The National short course cross country championships took place at Dunnikier Park next to Kirkcaldy High School last Saturday. The course was on an uphill start but after that it was fairly flat and open, the underfoot conditions were fairly good although there were a couple of patches that were a bit muddy. In terms of weather it doesn’t get much better for a winter cross country race.
There were a number of Lasswade AC athletes competing but first to go to the start line was Abby McGlone in the U15 girls. Abby ran very well to finish just outside the top 40 of the 81 finishers. Next it was the U15 boys and Harry Henriksen who got off to a bad start but worked his way through the field to finish 9th equal. A solid run over the short and flat course.
In the U17 womens race it was great to see Sarah Tait running over the country again with a positive run finishing in 17th place. The under 17 men’s race was the only race where we had a complete team with Christian Graham, Magnus Tait and Euan Hood. Christian who has been performing well so far this season had a great run to pick up the silver medal. Team mate Magnus Tait was not too far behind with a strong run to finish in 9th place with third counter Euan Hood putting in a solid run to finish 43rd. It was great to see that the boys picked up the silver medal for 2nd team.
Magnus, Euan and Christian with their Silver Team Medals!
In the ladies race Lauren Dickson had a solid run to finish 27th overall and 9th U20 with team mate Ailsa Innes 50th overall and 16th U20.
In the Mens race we had a few runners but not enough to make a team in any category. It was good to see Ross Matheson up from London with a solid run in 15th place, followed by Scott Thomson in 57th, Jamie Darling 161st overall and 42nd U20, Andrew McGlone 273rd and 10th in the masters age 50 category and Peter Ness 300th and 28th masters age 45 category.
Congratulations to everyone on their performances but in particular our medalists.
Updated results are now available for the first SAIL match. Please note individual results are final, however team placings have yet to be verified so there may be some changes.
The next match in the league will be on Saturday 6th January 2018.
After the strong performances throughout the teams in match one, we will be looking to get full teams out for the upcoming match. After the first three matches of the league the teams in the top three positions will all qualify for the finals.
Included below is a list of the athletes who achieved a graded performance at the first match. Congratulations to Michelle Blaikie for achieving a Grade 1 performance in the girls U15 High Jump.
Updated results now available via the link at the bottom of the article
Over 300 runners from around the country descended on Gorebridge at the weekend to take part in the 36th annual Lasswade AC Open Cross Country Meeting. An army of volunteers had arrived early to prepare the course and set up for what turned out to be an excellent days racing. With little rain the previous week, and a rare appearance by the sun, the course was well set up for runners and spectators alike.
First up on the day was the girls under 11 race. Taking in one lap of the course, and covering one mile it proved to be the closest race of the day. Over 50 girls lined up on the start line, but the course soon had them well spread. As the finish line came up 4 girls were left fighting it out for the top spot. Chloe Hill of Larkhill Harriers had just enough to take first in a time of 6m 25s. Just a second behind the winner, and seperated by less than a second was the trio of Carys Gibb, Adele Street and Lasswade AC runner Abbie Foster. Not far behind Abbie was fellow Lasswade runner Hannah Harley, finishing in a time of 6m 32s. A good turnout by Lasswade runners also included fine performances from Eloise Scott, Sophie Birse, Sophie Winters, Amy Rutherford and Matilde Buxton. In the team race, based on the top 3 performances of each team, Pitreavie came out just ahead of Lasswade AC, with Moorfoot in 3rd.
The boys Under 11 race was next up, and had another strong field. First home was Giffnock North runner Craig Shennan, in a time of 6m 00s. Following him home was Haddington East runner Innes Wright, with Thomas Hilton, of Moorfoot, coming home third. After recent wins in the Midlothian Schools and East District Cross Country events , Lasswade runner, Andrew McWilliam put in another strong performance coming home in 8th spot. Next up for Lasswade was Shane Majekodunmi, with strong runs from Ewan Meldrum, Ben Harley, Rory Stobbie, Jude Anderson and Cian murray in their first outings for the club. The Team prize was taken by Moorfoot runners, followed by Giffnock North and Airdrie Harriers, with Lasswade in 5th.
The Under 13 girls were next up, with their race covering 2 laps of the track. Katie Johnson, of Edinburgh AC, was givien a stern test by Pitreavie runner Anya Morrison, before finally prevailing to take a 1 second victory. Third spot went to East Lothian runner Bridget Harley. First home for Lasswade was Olivia Meikle, with Amy Mclaughlin, Skye Foster and Sophie Edwards all coming home in good times behind. Team prize went to Pitreavie again, with Moorfoot and Lawfield and District behind. Another good showing by the Lasswade team saw them finishing 5th overall.
Harmeny runner took top spot in the Boys Under 13, 2 mile race, finishing in a time of 11m 38s. First Lasswade runner home was Ross Wolfenden in 5th. Good performances from Alec Miller, Alastair Scott and Alasdair Brown put the Lasswade boys into third spot in the team prize, behind Pitreavie and Moorfoot.
Top three in the Girls Under 15 race were Daisy Cumming of Dunfermline, Aimee Anderson of Airdrie and Corstorphine runner Georgia Ledingham. Abby McGlone was the lone Lasswade runner in the field, finishing strongly in 12th. Team prize went to Corstorphioine, followed by Airdrie and Moorfoot. In the boys Under 15 race, Lasswade runner, Harry Henriksen once again proved far too strong for the rest of the field, romping home almost a minute ahead of the rest in a time of 17m26s. Law & District runner Donald Gilchrist’s second spot helped his team to the team prize for the Under 15 boys.
Cera Gemmell was dominant throughout in her race, taking top spot in the Under 17 women for Team East Lothian. In the same combined race Lauren Dickson, of Lasswade, took top spot in the Under 20s.. The senior womens race was won by Carnethy athlete Charlotte Morgan, with Lasswade runner Keira Murray running well to come home in second. First veteran runner home was Lisa McDonald, with Sue Ridley winner of the over 45s group. The Lasswade team of Keira Murray, Julia Cunningham and Ellen Kristoffersen took second spot behind Edinburgh AC.
In the mens Under 17s James Gillon and Lasswade Runner, Magnus Tait, spent much of the race side by side. Gillon proved to be too strong in the final lap though, taking the top spot for Law & District. Another Lasswade athlete, Euan Hood ran well in third, with team mate Daniel Kelly a few places further back in 6th. The trio of performances by the Lasswade runners was enough to take the team prize. Moray runner Cameron Main took top spot in the Mens under 20s, followed by Forbes Jackson of Cumbernauld.
The mens senior race was won by Grant Sheldon of Cambuslang Harriers, followed by Cameron Richardson of Cumbernauld. First Veteren was HBT runner Dave Wright, with Portobello’s Jake Harper first in the over 50s. Senior team prize went to HBT, with the Lasswade team of Jamie Darling, Martin Gore and Andrew McGlone coming second. Peter Ness and David Scott completed a strong turn out from the Lasswade team on the day.
Please note we are still running down a couple of results that may need to be added to the final results. We will get this done ASAP. In the meantime apologies for any omissions, and please get in touch if you are missing a result from the current list.
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 43rd 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 9th 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 6th 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.
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.
Phillip Mack, Consultant Sports Physiotherapist & Sports Scientist, at The Physiotherapy Clinics & Hydrotherapy Peebles, will be coming along to the club next week to give a presentation. Phillip has a background in athletics and deals with sports related injuries on a daily basis. The presentation is aimed at anyone involved in athletics, be it athletes, family or friends, and will cover issues relating to injury prevention. There will also be time added to have a Q & A session. This is a great opportunity for all members of the club to come along and pick up valuable information and advice from an expert in the field.
The presentation takes place Thursday 28th September, from 6pm in the Assembly Hall at Dalkeith Campus. I would urge as many as possible to come along.
Entries are now open for the Lasswade AC Cross Country, on entry central for seniors and vets. The event takes place at Gore glen Playing Fields, Gorebridge on Sunday 5th November. Races are held for age groups U11 up to seniors / vets. By booking in advance, on entry central, athletes will benefit from a discount on the on the day price.
All athletes from the club and beyond are welcome to take part in the race. For further info just click on either of the images below.
Lasswade AC athlete Lauren Dickson who earlier in the season represented Scotland (U18) over 1500m on the track turned her attention and talents to the hills in Peebles yesterday. Lauren was selected to represent Scotland at the Junior Hill International after winning the trial in her first hill race which was over the same course in Peebles just over a month ago.
The course on tracks over Cademuir Hill looked tough but on the plus side it was dry so the conditions underfoot were fairly good with only small patches that were muddy. Lauren set off hard sitting in second place for most of the race behind English runner Scarlet Dale. Lauren was passed by the second English athlete Fiona Bunn just going into the final 800m but was well clear of the next runner and finished in 3rd place to pick up the bronze medal. A fine performance in only her second hill race. Congratulations from all at Lasswade AC.
