Saturday 8th November 2025
Hundreds of athletes headed to Lanark for another edition of the Lindsays Short Course XC event. The flat and fast course, along with decent weather conditions, made for an excellent day of racing. The vast majority of those pulling on spikes may well have been unaware they were following in the footsteps of history, as it was at Lanark Racecourse that the Scottish National Cross Country was born… 139 years ago, way back in 1886.
Only two clubs finished in a men’s race that day, Edinburgh Harriers and Clydesdale Harriers, but the seed had been planted and on Saturday once again clubs, coaches and athletes engaged in cross country action in a national championship context. There were no fewer than 1250 names on the start lists and, while the Senior categories were down, there were rises on the previous year in both U15 races and the U17 Men.
National XC is always a very tough race but we were delighted to have two Harriers gaining National Medals – Michael McLoone was first by one second to take Gold in the Men’s V60, while Charlotte McKay put in a great run to take silver in the ladies V70.
JUNIOR RACES
- Orla Trainer went out in the U15 category and recorded a creditable time of 8:57 in the shorter distance.
- Kieran Mullan (13:41) and Daniel Masalkis (15:01) went out for the U17 boys
SENIOR LADIES RACE
- Lorna Mitchell (17:45)
- Jill Aikman (19:21)
- Lynne Harrison (19:27)
- Helen Crawford (23:03)
- Charlotte McKay (24:30) – silver medal V70
SENIOR GENT’S RACE
- Stephen Trainer (12:55)
- Oliver Reilly (14:19)
- Daniel Doherty (14:50)
- Michael McLoone (15:15) – gold medal V60
- Stephen Harrison (16:23)
- Alan O’Rourke (17:50)
- Paul Meahan (18:30)
- Stuart Crawford (19:35)
A huge thank you to all those supporting the Lindsays National Cross Country Season and the Scottish Athletics national championship events.