harry also up near the front at the start and Magnus just behind. As the race progressed there wasn’t much movement at the front with Christian finishing 7th Harry and Magnus drifted back a little finishing 18th and 29th respectively. Scottish Universities won the team gold.

Well done to all the athletes on their individual performances and good luck to Sarah and Christian for next weekend in Belfast.

For full results please click here

Photographs courtesy of Neil Renton

Want to help raise funds for the club? There are two easy ways to help without it costing you a penny!

Have a look at our fundraising page for more information.

Covid delayed, but we can’t let the club’s big birthday go without a celebration.

The second race of this winter’s East District Cross Country League took place at Camperdown Park in Dundee at the weekend.

Numbers for Lasswade AC were disappointing for a variety of reasons but we only had complete teams in three age groups u13 girls, u15 boys and u15/17 girls who are combined. In the u11’s we only had one athlete Laura Kitchin running in her first league match and running very well to finish 16th. There were no U11 boys.

We had three u13 girls, Beth McWilliam who led the girls home in 17th place followed closely by Louise Thomson in 20th place and Eilidh Mowbray persuaded to run on her birthday in 41st place – hope that you enjoyed the rest of your Birthday Eilidh!!

In the u13 boys we only had one athlete Nathan Lawrence who finished in 46th place.

The u15 and u17 girls run together and we had four athletes in this race, Olivia Meikle had a solid run in 9th, with team mate Freya Mowbray having a strong run in 15th followed by Bethan Kitchin in 37th and Skye Foster 51st.

We had five under 15 boys competing yesterday. Andrew McWilliam led them and the rest of the field home with a strong run in 1st place, he was closely followed by team mate Rowan Taylor in 2nd place. Our third athlete and last counter for the team was Patrick Snowden in 25th place giving the team 2nd place on the day. Will Heatlie was next home for Lasswade in 40th followed by Cian Murray in 41st.

Alex Miller was our only u17 male athlete and finished in 32nd place.

Amy Smith, Rachel Fagan and Debra Urquhart were our three athletes in the ladies race. First home in 11th place was Amy Smith followed by Rachel Fagan in 71st and Debra Urquhart in 84th place.

The final race of the day was the men and we had two athletes David Woods and Derrick Brydon. David led the Lasswade men home in 47th place with Derrick in 175th place.

Thanks and well done to everyone who competed on the day.

For full results please click here

Photo courtesy of Neil Renton

The Scottish Universities XC Championships took place at Craigmillar Castle in Edinburgh last weekend.

There were a number of great performances from Lasswade AC athletes representing their universities. In the Men’s race Christian Graham won the event running for Dundee, Magnus Tait finished 10th for Glasgow closely followed by Harry Henriksen in 11th for Edinburgh. In the women’s race Sarah Tait finished 2nd for Stirling.

Well done to all our athletes on their performances

The National Short Course Cross Country Championships took place this weekend at Lanark race course. The event had been held there three years ago in 2018 and the course itself is fast, flat and open.

The first challenge of the day for Linda and I was getting the tent up in very wet and windy conditions which was a struggle with the end result somewhat lopsided but it was better than nothing (I think).

This event is only open to age groups u15 and above and the first event of the day was the U15 girls with three Lasswade AC athletes competing over the one lap 2km course, Freya Mowbray, Bethan Kitchin and Eloise Scott. The girls all ran very well in the challenging conditions with Freya leading them home in 19th place followed by Bethan in 38th and Eloise completing the team in 69th place.

It was the U15 boys next and we had four athletes in this race Andrew McWilliam, Rowan Taylor, Patrick Snowden and Will Heatlie. Running over the same 2km distance Andrew McWilliam was the leading Lasswade athlete running a strong race to finish high up the field in a fine 5th place, not too far behind was team mate Rowan Taylor in 13th place next it was Patrick Snowden who was running his first race and finished 59th with Will Heatlie 78th.

Next to brave the conditions it was the turn of the U17 girls. Lasswade AC only had one runner in this race Olivia Meikle who has been running well over the country so far this season. Olivia had another great run to finish an impressive 5th place.

In the U17 boys Lasswade AC had Alastair Scott and Sam Kitchin. Alastair had a solid run to finish just inside the top 40 in 39th place with Sam in his first race this season in 61st place.

The next two races were the Women and Men with star attractions Laura Muir, Andrew Butchart and Jake Wightman. However, hopes were high that Lasswade AC’s own athletes could finish high up the very strong fields. The women were off first and we had Sarah Tait and Amy Frankland in the race. The race set off at a hard pace with four runners breaking away Laura Muir, Eloise Walker, Megan Keith and Morag Millar, our own athletes Sarah Tait and Amy Frankland were not too far behind very much in top end of the field. Laura Muir was the winner showing her class by moving clear on the second of the two laps to win comfortably. Sarah led the Lasswade athletes home with a fine run finishing in 8th place and Amy also had a great run to finish in 17th place. Its a pity we only had two athletes racing as looking at the team results I definitely think we could have been amongst the medals so hopefully we can get all our top women out at some point this winter.

The final race of the day was the men and we had four athletes racing for Lasswade AC, Christian Graham, David Woods, Greg Louden and Euan Hood with another two, Harry Henriksen and Magnus Tait representing their universities. Andrew Butchart of Central AC led from the gun with team mate Jamie Crow also pushing the pace at the front. Christian Graham who has had a great start to this cross country season was leading the Lasswade AC athletes at the end of the first lap in around 12th place but over the second lap he pushed on to pick off another few athletes to finish an impressive 8th place. Next home was Harry who finished 29th with Magnus only a few seconds behind in 39th. David Woods had a solid run in 173rd with Greg Louden and Euan Hood using this race to do some over distance training to finish 200th and 206th respectively. Similar to the ladies I think if we can get all our Men out together at some point we could have a good chance of finishing high up the field in terms of team places.

A great days cross country with some fine individual performances and hopefully a few athletes selected for the Scotland U23 team for Liverpool Cross Challenge.

Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations on their own individual performances.

All photographs courtesy Will Graham