Scottish National Cross Country Race

It was strange not participating in a parkrun on Saturday, February 20 but as I had volunteered to do the web report, I couldn’t resist the urge to go along and watch the event. As I drove along I noticed a few early morning runners which put me in the mood for a run. It was good to see the winners of the parkrun finishing for a change and to see the efforts of those that normally finish around the same time as I do. I maid my way home, passing other runners and decided to go back to bed. Unfortunately I then lost the enthusiasm to race and thought about having a day off, before telling myself that I would still need to put in a training run anyway.

I made my way to Callander Park, Falkirk where I supported the Senior Women’s race before, eventually, meeting up with the other Killie Harriers. Although there were nine names down to run, only six of us had turned up on the day which meant that my performance would be one of the top six that count for the team points.

It was a cold but beautiful winter’s day, the sun was shining but the ground was a bit hard and I wasn’t sure if my spikes were the correct choice of footwear for the day. After a short warm up, I decided to wear my long sleeved vest under my Killie vest and headed to the start line in front of Callander House, where I joined around 450 other runners.

With little ado we were off and a mass of runners headed up the first hill. There were loads of excellent runners who raced away whilst I worked hard to settle into a decent pace. As we turned right and headed towards the frozen pond, I recognised a few runners that I knew were slightly better than me and was happy that we seemed to be running along together, however it wasn’t long until they left me behind. I tried to hang on to John Hagemeister for a wee while but he also left me. The route left the pond and followed the perimeter of the golf course on our left before a very steep fall down to a dry burn and back up the other side and along to our right back towards Callander House. My Garmin read 12 minutes so I knew that the first lap still had a lot more to endure as we veered off to the left and back uphill.

A sharp right turn and we were running along Antonine Wall, before a left turn took us down the mud bath which headed towards the finish line. Someone shouted “only another five miles to go” as I turned left and headed back uphill. It was a bit of a struggle but I managed to keep running and continued on my second lap. I could hear someone gasping for breath behind me and I wondered how he would keep going for another two laps. He was right behind me and tried to overtake me a couple of times but I held him off, using his work rate as motivation. Someone shouted “you’re doing well, work together” but as we left the frozen pond for the second time he overtook me and ran into the distance. I threw myself down to the dry burn and my momentum almost took me back up the other side. As I made my way back along towards the House,

I could hear people shouting “C’mon Cammy” repeatedly and although I didn’t know who was behind me, he did appear to be one of the most popular runners in the field as his support continued along the route before overtaking me and I recognised him as Inverclyde’s Cammy Spence.

As I ran along Antonine Wall towards the end of my second lap I could now hear calls of “C’mon Ali” and I thought “oh no not someone else.” I pushed it in and tried to pull away but the calls continued. I then noticed Shettleston’s Tsegezab Woldemichael passing by me on my left hand side, immediately followed by Ali Hay on my right hand side. It wasn’t long until they were joined by Derek Hawkins, Chris Powner and Dan Mulhare. As they sprinted towards the finish line, I veered to my left to ascend the hill for my third and last time. I knew that I would finish the race now and I was hoping to make up some time and catch a few runners. I could now hear people shouting my name and as I made my way around Claire McCracken, the Bella girls, Toni McIntosh, Jimmy and Sandra Irvine, Jim Buick, Chris Upson and others all provided vocal support.

I caught up with a brown shirted Hunter Bog Trotter who cried out “on you go” as I passed him.
A little further on and I caught a short guy who said “well done” as I past bye.

I’m not sure if I would have been as supportive to others but I was impressed by their courtesy.

I tried to run faster but my legs were heavy and I just couldn’t run as fast as I would have liked. As I turned right, I glanced over my shoulder and observed that there wasn’t anyone close to me. I focussed on catching up with those in front and as I narrowed the gap I could hear the calls of “C’mon Cammy”, so I targeted the Inverclyde runner as I made my way around the remainder of the course. He was racing against a Portobello runner and I was catching them albeit slowly. Any hope of catching the pair was scuppered with the mud bath which passed as the final straight. I did try really hard but it was heavy going underfoot and the gap was just too great. They crossed the finishing line together, some eight seconds ahead of me. My time was 59:04, which was far from great but I had guestimated that it would take me about an hour.

The Killie Captain, Connell Drumond, was waiting to congratulate me as I made my way to the end of the line of officials. I then noticed Bella’s Dougie McGregor crossing the line and we congratulated him before heading back to the other Killie Harriers for a quick chat before making our way home.

The published results revealed that I had placed 400th out of 447 finishers, not everyone had finished. As the sixth Killie Harrier my place actually counted and the team placed 20th, five better than the year previous. Although this was of course mostly due to the faster times of the other team members, my endeavours did help and I got a mention in the Kilmarnock Standard. There was no chance of me counting as a Bellahouston Road Runner

There was no medal, no goody bag, no fruit and no water but where else do you get the opportunity to join with the elite and compete in the most prestigious event of any sport. Would I do it again, you bet I would!


Pics by Kenny Phillips and Chris Upson

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