LASSWADE ATHLETIC CLUB

The National XC Relays took place last weekend with two Lasswade AC young male teams, one masters team and an incomplete senior men’s team competing.

The young male athletes had done well in recent years finishing just outside the medals in 4th and 5th place over the last two years.  First off for us this year in the young males was U13’s Dexter Howard and Cameron Chambers who both ran well over a challenging course in windy conditions with Dexter first home in 43^rd place and Cameron not too far behind in 61st place.

Dexter handed over to Harry Henriksen (U15) who produced  one of the outstanding performances of the day to bring us into the top 10 handing over to Christian Graham (U17)  in 9^th place. In our second team we did not have another U15 runner, however Alec Miller (U13) stepped up to the plate and had a strong run handing over to final leg runner Magnus Tait in 74th place.

Christian who has been running very well in races so far this winter now set to the task of pulling back a few more places. It was another fine performance by Christian bringing the team up to 6^th place, once again just a few places outside the medals. In terms of times we were less than a minute behind the winners and only 36 seconds behind the runners up!  Magnus Tait (U17) in his first race of this winter season put in a strong run to bring the team home in 54th with his individual time just outside the top 10 fastest of the day for U17 boys.  Well done to all the boys.

In the men’s event we had one complete masters team and unfortunately due to injury an incomplete men’s team. The masters team of Andrew McGlone, Peter Ness, Scott Dickson and Graham Knipe acquitted themselves well with the team finishing in 16th place. It was nice to have a separate masters team and see how they finished in that category.

All of the runners in the incomplete men’s team ran very well, it was just a pity we did not have a final leg runner. Scott Thomson ran a strong first leg to keep us inside the top 30 in 27th place. Martin Gore and Jamie Darling both had good runs and we were 30th at the end of stage 3.

Congratulations to everyone on their own individual performances and thanks for representing the club so well.

The first East District Cross Country League Match of this winter season took place at Stirling Unversity on Saturday 21 October 2017. Initially the weather was mild and dry but the forecast was for rain and it was not too long before it arrived making the course, which was already fairly soft and wet, very heavy and muddy in sections.

Lasswade AC had a great turn out for the first match of the season with 34 runners taking part. The under 15 boys, under 15/17 girls and senior men were the only age groups where we had incomplete teams.

The first race of the day was the under 11 girls and it was fantastic to see Lasswade AC fielding six athletes with two finishing in the top 10, Hannah Knipe 7th and Hannah Harley 10th.  Team mates Abbie Foster and Eloise Scott were next home in a very close finish in 24th and 25th, Sophie Birse was  58th and Amy Rutherford 69th.

The under 11 boys were next race off with three Lasswade AC athletes taking part. Andrew McWilliam led the field and the Lasswade boys home to win by six seconds. He was followed by Harry Miller in 30th and Jude Anderson 44th.

There were five Lasswade athletes in the under 13 girls race. Olivia Meikle was first home in 30th place followed by Amy McLaughlin 43th, Skye Foster 61st, Niamh Inglis 69th and Isla Wilkie 74th.

The under 13 boys was the next race to get underway and we had five boys in the field. First home for Lasswade was Ross Wolfenden finishing in 18th. He was followed home by team mates Dexter Howard 31st, Cameron Chambers 47th, Alex Miller 50th and Alistair Scott 78th.

In the under 15/17 girls Abby McGlone was first Lasswade athlete home in 28th followed by team mate Lauren Meikle 52nd.  Lasswade runner Harry Henriksen under 13 national cross country champion from last season moved up an age group to under 15  and started off this season where he left off last season with a win. Team mate Cameron Dickson finished in 53rd.

The weather conditions weren’t getting any better but next to set off were the under 17 men and we had three runners. Christian Graham set off with clear intent and had a good lead going into the second lap and finished with a comfortable 50 second advantage  and was Lasswade’s third winner of the day! Team mates Euan Hood and Daniel Kelly were 18th and 28th respctively.

U17 Boys Daniel Kelly, Christian Graham and Euan Hood

The womens race was already underway and it was great to see Keira Murray (Gore) injury free and running again and leading our ladies team home finishing in 14th. Keira was followed home by team mates U20 Ailsa Innes 46th and Cathy Dickson 56th. It was great to have a complete ladies team!

The final race of the day was the men with a field of nearly 300 runners. The rain had stopped but the damage to the course was already done and some parts were now extremely muddy and very slippy.  Martin Gore, like his wife Keira, had missed all of last season through injury so it was great to see him running again. Martin led the team home finishing 69th. he was followed by U20 Jamie darling who finished 122nd, Andrew McGlone 137th, Dave Scott 195th and Graham Knipe 236th.

It was a fantastic day and it was really great to see so many athletes coming out and supporting the club in these difficult conditions.

Congratulations to everyone on their individual performances and thank you for your support.

Kirk and Linda

The first cross country event of this winter season took place at Glamis Castle just north of Dundee on 14 October. It was a beautiful setting in the grounds of the castle and the we got weather to match. The course was fairly flat so probably suited the faster track based runners.

Lasswade AC had one young female team, two young male teams  and an incomplete senior men’s team. All athletes performed well on the day but the highlight was the first boys team.  First year U13 Ross Wolfenden ran a solid opening leg to keep us in contention and handed over in 9th place to Harry Henriksen.  Harry, who I am sure would have preferred a few more hills ran well to pull back another few places and hand over in 4th place to our final leg runner Christian Graham.  Christian who has been improving all summer on the track set off on the chase and quickly pulled back the first couple of runners. Unfortunately the gap the Edinburgh runner had was insurmountable, however Christian had the consolation that in addition to helping the team to the silver medal he was also the fastest young male athlete of the day. Well done and congratulations to all the boys on a fine team performance.

East Distrct XC Relays – Silver Medalists