National Cross Country Relays

National Cross Country Relays – Cumbernauld: 21st October 2023

With the bus not being able to leave Inverclyde for the Western Districts a couple of weeks ago due to horrendous flooding, a team of 33 runners turned out to represent the club this weekend at the National Cross-Country Relays at Cumbernauld.

The weather was perfect for running and with the course being quite muddy most of the way around, it was a good test of fitness.

In the first Senior race, winners for the Senior Ladies were the University of Edinburgh, finishing a full minute and a half ahead of Shettleston in a time of 58 minutes and 30 seconds. Glenpark’s Ruby McGill, representing Glasgow University’s Hare and Hounds ran the 3rd leg for their C team, finishing in a time of 18:01.

Winners for the Men for the 5th time in succession were Central AC, in a time of 50 minutes and 14 seconds, just under a minute ahead of Edinburgh University. Our Senior Men’s Champion Dylan Crawford, representing the University of Stirling, ran the 3rd leg in 14:11, finishing in 12th team place.

Masters Women

Best run of the day for the club in the Women’s competition came from the Master’s Ladies’ team which finished 9th out of the 17 clubs competing. Lorna Mitchell ran a gritty first leg finishing 11th in 19:45. Next out was Marian Monk who ran the fastest leg for the ladies with a time of 19:35. Vicki Smith then helped move the team up to 9th place with a time on 20:42.

The Masters B Team also had excellent performances, with Jill Aikman (20:36) and Marianne McKay (20:46) within ten seconds of each other. Jill finished in 14th place and Marianne held the team position with a strong run. Cheryl Thomas then moved up three places to secure 11th overall in a time of 21:24.

In the Ladies Masters C Team, Sarah Whalen (22:20), Lynsey Mooney (22:26) and Heather Lafferty (22:33) ran consistently throughout to help move their team up from 16th to 14th overall.

Women 50+

In the Women’s 50+ category, the ever-smiling Charlotte McKay (27:11) handed over to a very determined Eileen Stevenson (24:10). Eileen moved up one place before handing over to Helen Crawford. Helen managed to pull in the Garscube runner which helped secure the team a highly respectable 11th position.

Senior Women

In the Senior Women’s race, June Ann McKnight (29:37), Lynne Fulton (28:59) and Mary Robinson (29:19) didn’t manage to have enough counters to secure a team position, however they managed to move the club up from 62nd to 49th place overall.

Senior Men

Best run of the day came from Neil Lafferty in a time of 14:07. Despite falling badly at the start of the race, Neil finished the first leg in 37th place out of over 100 starters. Second leg runner Kyle Johnstone, fresh from a lifeguard examination at Arlington Baths in Glasgow, finished second fastest for the club in 14:29. Kyle helped move the team up 8 places in the process. Shaun Wiseman then ran a steady 16:23 on the third leg, handing over to Steven Campbell. Steven proceeded to run an excellent anchor leg of 15:26 bringing the Men’s team in in 37th place out of 100 teams.

In the Men’s B Team, first leg runner William Taylor (17:17) kept our 50+ first leg runner Gavin Morrison (16:23) in his sights for most of the race. Ultra-specialist Craig Hyslop (20:20) was next, handing over to Campbell Cromar (18:43) in 86th place. Campbell managed to move the team up 8 places to 78th, handing over to anchor leg runner Colin McKnight (17:14). Colin ran an excellent anchor leg by pulling in another 12 places to secure 66th place for the B team.

Men 50+

In the 50+ category, Gavin finished in 11th place. With strong runs from John Stevenson (17:27) and Stephen Harrison (17:02), the 50+ team secured the best result of the day for the club with 9th place out of 29 teams.

Men 40+

In the Masters 40+ race, one complete team comprised Euan Morrison (22:03), newbie Gerard Robertson (24:29), Stuart Crawford with his first run since his school days (21:25) and Frank McMahon (20:45). Frank, who ran the fastest leg for the team despite his elder years deserves a special mention. Excellent run Frank, well done!

Finally, due to an unfortunate call-off by Micky Dunn, the 2nd 40+ team finished in 20th place after the 3rd leg. First off was Gerry Gallacher (20:55), followed by Derek Mitchell (19:40) and finally Paul Meahan (20:47). The team moved up 4 places over the course of the race.

Next week it’s The Colin Shields road race on Saturday 28th October, starting at 2pm. This is a 4.5m race, starting from the junction of Murdieston St and Dunlop St. Runners will start in groups of two or three. We have 45 competitors so far. See the club’s Facebook page if you wish to enter. Registration closes on Wednesday 25th October.