Broxburn cross-country, 14 January

The Harriers’ racing for 2012 got off to a brisk start at the 3rd of the East District League cross-country meetings, held this time in Broxburn. Club captains Phil T and Ali M have been very active in chivvying folk into running these events, and for the first time in some years, we’re had full men’s and women’s teams at each of the three races. Phil and Rhian get extra brownie points for racing in each of the three events. The races have also been very well attended by the juniors in the assorted age categories.

The course at Broxburn seemed to be better used by the local dogwalkers than the local runners. It was mostly flat, or flattish, although there was one evil short and very muddy slope which certainly took the wind out of my sails on the 3rd lap. There was also a very cold wind, so running was in some ways to preferable to standing around getting cold. There was also quite a lot of enthusiastic shouting and support, and I think we’re vying with HBT for the noisiest supporters. I was particularly appreciative of Levi, who positioned himself at the penultimate corner about 400m from the finish, and was a very welcome sight on the last lap!

As always, many thanks to everyone who helped with these events, and particularly the parents who do the driving and don’t even get the satisfaction of running themselves.

Results were as follows:

Under 11 Boys – Levi Sweeney 27th; Kier McEwan 33rd; David Alexander 38th; Finlay Downie 46th; Huw Thomas 47th; Matthew Oates 49th. Team result 9th for the meeting, and 8th for the season

Under 11 Girls – Jessica Martin 31st. Since Jessica was the only runner at Broxburn, we got stung for penalty points and team result reflected this – 14th for the meeting, and 9th for the season

Under 13 Boys – Fraser Lindsay 41st; Andrew MacInnes 43rd; Christopher Martin 46th; Glen Hughes 50th. Team result 12th for the meeting, and 9th for the season

Under 13 Girls – Catriona Roberts 31st; Morgan Oates 37th; Sammy Wake 38th. Team result 6th for the meeting, and 4th for the season

Under 15 Girls – Maddy Watson 33rd. Maddy was the only runner at Broxburn, we got stung for penalty points again and team result reflected this – 18th for the meeting, and 16th for the season

Senior Women – Angela Mackenzie 25th; Rhian Evans 44th; Ali Manners 78th, Kirsty Mackay 90th. Team result 14th for the meeting, and 10th for the season

Senior Men – Andy Greaves 89th; Phil Tipping 105th; Digby Sym 109th; Phil Mestecky 144th; Tony Wayte 177th; Gordon Morrison 189th; Al Nicholl 200th; Jeff Sweeney 214th; Allan McInnes 216th. Team result 22nd for the meeting, and 17th for the season

Once all the team results are collated together, we ended up with the Girls and Women’s team finishing 7th overall, and the Boys and Men finished 10th overall.