Rescheduled West District XC Championships 2010 - 16 Jan 2011

I’ve never had the pleasure of participating in this prestigious event before and I couldn’t have run it on its original date of 4 December 2010. Although I wasn’t feeling great, I did have an 8-10mile training run scheduled. A 10k cross country, a warm-up and a warm-down, could be a good alternative. The race is also part of the Kilmarnock Harriers Championships, so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to run my 8th race in 16 days.

I headed down to the first school that Edgar Allen Poe had attended and then onto Irvine Moors, where the junior races were already underway. It was a great opportunity to meet so many running buddies before the start of the senior races. I warmed up during the Women’s event and supported as many runners that I could on their way around their two lap course.




Elspeth Leads from the Front -pic by Chris Upson

  Women’s Race
Early leader Elspeth Curran was the star of the day and increased her lead significantly as the race progressed. Her young Kilbarchan compatriot, Natalie Sharp, had a much better race than she had the week before, at Edinburgh, to finish second and first U20, with Christina Rankin just behind her in third place. (Decent performances by Leanne Hamilton and Hannah Waugh ensured that the Kilbarchan AAC team took Gold). Springburn’s Danielle Brown earned fourth spot, Beth Duff of East Kilbride took fifth and Kilmarnock’s Kara Tait, continued her excellent form to place sixth, ahead of Springburn’s Michele Sandison; Garscube’s Lesley Chisholm and CoG/Victoria Park’s Claire McCracken.

Top Ten
1 322 Elspeth Curran Kilbarchan AAC Sen 00:22:57
2 320 Natalie Sharp Kilbarchan AAC U-20 00:23:50
3 323 Christina Rankin Kilbarchan AAC Sen 00:23:58
4 363 Danielle Brown Springburn Harriers Sen 00:24:13
5 283 Beth Duff East Kilbride A.C. U-20 00:24:31
6 334 Kara Tait Kilmarnock H&AC Sen 00:24:46
7 359 Michelle Sandison Springburn Harriers Sen 00:24:53
8 292 Lesley Chisholm Garscube Harriers Sen 00:25:01
9 376 Claire McCracken VP-Glasgow AC Sen 00:25:02
10 355 Debbie Cox Shettleston Harriers Sen 00:25:07

Bernie leads Nat and Annmarie towards the Finish Line 

Race within a Race
There was a real tussle taken place further down the field where Kilmarnock’s Paula Wilson was battling against Bellahouston Harriers’ Suzanne Mcmahon, Bernie O’Neil and Erica Christie, Bella road Runner Claire Wharton; Clydesdale’s Kath Scott and Marina McCallum (who arrived just as the race started); and Troon’s Natalie Fleming, who seemed to be running the race of her life. The large group exchange positions a number of times during the race and finished:

26 271 Claire Wharton Bellahouston Road Runners Vet 00:27:41
27 257 Bernadette O'Neil Bellahouston Harriers Vet 00:27:42
28 370 Natalie Fleming Troon Tortoises AC Sen 00:27:43
29 1013 Annmarie McCaffrey Kirkintilloch Olympians Sen 00:27:51
30 1014 Clare Hughes Motherwell AC Sen 00:27:52
31 1009 Neah Evans Glasgow Univ H & H Sen 00:27:58
32 312 Erica Cromar Helensburgh AAC Vet 00:28:01
33 333 Paula Wilson Kilmarnock H&AC Vet 00:28:08
34 280 Kathryn Scott Clydesdale Harriers Vet 00:28:10
35 382 Sarah Potter VP-Glasgow AC U-20 00:28:18
36 282 Marina McCallum Clydesdale Harriers Sen 00:28:18
37 261 Suzanne McMahon Bellahouston Harriers Sen 00:28:21
38 368 Clare Gemmell Springburn Harriers Vet 00:28:22
39 287 Heather McIntosh Garscube Harriers Vet 00:28:26
40 258 Erica Christie Bellahouston Harriers Vet 00:28:33

Chris Upson's pics here.

Men’s Race
An intimidating one hundred and ninety two runners, including many of the country’s finest athletes, lined up for the start of the men’s race. I shook hands with a few buddies, made my way towards the back of the field and with almost no warning, the gun sounded and we were off. The men’s race was the same course as the women’s but rather than running it twice, we had the bonus of an additional lap, making the total distance 10k.

Chasing after Keith Gibb

It wasn’t long until the field had spread out and we settled down to running our own individual races. I was pleasantly surprised when my Garmin advised me that I had run the first kilometre in 4:20 and the second one in 4:22. The third one was a bit slower, at 4:34, but I, initially, put this down to the undulating course. However I soon realised that I was tired and lacking in motivation, despite the fantastic support I was receiving around the course. The fourth kilometre took me 4:42 and the fifth 4:40. When the sixth took me 4:53, I decided that I should get a grip. Despite believing that I was working harder the next kilometre still took me 4:48. I had been overtaken by a few runners that I would normally expect to beat, or at least put up a strong fight with, but I was still having a tussle with Bellahouston RR Keith Gibb (a decent runner who has completed the Glasgow parkrun in 20:18) and Westerland’s Peter Grassl (an unknown quantity). I was even more disappointed that the next kilometre took 4:49 and the penultimate one wasn’t much better at 4:44. I did raise my game for the last kilometre, catching Keith almost straight away and gaining ground on Peter. With about 200m to go I was snapping at the heels of Peter, however he heard the crowd roaring me on and sprinted towards the line, to finish six seconds ahead of me in 44:25. I was pleasantly surprised with my time of 44:31 (169th). Keith had responded well to the challenge and finished just two seconds behind of me. Giffnock North’s Martin Myant placed 173rd with a time of 44:57.

Elite Race
Up front the elite runners had battled it out with Inverclyde’s Craig Ruddy earning Gold, ahead of Shettleston’s Paul Sorrie and Lachlan Oates (first U20). Perhaps the most improved runner on display was Stuart Gibson who placed fourth and third senior. His excellent performance was the post-race ‘talk of the steamie’*, although it should have come as no surprise to readers of this blog. With strong performances from Jethro Lennox; Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab; Michael Deason and Matthew Sullivan, there was no surprise at Shettleston winning the Team prize.

Top Ten
Pos No Name Club M/F Cat Time
1 806 Craig Ruddy Inverclyde AC Sen 00:30:38
2 922 Paul Sorrie Shettleston Harriers Sen 00:30:48
3 935 Lachlan Oates Shettleston Harriers U-20 00:30:50
4 898 Stuart Gibson Ron Hill Cambuslang Harriers Sen 00:31:02
5 916 Jethro Lennox Shettleston Harriers Sen 00:31:17
6 827 David Millar Irvine AC Vet 00:31:19
7 971 David Vernon VP-Glasgow AC U-20 00:31:28
8 921 Tewoldeberhan Mengisteab Shettleston Harriers Sen 00:31:36
9 836 Robert Quinn Kilbarchan AAC Vet 00:31:41
10 929 Michael Deason Shettleston Harriers Sen 00:31:44

Kilmarnock Harriers
Iain Connell was the first Harrier home in 33rd position, followed by Scott Martin in 67th and Connell Drummond in 78th. A strong team performance saw Richard Skillen; Murray McDonald and Harald Bartl finishing one after the other, despite Murray having to recover from a fall.  I completed the team, finishing 169th.

33 Iain Connell Vet 00:33:42
67 Scott Martin Vet 00:36:16
78 Connell Drummond Sen 00:36:55
142 Richard Skillen Sen 00:41:29
143 Murray McDonald U-20 00:41:33
144 Harald Bartl Vet 00:41:34
169 Ian Goudie Vet 00:44:31

Full Results

Pics from Kenneth Phillips

Down Memory Lane
I popped into the Smugglers Inn, Stewarton on the way home and caught up with some old pals before heading back up to Glasgow.

*The 'steamie' was the name given to the communal wash-house that was common in urban Scotland in the 1950s. The phrase has survived into contemporary Scottish speech - when something is "the talk of the steamie" it's the talk of the town, the word on the street.