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| Press Releases - Monday 13 October 2008 |
| There was a lot of drama at the West District Cross Country Championships at Irvine Moor last Saturday, with Kilbarchan Athletic Club very much involved in the chase for medals.
In the women's 3x4K race, Shettleston Harriers took an early lead with Elspeth Curran, running the best club time of the day, 14 minutes 35 seconds to put Kilbarchan right up in contention. On the second leg, triathlete Karen Glendinning quickly moved into the lead though was being chased hard by the Victoria Park Glasgow athlete leaving a gap of only 40 meters at the change over. Natalie Sharp maintained the gap for ¾ of a mile but was then passed by the Glasgow athlete and the Springburn athlete was closing fast. With 500m to go, Natalie was passed and it looked all over. However with her supporters urging her on, Natalie found something extra, came back level and in a desperate finish, grabbed back second place by inches to give the team a great result. The B team of Louise Manson, Lynsey Curran and Karen Yule, also competed well to finish in 5th place.
In the Men's race, nothing was going to stop Shettleston Harriers, who with their inclusion of several Eritrean World Championship athletes, have been carrying all before them this year. Evergreen Robert Quinn gave Kilbarchan a good start and Derek Hawkins took over in second place. Derek ran the fastest club time of the day, 12 minutes 22 seconds but had to yield second place to Inverclyde’s Chris MacKay who ran the fastest overall time of the day. On the third and 4th legs, Scott Hawkins and Paul Leck had to work hard to maintain that position, which they did to earn well deserved Bronze medals. The B team of Fraser Williams, Calum Morrison, Tom Hearle and John McMillan were also prominent finishing 8th.
Kilbarchan finished 7th in both the boys and the girls relays, good performances but just not quite getting into medal contention. The Boys team was Chris McStay, Matt Wild and Stephen Fleming and the girls, Kirsty Harper, Kate Gillies and Elaine Eadie.
Kilbarchans junior Hill Runners were also in action on Sunday with the Home International Hill race Championships at Bonaly near Edinburgh.
In the under 19 girls race, Jessica Martin was 4th and 3rd Scot and Christina Rankin was 8th, Scotland winning the team award
This coming Saturday, the Renfrewshire County Cross Country Championships are at Linwood, with competing clubs including Kilbarchan, Giffnock North, Bellahouston Harriers, Bellahouston Road Runners, Greenock Glenpark Harriers, Inverclyde AC and Strathclyde Police AC.
Arthur M Smith Monday 13 October 2008 |
