Friday 28 October 2011

Scottish National Cross Country Relay Championships, 22nd October 2011

The latest relay took us to Cumbernauld Park for the Scottish National Cross Country Relay. This was the one where a below par West District performance relegated me to the B team last year where I totally muddled up the apple cart by clocking the club's fastest time of the day. Conditions were drier this year but with a fairly gusting wind to keep it interesting.

For an afternooon, Cumbernauld Park is taken over by hundreds of folk huddled under trees and in tents and racing. I saw some of the women's race unfold. Sarah Hood of Edinburgh AC, who trains with us at the track on a Monday, kept close order with Hunters Bog Trotters A and B teams in the lead. Keeping such order proved decisive for her club as Edinburgh took the gold medals ahead of Fife AC and the aforementioned Bog Trotters A team. The women's team from my former club, Calderglen Harriers, are slowly gaining prominence, finishing 35th from 73 teams following their silver medal haul at the Lanarkshire Road Relay. A settled line up of Julie Beveridge, Frances Maxwell and Joanne McEvoy is paying off. We had no team this time with our mainstays so far, young Katie Bristow and Lucy Deeny, having a well earned break after 3 relays in consecutive weeks.

We lined up with 4 and a half mens teams for the 4 x 4km relay. The initial cavalry charge actually saw Stewart Orr and Andrew Coulter take an early lead before things settled down. Michael Gillespie and David Vernon (13:03 each) ran  storming legs for Shettleston and VP City of Glasgow respectively to bring these clubs in ahead of the chasing pack. Stewart kept us in touch in 6th with Andrew bringing the B team through 11th. It was becoming an unpredictable race at the front with Sean Fontana (13:30) taking VP City of Glasgow into pole position under strong pressure from Alex Hendry of Central (13:03), Thomas Fay of Shettleston (13:46) and Andrew Douglas of Inverclyde (13:26). Admittedly, we were falling slightly out of medal contention, 16 seconds behind 3rd place by the end of leg 2, but Jack Hamilton's time of 13:37 gave me plenty to chase on leg 3. Iain MacCorquodale brought the B team into the top 10.

VP City of Glasgow, Central, Shettleston, Inverclyde and Cambuslang set off in that order, one after the other in single file. Paul Sorrie (Shettleston) and Mark Pollard (Inverclyde) were my nearest targets and I set off out the start pen up the first hill in pursuit. In relays, only the first leg runners really get a true race against others. After that, it depends. I was on my own but close enough to do something. I felt strong on my way round and was moving well. I think I did actually gain ground on Sorrie and Pollard. However, they were together, working off each other which I think is key. I was more distant and just didn't get close enough to see the whites of their eyes. Further ahead, VP's medal challenge faltered as Ethan Sloan-Dennison was caught by John Newsom of Central plus Pollard and Sorrie. I faltered a bit in the final kilometre up hill and round woodland into the finish, coming through in 13:28 compared to 13:21 for Pollard and 13:27 for Sorrie. I did gain 20 seconds on VP, allowing Robert Gilroy to finish the job on leg 4 to earn us 4th for the second consecutive year. Cambuslang last won a senior medal in this in 2003. They are hard to come by. David Munro gained another 2 places for the B team and Jamie Reid climbed another one to give them 7th.

Giving chase. Photo courtesy of Kenny Phillips.

Inverclyde won the race following a blistering effort from an in form Craig Ruddy on leg 4 (12:55) while Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab overhauled Ross Houston in the home straight to give Shettleston silver ahead of Central, both teams being credited with the same time. A photo finish after 16km of racing. Our Vets team defended their title, taking gold and 20th overall and our D team were 40th.

In conclusion, while not a poor performance, I feel my personal report card reads "room for improvement." The National 4km Cross Country is on 5th November. A head to head will be a different story from a relay where everyone is running at different times in varying conditions. I'm also entered for the Strathaven Striders Run With the Wind 10k the next day. I'll gauge how my legs feel after the cross country before committing to that for sure. The club matched its performance of a year ago and also had 3 athletes- myself, Stewart and Jack-  in the top 20 times compared to one in 2010 and, with Iain MacCorquodale, 4 in the top 30. Plenty more to come this winter hopefully.

Cambuslang Harriers Mens Results

A Team
6th: Stewart Orr, 13:28
5th: Jack Hamilton, 13:37
5th: Stuart Gibson, 13:28
4th: Robert Gilroy, 13:55
B Team
11th: Andrew Coulter, 14:03
10th: Iain McCorquodale, 13:53
8th: David Munro, 14:10
7th: Jamie Reid, 13:57

C Team- Vets gold medallists
42nd: Alan Ramage, 15:15
29th: Kenny McPherson, 14:45
20th: Kerry Wilson, 14:14- fastest Vet
20th: Michael O'Hagen, 15:15
D Team
47th: Dean McNaught, 15:22
30th: Gordon Robertson, 14:40
36th: Scott Hunter, 16:11
40th: Stephen Paris, 16:37

E Team
Thomas McPake, 18:42
Zac Hunter, 20:23

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