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Saturday, 16 March 2002
Runners from throughout the Western Isles converged on North Uist's west
coast at Hosta machair to contest the Western Isles Cross-Country Championships
that had been cancelled last year due to the foot and mouth outbreak. The
entry for the event was a massive 230 runners, a sizeable field that is rarely
matched by any other cross-country event in the north of Scotland!
A total of 13 age categories were contested, ranging from girls and boys under
9's to senior men and ladies.
The first race provided one of the closest finishes of the day as Olan Spears from Berneray and Andrew Currie of Carinish slogged it out across Hosta machair and a very long tough section of sand. Their tussle against a cold east wind in wet conditions eventually ended with a sprint to the line - Andrew coming out on top by a two second margin. Worthy of mention was third-placed Kieran Mulhearn. The plucky Harris runner had somehow managed to run as an under-11 in the recent Lewis and Harris series, but at Hosta ran in the correct age group, being rewarded with a bronze medal!
A win by Daliburgh's Nikki Kennedy in the girls' race was won a bit further back in the race from Stornoway Primary's Ailis Murray and Iona Matheson, also of Daliburgh.
One of the most impressive and convincing wins of the day was that of Lochmaddy's Laura Johnson, who was running for North Uist Amateur Athletic Club. Her pace over the course must have taken her competitors by surprise. Roma Macleod from Breasclete had won all her previous races in her first season, but could not match Laura's pace, but the Breasclete youngster can take comfort with her second place in the knowledge that Laura's winning time was equal to that of Steven Kennedy's winning time in the under-11 boys race! It seems Laura really enjoys her running!
NUAAC's U13 girls team have been very successful recently at both district and national level and only top performances by any of the visitors would have prevented a Uist clean sweep! The Nicolson's Eilidh Mackenzie had previously beaten Uist's Seonaid Caruthers at the North Schools championship, but the result was well reversed by Seonaid on her home turf. However, Eilidh did enough to prevent a clean sweep, finishing ahead of Kareen Currie, a past winner of the under-11 title.
If past results were anything to go by there was only going to be one winner in the boys U -13 race - SRAC's Jim Keenan. Clearly in confident mood, Jim soon got his head down to serious running and ate up the 3,000m in 13:56 one minute and 26 seconds ahead of Paible's John A. Macdonald.
If Uist had a clear ascendancy in the girls U-13 race, then Stornoway Running and Athletics Club looked set to dominate the U-15's categories. Murdo A. Mackenzie, Jason Macleod, and Jon Murray knew each other's strengths, but who would want to win the most? In the first of the 1,500m laps, a cautious pace of cat and mouse was followed by Murdo and Jason breaking away on the second lap. Into the third, they were neck and neck, and the race was eventually only decided in the last 30m with a two second advantage to Murdo.
An SRAC double was secured by Christy Macleod of Shawbost in the girls' race, as she was too strong for Paible's NUAAC pair Morina Macdougal and Sarah Johnson, after Morina had pushed early in the race.
A combined U-17, U-20 and senior race was the last of the day, and the spectators were treated to an excellent demonstration of smooth running by Scottish junior vest Ian MacCorquodale. Ian clocked the fastest time over the full senior distance of 6,000m, claiming the U-20 Western Isles title to add to his Scottish and British junior medals.
Adrienne Stewart recovered from a cold to win the senior ladies title, ahead of Meg Gordon and Sarah Banks. But this was not an easy victory and probably the closest race in the ladies event to date! SRAC's Gavin Earons also completed a Storn oway double by taking the senior men's title.
The fifth Western Isles Cross Country Championships were a great success thanks to the organisation of North Uist AAC and with such an impressive entry they could perhaps stake a claim to host the District Championships!
The event was also a success in terms of medal distribution with winners
from Daliburgh, Tarbert, Berneray, Carinish, Stornoway, Balivanich, Lochmaddy,
Paible, Scalpay and Breasclete.
UNDER-9 BOYS: 1-Andrew Currie (Carinish, N.Uist) 4:27: 2-Olan Spears (Berneray, N.Uist) 4:29: 3-Kieran Mulhearn (Sir E Scott) 4:37.
UNDER-9 GIRLS: 1-Nikki Renwich (Daliburgh) 5:10: 2-Ailis Murray (Stornoway
Pr.) 5:22: 3- Iona Matheson (Daliburgh) 5:25.
UNDER-11 BOYS: 1-Steven Kennedy (Balivanich NUAAC) 7:34: 2-Andrew Judd (Daliburgh)
7:35: 3-John Currie (Carinish NUAAC) 7:48.
UNDER-11 GIRLS: 1-Laura Johnson (Lochmaddy NUAAC) 7:34: 2- Roma Macleod (Breasclete)
8:18: 3-Karen Macrae (Scalpay) 8:25.
UNDER-13 BOYS: 1-Jim Keenan (Nicolson Inst.) 13:56: 2-John A. Macdonald (Paible)
15:30: 3-Ruairidh Stewart (Paible) 15:34.
UNDER-13 GIRLS: 1-Seonaid Carruthers (NUAAC) 16:09: 2- Eilidh Mackenzie (Nicolson
Inst.) 16:59: 3-Kareen Currie (Paible NUAAC) 17:23).
UNDER-15 BOYS: 1-Murdo A. Mackenzie (Nicolson Inst. SRAC) 20:21: 2-Jason
Maclean (Nicolson Inst. SRAC) 20:23: 3-Jonathon Murray (Nicolson Inst. SRAC)
21:35.
UNDER-15 GIRLS: 1-Chirsty Macleod (Lews Castle SRAC) 23:50: 2-Morina Macdougal
(Paible NUAAC) 24:44: 3-Sarah Johnson (Paible NUAAC) 27:54.
UNDER-17 BOYS: 1-Iain Maciver (Nicolson Inst.) 24:32: 2-Finlay Maclennan
(Sir E. Scott) 28:12.
UNDER-20 MALE: 1-Ian MacCorquodale (NUAAC) 24:13.
SENIOR MEN: 1-Gavin Earons (SRAC) 31:19: 2-Iain Macleod (North Uist) 36:56.
SENIOR LADIES: 1-Adrienne Stewart (Stornoway) 29:23: 2-Meg Gordon (SRAC)
30:24: 3- Sarah Banks (NUAAC) 30:57.