National Championships

It was a glorious day at Falkirk for the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Bright, sunny, a bit cold but nothing like recent freezing weather and an eminently runnable trail all made for good racing and the biggest turn out for several years. We as a club could have done with more runners on the start line but those who came all ran well up to their ability and the club should be pleased and proud of them. In the senior men's race the runners from the club totalled seven, we could have done with more but never mind, and after Gary Dick had to pull out injured we still had a counting team. The women were represented by Marina and Kath who seem to be the only ones prepared to race in the District or National Championships but four were needed to make a team. In a field where 186 women finished the course the girls were 66th and 86th - over 100 women behind them! Peter Bowman ran well in his race but was disappointed to be out of the top 20 - never mind Peter you will improve as time passes and many of those in front are pretty well guaranteed to drop out of the sport. A sad but true reflection on the sport! Less than 10% of those competing at Under 15 level survuve to the Senior Ranks. How's that for a statistic? Claire Reid did her usual solid run and with more experience and maybe some hard parkruns she should surely improve for next year. She could also have done with a couple of team mates - where were Kirsty and Dianne? There were two Under 20's running - Ryan Savage ran well but is currently concentrating on the 400 metres (although he missed the race in the Kelvin Hall in Sunday), David Brown dropped out and Ryan Nelson was stewarding at Celtic Park. With Rachel out ill Roisin was the only runner in the Under 13 race and was 63rd out of 113 athletes who finished. David Campbell again started a bit slowly but time will improve that and he can be happy with his fitness after the cross country season satisfied that he is in good shape for the summer season. Tony Dolan and Lewis Wood each had solid enough runs but it was unfortunate that club champion Connor Ewing was away playing football on the day.
In fact fourthe club champions from last week missed the National Championships for one reason or another.
Peter Rudzinski is the example to us all - I think it is 28 National Championships and a finisher in every one of them. Several times he has been a counter and without him there have been many occasions when Clydesdale Harriers Senior Men would not have finished a team. Placings in the National to a large extent decide how a club is regarded in the wider field of Scottish Athletics and placings in the National are decided by numbers. For some years now the numbers of club representatives in these races has been low. We need to do something about it whether it means recruiting new athletes or using the current members more appropriately for next year. I should say that it is not just a CH problem - I was speaking to a guy from an Eastern club on Saturday who had a team member out shopping with is wife (on the day of the National???) and another on holiday (on National day???) That doesn'r of course alter the fact that we do have a problem. Well at least those who were there all had a good time!