This seasons National Short Course Cross Country Championships took place at Lanark on 4 November. The conditions at Lanark were much better this year than in 2022 when it was wet, windy and miserable. This year we were lucky to have a dry and mild day.
Lasswade AC were well represented and had high hopes of winning a few medals both individual and team.
The first race of the day was the under 15 girls and Lasswade AC had a great turnout with five athletes , Cerys Wright, Freya Brown, Beth McWilliam, Isla Taylor and Emma Thomson. Cerys was at the head of the field in a battle with Lois MacRae of Inverness. It was a close race with Cerys just getting pipped in the final stage by one second to finish in 2nd place. There were great performances by team mates Freya Brown in 6th, Beth McWilliam 21st, Isla Taylor 24th and Emma Thomson 33rd.
Cerys, Freya and Beth won the team race – a fantastic start to the days races.
Next to toe the start line were the under 15 boys. We didn’t have a complete team in this race with only two athletes, Howie Allison and Aaden Robertson. It was a solid performance by Howie to finish inside the top 10 in 8th place with Aaden taking part in this event for the first time finishing 24th.
The under 17 ladies were next off and a late withdrawal due to injury meant we only had two athletes Bethan Kitchin and Eloise Scott. Both had strong runs with Bethan 31st and Eloise whose been concentrating more on shorter events over the summer finishing in 57th.
We had a strong team in the under 17 men, Andrew McWilliam, Innes Wright, Rowan Taylor and Laurence Ward and they were the next race. Andrew set off with a clear goal and was in a battle with Oliver Patton of Kilbarchan for much of the race but finally got the better of him over the final stages to win by four seconds. A fantastic race and third title of the year.
Great performances by Andrew’s team mates with Innes 7th, Rowan 11th and Laurence 42nd.
Andrew, Innes and Rowan won the silver team narrowly missing gold by one point.
We had one master in the ladies race with Alison Binns taking part in the race for the first time and finishing 234th overall.
We also had one master in the men’s race with Oscar Gomez Morillo in his first cross country season finishing 462nd.
Well done to all the athletes and congratulations to you all on your individual performances. It was fantastic to see the club so well represented and doing so well on the day.
For full results please click here
