LASSWADE ATHLETIC CLUB

The first of this season’s cross country league matches took place at Stirling on Saturday October 18th, 2014.

This race is held on the campus of Stirling University, it is  beautiful setting with a view of the Wallace monument in the background. The weather was extremely mild and although there was a threat of rain we were fortunate as there were only a few intermittent light showers. The course itself is undulating with a mixture of grassland, trail and an uphill finish!

The first race if the day was the under 11 girls and we had two girls running over the mile course.  Katie Burns the first Lasswade runner home in finishing in 23rd place followed by her team mate Isla Wilkie finishing 43rd in her first cross country race.

The under 11 Boys was the next race and we had three boys running.  Harry Henrikson led the boys and the race home finishing in 1st place in his first cross country for the club. Team mate Cameron Dickson had a strong run to finish in 18th place and he was followed home by our third runner Jamie Napier, also running his first cross country race, in 53rd place.

The next race was the under 13 girls, Hannah Little was the only Lasswade girl running today. Hannah ran a strong race to finish in 14th place in a close finish with several girls all finishing within a few seconds.  In the under 13 boys we had five runners with Oliver Snodgrass leading the boys home in 12th place, Rory Ferguson was next in 23rd followed closely by Lawrie Wilson in 27th place.  Lyle Jones, who went over on his ankle was our next finisher in 69th place followed by Trygg Hanson finishing 70th in his first cross country.

Cameron Steven, Matthew Smith and Kyle MacKenzie were our three runners in the under 17 men’s race.  Cameron led the team home in 23rd place, closely followed by Matthew in 24th place with Kyle completing the team in 31st place.

The ladies race had started five minutes after the under 17 men so they were running at the same time and we had four ladies running. Keira Murray led the team home with a good run in 10th place followed by Cathy Dickson with another good run in 54th place (18th Vet) . Nicole O’Neill was our final finisher in her first cross country race finishing 94th. Unfortunately,  Debra Murray dropped out at the start of the second lap, thankfully not injured just feels she is lacking a bit of fitness.

Next off  were the under 15 boys and there were three Lasswade runners in this race. Magnus Tait was first Lasswade finisher in 8th place with only a few seconds separating him from several runners around him.  Next home was Jamie Darling finishing 21st in a close finish with an athlete from Edinburgh AC who was given the same time. Jamie was closely followed by Thomas Snodgrass in 22nd place just a few seconds behind, good packing boys!

The penultimate race of the day was the under 15/17 girls with four Lasswade athletes running.  Lauren Dickson was in 2nd place for most of the race but treated us all to the most exciting finish of the day when she must have been 25 to 30 metres (maybe more) behind Kate Gallagher (Central) on the run into the finish, with a tremendous effort Lauren caught and passed Kate Gallagher just before the line to win by a second! Sarah Tait suffering from pains in her stomach still finished in the top 10!  Our next two girls also had strong runs with Imogen Wilson in 21st place and Lauren Wilkie finishing 30th.

The last race of the day was the men and there were seven men running. Our first finisher was Paul Benham running a steady race to finish in 48th place. Our next finisher was Ben Mitchell in his first cross country race for quite some time finishing 89th (21st Vet), he was followed home by Ross Finlayson in 108th place and then came Scott Dickson in 130th place (44th Vet).  Phil Parr-Burnham was next in 195th (93rd Vet) with Brian Wilson 198th (96th Vet) and our new member Kal Cave in 211th.

We definitely suffered a little due to the  school holidays and athletes being unavailable with incomplete teams in the under 11 and under 13 girls.  All the other teams were complete but we were still missing some athletes who will hopefully be available for the next league match at Alloa on November 22nd.

Well done to everyone who competed on the day especially to all the runners who did a cross country for the first time, there were a few of you today and we hope that you all enjoyed it.  Special mention to our individual winners Harry and Lauren and also to both the U15 boys and U15/17 girls teams who were the only teams to get into the top five on the day.

For full results click here 

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.