News Report weekended 3rd November

On Saturday was the annual Clydesdale Harriers Presentation Night which took place in Clydebank Town Hall.
It was the chance for athletes and coaches to be recognised for their hard work during the previous year through competition in road, cross country, hill and track and field. Everyone had a great time with many young and old being awarded prizes.

The previous weekend was the National Cross Country Relays at Cumbernauld. This was a tough course with everyone tested with many hills to navigate. First to run were the Young Females who were running 2500m each. We had four teams one incomplete. ‘A’ team had Natasha Shaw running first (12.32), changing to Tiegan Breen (12.30), changing to Abbie Warrington (12.16). They finished as 54^th team overall in 37.18. ‘B’ team had Jade Steele-Milne running first (12.21), changing to Antonia Breen (13.03), changing to Eilidh Sinclair (13.59). They finished as 67^th team in 39.23. ‘C’ team had Caitlin Stuart running first (13.33), changing to Rachel Campbell (13.57), changing to Louise Steele-Milne (14.56), finishing as 81^st team in 42.26. Incomplete ‘D’ team had Chloe Allan running first (13.38), changing to Sarah Goggins (13.47).

The Young Males had six teams, two incomplete. ‘A’ team had Robert Whitlock running first (10.48), changing to Brian Aird (10.06), changing to Lewis Hay (10.33), finishing as 53^rd team in 31.27. ‘B’ team had Ronan Ross running first (11.18), changing to Liam Milligan (11.20), changing to Darren Dolan (11.29), finishing as 75^th team in 34.07. ‘C’ team had Cairn Wallace running first (12.06), changing to Darren Carruthers (11.37), changing to Philip Allan (11.02), finishing as 81^st team in 34.45. ‘D’ team had Luke Lindup running first (12.32), changing to Stephen Kane (12.27), changing to Joe McCreadie (13.32), finishing as 89^th team in 38.31. Incomplete ‘E’ team had Harry Bothwick running first (11.46), changing to Kieran Goggins (13.52). Incomplete ‘F’ team had Thomas Hearns running first (12.37).

Next race was the Senior/Junior/Masters Women. They were each running 4000m. We had two teams, one incomplete. This proved to be an exciting race with the women narrowly missing out on a Scottish Athletics Bronze medal in the Masters team competition which was taking place within the normal overall team competition. ‘A’ team had Pamela McCrossan running first in an excellent 16.41, changing to Anne Murray (17.44), changing to Marina McCallum (17.52). There was only 15 seconds separating them at the end from a Masters medal – an excellent result considering it was a national competition and we were up against some of the best teams in the country. They finished as 31^st team overall in 52.17. Incomplete ‘B’ team had Claire Reid running well to finish in 19.44.

Finally it was the turn of the Senior/Junior/Masters Men. We had four teams competing. One was a normal team, the other three were Over 50 teams.  Some of the finishing times were inaccurate through timing errors at the finish, though it didn’t affect the overall standings. ‘A’ team had Paul Carroll running first (14.26), changing to Ryan Nelson (16.33), changing to Michael Diver (14.500, changing to Iain Robertson (15.18), finishing as 54^th team overall in 61.10. ‘B’ team had Hugh Laverty running first (16.30), changing to Paul McKendry (16.47), changing to Gerry Montgomery (16.13), finishing as 7^th Over 50 team in 49.41. ‘C’ team had Pete Cartwright running first (17.48), changing to Dewar Stewart (17.35), changing to Bobby Young (18.20), finishing as 14^th Over 50 team in 53.43. ‘D’ team had Gerry Kane running first (18.25), changing to Watson Jones (19.49), changing to Peter Rudzinski (19.54), finishing as 17^th Over 50 team  in 58.08.

The weekend before Hugh Laverty travelled to Majorca to run in the Palma Half Marathon finishing in 1.31.22 and 2^nd vet over 55.

Next weekend is the 4k Short Course Cross Country Championships at Bellahouston Park for some of the harriers.

Marina McCallum

Press Officer