Saturday 23 February 2008 - Scottish Athletics National Cross Country Championships, Falkirk.... 

Report by Arthur Smith....

Conor McNulty was the star of the show for Kilbarchan Athletic Club at Falkirk last weekend, when he won the National under 20s Cross Country Championship over a testing 8K trail round Callendar Park, in fine style. 19 year old Conor, has had some problems to contend with over the winter but he put all that behind him with a superb display, to clinch the National title. A group of four had broken away from the pack and with 800metres to go, Conor made a break and sustained the pace to the finish. In the chasing trio, clubmate Scott Hawkins who had always been with the leading group, showed great strength of character to come through in the last 150 metres to grab a splendid 2^nd place. There was great support from Paul Leck 8^th and Grant Higgins 10^th, which ensured winning the Team award.

In the under 17 boys race over 6.4K, Callum Hawkins just missed a medal, finishing in 4^th place but had the consolation of leading his team to the Gold Medal, with support from Stephen Fleming 12^th, Andrew McAlpine 15^th, and Nicky Emsley 24^th. The under 17 girls team won Silver medals with Natalie Sharp 9^th, Jessica Martin 10^th and Michelle Bell 19^th while the under 20 women just missed team medals with 41 points in an incredibly close competition where second team were just one point ahead, Kilbarchan team was Elspeth Curran 5^th, Christina Rankin 12^th and Nicole Treacy 24^th.

Former Champion and current Masters Champion Robert Quinn, was top Kilbarchan finisher in the Men's race over 12K. Despite giving away a lot of years to the younger contenders, Robert had a really good run to finish in 10^th place, a great performance in a field of over 400 runners. In the Ladies race over 8K, first Kilbarchan runner was Leanne Hamilton who ran a strong race for 24^th place and the team did well to finish 8^th, with Hannah Waugh 35^th and Karen Glendinning 48^th

In the younger age groups, there were no medals but Kate Gillies showed her potential with a strong run for an excellent 7^th place in the under 13 girls race. In the same race, Vanessa Hogan and Jenny Eadie ran well for 19^th and 22^nd positions and the team were 5^th.  Under 15 boys were 4^th in their team competition with Connor Henderson 27^th, Graham Evans 28^th, Calum Macleod 30^th and Simon Urie 36^th.

Over 1500 competitors, from all over Scotland, took part on the day with the Kilbarchan club having more than 60 runners. There is an award for the best overall club performance over the various races and Kilbarchan officials were delighted when the Club was awarded the runners up prize. Second best in Scotland is a superb achievement.