Posted in News, Race Reports on Dec 07, 2021
⛰ On Saturday, the West District Cross Country Championship returned in style to the hilly Balloch Country Park. It is hard to forget the demanding course and the challenging conditions of 2019 as they have become long-standing talking points in the club over the last couple of years. However, time is a great healer, and a total of 41 Harriers signed up for the Balloch challenge this year! 😍
🏃 First up was Lexie Speirs, running in the Under 13 girls race (3.2K), closely followed by Stephanie Baird in the girls Under 15 event (4K). Both ran well on the challenging course and were cheered on by many Harriers on the side lines, including our Junior Head Coach, Tony Coyne. Well done Girls 🤩!
🏃 Next up was the Senior Women's race – 2 Loops of the 8.5K Balloch course that could be described as both arduous and challenging (amongst other things)! The four-team counters were led home by Kristina Greig in 39th place, followed very closely in 40th place by Emma Rogerson. The third finisher for the club was Katherine Hylands in 42nd place whilst Marianne Wilson finished in 49th.
👏🏻 The club’s ladies team finished in 7th place, and the club's masters team of Marianne Wilson. Claire McCormick and Claire Fitzimmons were 8th. Well done, ladies! Congratulations to Sally Mclintock on her first XC for the club (you will not forget that one quickly), and well done to all the other women members - you were ALL fantastic! ✨
🏃 The day's final event saw Matt O'Connor have an impressive first run for the club to finish in a remarkable 21st place, closely followed by Jack Arnold in 25th. Darren McQuade crossed the line in 42nd, followed by Scott Mason in 59th and Stuart Miller in 62nd. Lee Shaw, one of the club’s new members, was the final club counter in 93rd, which helped the men's team finish 6th out of the 15 competing teams. The master's team of Scott Mason, Frank Gilroy, and Iain Morrison were 12th out of 21. Some very strong runs from a lot of our men - well done all! 🙌🏻
🏴 Balloch saw the club’s biggest turnout for a cross country since the beginning of the pandemic and demonstrated that members are keen to compete in the cross country, no matter the weather or the course.
📷 Photos. Bobby Gavin, members and family.
