Stornoway Running and Athletics Club
North District Cross Country Championships 2006
SRAC made a big impact last Saturday at the North District Cross Country Championships in Nairn, returning with four individual gold medals, one silver and one bronze! SRAC also had more success in the team events (three “counters”), winning two gold medals and one silver!
The first race of the day was a combined field of under 11 girls and boys from throughout the district and it was encouraging to see the organisers continue to involve this development age group in the championships. Under coaching advice the three young Stornoway athletes Campbell MacDonald and brother’s Allan and Angus Murray sprinted to the front of the field in the first fifteen metres to avoid being caught up at a narrow bottleneck that may have slowed their progress! Right after the narrowing the runners were right into a sandy incline to immediately test their strength. It was a leg sapping start that didn’t get any easier as it led to the beach where the course continued for the next 300 metres. But there was more to the challenge of the course as it alternated form the beach to the top of the machair (links) involving climbs and descents of the sand dunes. At this point the SRAC threesome were moving clear of the field and on moving onto the grass and footpaths on the return to the finish line they were even further ahead. At the line Campbell out-sprinted Allan by about five metres and wee brother Angus wasn’t far behind to take a clean sweep, much to the appreciation of the SRAC enturach! But could things continue as started so well by the youngsters?
Within minutes of their clean sweep the under 13 girls were lined up waiting for the starters gun. In the early stages of the race Uist’s Fiona Morrison led the race with the chasing pack keeping her within their target sights at a slightly more economical pace. The chasing pack worked together led by Holly MacIver, SRAC, Emma Dunnet, Caithness, Ailis Murray, SRAC and Tyler MacLean, a SRAC runner only three weeks ago but now in Inverness colours. Emma may have been the pre race favourite, having won all the opening races of the North league, which neither SRAC or Uist can practically attend. But coming into the last 300 metres Holly led the Dunned twins with Ailis and Tyler close behind and the final push for the medal place was on! Dunnet not used to defeat was outran by her Stornoway rival in a close finish and SRAC had its second win of the day! Holly’s former club mate Tyler then out sprinted Oonagh Dunnet to take third place by one second with Ailis only three second behind placing sixth. Rebecca Munro also had a fine run having injured her ankle mid way through the race, but finished in thirteenth place to ensure SRAC took team silver only two points behind Caithness.
In the boys under 13 race SRAC were even more dominant with six runners in the top ten finishers! SRAC’s Robert Jones led the race from start to finish and never really looked under pressure, though the all the challenging pack gave their best to close him down. The quiet man of the SRAC team clearly does his talking with his feet and running spikes! Uileam Lawson missed third place behind Patrick Urquhart of Inverness Harriers by only three seconds and Calum Robertson also had a fine run in sixth place to make the boys event an individual and team gold double!
In one the most exciting and closest races of the day Robbie Gregg had a gutsy run that saw him place fifth after leading the race for some time. However each race is a learning experience and Robbie certainly will be back on another day to try to improve on his fifth place! Top SRAC place in the girls race went to Jane MacIver again a fifth place and six seconds outside the medals. But perhaps top performance for the girls team that secured SRAC’s second team medal was by Ceit Stewart. Ceit placed tenth, one place behind team mate Kirsty Munro, which will ensure close rivalry in the upcoming local cross county series!
The Western Isles medal success then continued with North Uist AAC taking a double individual silver in the under 17 race through Iain F MacDonald and Laura Johnson. Both put in great finishes to take their silver medals, Laura out kicked Shetland’s Jenny Richardson by two seconds and Iain in an even closer sprint finish took his silver ahead of Moray’s Kenny Wilson, though the pair were given the same finishing time! The Uist medal tally doubled as they also won gold in both under 17-team events.
The final medal-winning run of the day for the island teams came through Andrew Keggs MacKenzie, who looked steady throughout the race. Keggs was SRAC’s leading men’s team runner and his win was very convincing as he clocked a two-minute advantage over his nearest rival! Unfortunately SRAC had only Gordon MacDonald, Bom MacKay and Andy McMahon taking part in the senior race and therefore were unable to register a team placing. Gordon ran the faster of the three finishing in the top half of the field with Andy and Bom finishing together a minute behind. All three however did have the best support with the young SRAC runners cheering them at every vantage point!
The success of the trip follows on the back of dedication to regular training at club sessions on Tuesdays and Saturdays, congratulations to all taking part that were a credit to the club.
A Tupper
Results
Under 11 Boys
1 Campbell MacDonald. 2 Allan Murray 3 Angus Murray all SRAC
Girls U-13
1. Holly MacIver SRAC 10mins 15
2 Emma Dennett Caithness 10mins 17
3 Tyler MacLean Inverness 10mins 37
6. Ailis Murray SRAC 10mins 40
13. Rebecca Munro SRAC 11mins.35
17. Catriona MacKay SRAC 12mins 05
19. Madeline Reedy SRAC 12mins 10
26. Sarah MacKay SRAC 13mins 50
Boys U-13
1. Robert Jones SRAC 9mins 15
2. Moray Goodfellow Moray 9mins 20
3. Patrick Urquhart Inverness 9mins 23
4. Uileam Lawson SRAC 9mins 26
6. Calum Robertson SRAC 9mins 28
7. Josh Sinclair SRAC 9mins 28
8. Calum Lawson SRAC 9mins 31
9. Mark Logue SRAC 9mins 31
12. Sean MacLeod SRAC 10mins 06
16. Mike Paton SRAC 10mins 37
21. Ross MacDonald SARC 11mins 42
Girls U-15
1. Gemma Cormack Elgin 12mins 40
2. Eleanor Duncan Forres 13mins 10
3. Keyleigh Jarrett Elgin 13mins 59
5. Jane MacIver SRAC 14mins 07
10. Kirsty Munro SRAC 14mins 57
11. Ceit Stewart SRAC 15mins 11
23. Sarah Finlayson SRAC 19mins 06
Boys U-15
1. Chris Fife Inverness 12mins 14
2. Tom Moncrieff Shetland 12mins 31
3. Bobby Bristow Shetland 12mins 33
5. Robbie Gregg SRAC 12mins 40
18 Robert Smith SRAC 14mins 33
U-17 Men
1. Grant Cameron Forres 23mins 29
2. Iain MacDonald NUAAC 23mins 33
3. Kenny Wilson Moray 23mins 33
8. Calum Smith SRAC 26mins 09
9. Stuart Chalmers SRAC 26mins 09
U-20 Men
1. Andrew MacKenzie SRAC 41mins 17