LASSWADE ATHLETIC CLUB

The National Cross Country Championships were once again held at Callender Park in Falkirk. Callendar Park has hosted the National cross country for a number of years now and it has always been a fantastic event regardless of the weather. However, I understand this is the last year at this location and that this event will be at a new venue next year.

The first race of the day were the under 13 girls and the conditions for running were almost perfect as the race got underway. Lasswade had three athletes in this race, Olivia Meikle, Skye Foster and Fiona Eades. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the chip timing so the results for the under 13 girls are incomplete.

In the under 13 boys Lasswade had five athletes, Cameron Chambers led the boys home finishing 100th, closely followed by team mate Alasdair Brown 101st, Matthew Cartledge 106th, Alistair Scott 121st and Alec Miller 158th.

Abby McGlone was the solo Lasswade girl in the under 15 girls race but had a solid run to finish in 59th position.

Harry Henriksen was also flying solo in the under 15 boys race. Harry got off to a bad start, but worked his way through the field and was in fourth spot going into the final run in to the finish. Unfortunately he was just outsprinted but finished a very impressive 6th.

Sarah Tait was yet another solo runner in the u17 womens race. Sarah has had a great season gradually building back into cross country running and improving with each race. Sarah had another strong race to finish inside the top 10 in 7th.

In the under 17 men we had four athletes and thought we had an outside chance of a team medal as well as potential individual medalists. Christian Graham one of the pre-race favorites had a difficult week with a foot injury and was a doubtful starter. However with his foot taped up he felt a bit better and wanted to race. Christian ran well and was up setting the pace early in the race, unfortunately I think the stress of his foot took it’s toll, Christian was unable to go with Cameron Wright of Kilbarchan and a gap began to open. Christian held on for 2nd to cement a solid season over the cross country. Team mate Magnus Tait was also having a good run a little further back in 7th place, with Euan Hood satisfied with his 37th after having been down with a cold and Daniel Kelly completing the team in 69th. We finished 6th team with only three points between us and 4th and 12 points to 3rd!

Christian Graham leads the U17 men’s race

The theme of solo athletes continued with Lauren Dickson in the u20 women. Lauren has had a few disappointing results in races this season so it was great to see her continue to improve and have a strong run to finish in 7th place.  Jamie darling has been improving this season too so it was interesting to see how he ran in the under 20 men’s race. Jamie ran well to finish in the middle of the field in 44th position.

Lauren Dickson leading the pack !

The final race of the day was the senior men and it had the biggest field of the day. We had five athletes in this race. It was great to see Ross Matheson make the trip up from London to race and have a strong run finishing 12th. He was followed home by team mate Scott Thomson who also had a good run finishing inside the top 30 in 28th position. Scott Dickson led home our masters finishing in 412th followed by Dave Scott 440th and Stephen Brown 463rd.

Ross Matheson – a good run to finish 12th

Congratulations to everyone on their performances.

For full results click here

The final match of this winter season’s East District Cross Country League took place on Saturday 20 January at a snow covered course in Broxburn. It was a beautiful day and the weather conditions for running were perfect although the snow made it more difficult over some parts of the course. There was a large contingent of Lasswade athletes with complete teams in all age groups with the exception of u15 boys and u15/17 girls.

The first race of the day was the under 11 girls and Lasswade AC fielded four athletes with Hannah Harley the first Lasswade athlete home finishing in an impressive 7th place with Abby Foster 9th, Eloise Scott 40th and Ava Inglis in her first cross country finished 61st. The girls finished 4th in the league for the season.

The under 11 boys had three Lasswade AC athletes taking part.  Andrew McWilliam was first Lasswade finisher in 9th place.  Harry Miller was next counter in 69th with Hayden Whitlie in 74th.

There were five Lasswade athletes in the under 13 girls race. Olivia Meikle was first home in 17th place followed by Amy McLaughlin 33rd, Skye Foster 38th, Niamh Inglis 46th and Hayley Whitlie 49th.

In the under 13 boys we had six boys in the field. First home for Lasswade was Dexter Howard in 47th. He was followed home by team mates Cameron Chambers 53rd, Alistair Scott 56th, Matthew Cartledge 60th, Alastair Brown 63rd and Alex Miller 72nd.

In the under 15/17 girls Sarah Tait (u17) continued her improving season finishing 4th overall and 1st u17.  Team mate Abby McGlone (u15) was next Lasswade athlete home finishing 32nd overall and 23rd u15.

Harry Henriksen was our only runner in the u15 boys race yesterday. In a group of three athletes as he came round at the end of the first lap he had opened up a clear lead by the end of the second lap making it all look so easy with a comfortable win.

In the under 17 men we had four runners. We were in no doubt that Christian Graham who had won the previous two matches this winter comfortably was going to make this a hat-trick of wins in the league and he did not disappoint. Another athlete that makes it look so easy! It was great to see team mate Magnus Tait in his first appearance in the league this season finishing 3rd with team mate Euan Hood finishing 17th and Daniel Kelly 23rd. The boys were 1st team on the day and 2nd in the league for the season.

Magnus Tait with a strong run at Broxburn

We had a complete ladies team for the first time this season and there were some great performances with Lauren Dickson leading the Lasswade ladies home finishing 6th overall and 2nd u20. It was also nice to see Keira Murray (Gore) with a strong run finishing 12th and the fast finishing Cathy Dickson in 60th.

Keira Murray in action at Broxburn

For the final race of the day and season for the league it was the turn of the men. We had seven Lasswade athletes competing and first home was Scott Thomson in a very respectable 20th , he was followed home by Jamie Darling (U20) in 94th, Andrew McGlone 108th, Dave Scott 162nd, Scott Dickson 183rd, Phil Parr-Burnham 210th and Graham Knipe 227th.

(All photo’s courtesy of Neil Renton)

For full results please click here

If you look at the results today and over the course of the season it is clear that we do have age group teams with the ability to win the league, unfortunately it is just circumstances in terms of availablity and/or injury that have proved our undoing. Having said that we there were lots of fine performaces over the season in all age groups and the numbers competing particularly in the younger age groups (u11 and u13) have been higher than recent years which is really positive for the future.

Thanks to everyone for their support over the course of the season and congratulations to you all on your own individual performances.

Roll on the National!

The inter district cross country championships took place yesterday at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh.

The east of scotland had a very successful day winning 7 of the 8 team races and having 6 of the 8 individual winners which must be one of the best performances from the east team in the history of the event.

As mentioned in a previous post Lasswade AC was well represented with seven athletes from Lasswade AC representing the east team.  Ross Wolfenden earning his first district selection ran well in the U13 boys to finish in 29th place.  Last years U13 boys winner, Harry Henriksen moved up to U15 boys age group and after a poor start rallied on the seconds lap to finish just outside the top 10 in 12th place.

In the U17 men Christian Graham continued his outstanding season when he cruised to victory (photo courtesy of Neil Renton).

Christian Graham wins Inter District XC Championships!

Clubmate Magnus Tait having missed a few weeks with a back injury also ran very well to finish inside the top 10 in 8th place. In the U17 women Sarah Tait continued her  improving season to also finish inside the top 10 in 9th place.

In the senior races both Ross Matheson and Lauren Dickson (U20) earned late call ups to the team. Ross finished 22nd in the men’s race with Lauren who has not been feeling 100% this week finishing 43rd overall (11th U20).

Congratulations to all the athletes on their selection and performances

For full results click here

The above event takes place at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh as part of the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country event which includes some of the worlds top cross country runners.  Last year saw one of the most exciting races I have seen at the event with Callum Hawkins giving the home crowd something to cheer about as he gave it everything to try and win the senior race, narrowly missing out in the final sprint to the line.

Lasswade have always had a number of athletes selected for the East of Scotland team in recent years and they have always performed well. This year is no exception with five athletes having been selected:

Ross Wolfenden (U13)
Harry Henriksen (U15)
Christian Graham (U17)
Magnus Tait (U17)
Sarah Tait (U17)

Why not make a day of it and come along and cheer on your team mates and also watch some top international athletes in action.

Congratulations to all of the athletes selected and good luck on the day!

The East District Cross Country Championships took place at a cold and frosty Deans in Livingston on Saturday 9 December with 24 athletes from Lasswade AC competing. The frost made the ground hard underfoot although still suitable for spikes.

The first race of the day was the under 13 girls with 4 girls from Lasswade competing. First Lasswade finisher was Olivia Meikle finishing just inside the top 30 in 29th, she was followed by team mates Amy McLaughlin 36th, Skye Foster 50th and Niamh Inglis 54th.

The under 13 boys were next off and Lasswade had 6 six boys in this race. First home for Lasswade was Ross Wolfenden in 14th, all of the other boys were tightly packed with Cameron Chambers 39th, Matthew Cartledge 40th, Alistair Scott 41st, Alasdair Brown 45th and Alec Miller 48th.

Cameron Chambers in U13 boys race

Flying the Lasswade flag for the under 15 girls was Abby McGlone who had probably her best run of the season so far to finish just outside the top 20 in 21st place.

The under 15 boys were in a similar position with Harry Henriksen ill, Cameron Dickson was the only Lasswade athlete finishing in 56th place in a close finish on the run in with an athlete from Corstorphine.

The under 17 and under 20 women ran together and we had 1 under 17 and 3 under 20 athletes competing. In the under 17 race Sarah Tait ran her best cross country race for sometime working her way through the field and looking stronger as the race progressed finishing in 5th place. In the under 20 race Lauren Dickson ran very well considering she was feeling unwell before the race. Lauren finished just outside the medals in 4th place, Ailsa Innes was next finisher in 11th with Niamh Shaw in 13th place. This meant the girls won 2nd team missing out on gold by only three points!

Lauren Dickson in U20 women’s race

In the under 17 and under 20 men we had four under 17 runners.  Christian Graham who has been in great form so far this season was out in the lead early on in the race and had to contend with a dog chasing the runners and almost tripping him up on a number of occasions over the first mile of the course.  Once again Christian ran very well to win the U17 race but showed his strength and speed by passing the leader of the U20 race, who had another small lap to run, on the run in to the U17 finish. Next finisher was Magnus Tait who has been struggling with a back injury but still managed a top 10 finish in 9th, he was followed by Euan Hood in 20th place and Daniel Kelly 33rd. The boys done well to win the silver team medal, like the U20 women just missing out on gold by only three points.

We had no senior men or women running, however we did have 1 lady in the masters race. Linden Nicholson finished 98th overall and 40th in the masters race.

In the mens masters we had 3 athletes with Andrew McGlone leading them home in 39th place followed by Scott Dickson 82nd and Dave Scott 83rd.

It was great to have Lasswade AC so well represented in these championships and athletes doing so well.  The selections for the inter district have not been announced yet but based on the selection criteria I estimate that we could potentially have 8 athletes picked which is not too bad from 24.

Well done to everyone who competed and in particular to our medal winners both individual and team.

For full results please click here