A Closer Look at the Dunbartonshires

Now that the results are available a closer look at the County Championships leaves a mix of feelings. The young athletes all did well although with just a few more there could have been a few more team prizes. The Under 11 Boys were third team with James Grant, Lewis Hay and Stephen Kane the heroes there. Not to be outdone the Under 11 Girls were also third team with Ciara Devaney, Rachel Campbell and Caitlin Stuart collecting the awards for the club. The Under 13 Girls were unfortunate that Kirsty Alexander was not well on the day - it happens to all of us at some point and she was brave enough to come out and race for the club. The other two girls were very good with Roisin McShea seventh and Rachel Busby eighth in a big field of runners. In the Under 13 Boys race, David Campbell ran bravely and was in second pace at the end of the first lap but fell away on the heavy going to finish a very good fifth. The Under 15 Boys were also third team with Tony Dolan, David Newton and a heroic Lewis Wood being the men who did the work. The only Under 15 girl to face the starter was Claire Reid who had a good solid run in conditions that maybe didn't suit her as well as the firmer and drier trails encountered so far had done but was a good fourth placer. The only club runner to finish higher than her fourth was Peter Bowman who was second in the Under 17 Men's race. It was a pity that neither had a team running with them since there was nt a single club finished a team in the U15 Girls race and only one club finished a team in the U17 Men's race.
The turnout in the Senior Men's and Women's races was disappointing. With 25 Senior Men and 7 Women taking part in the Winter League last year and 19 Men and 7 Women in the Summer League this year, to see only five men and one woman start the race had to be a disappointment from the club's point of view. I remember Billy Hislop saying fairly frequently that we as a club had to concentrate on the Dunbartonshire Championship because it was one where we could always win things. However having said that there was some very good running from those who did run. John Hanratty stood down at the bad corner where there was no real run in and the runners were on sticky mud sloping in two directions at once and took some sadistic pictures. Have a look at Marina and John on the pictures in the blog. Paul Carroll did his usual hard working job to lead the team home with Michael Diver having one of his good days not far behind with Gary Dick, despite having missed a chunk of training time through illness in twentieth of the 84 men who finished the race. John Foley was the fourth club counter and he handled the hill as well as anybody I think and Bobby Young was the final club runner in forty fifth place. Marina was a good seventh of the 31 finishers in the women's race. So - a day of mixed fortunes with the young ones collecting all the club medals!