National cross-country championships, Falkirk, 18 Feb

A smaller-than-planned contingent of Harriers made their way to Falkirk on Saturday for the national cross-country championships. These championships are where we get to mix with real athletes – for example, Freya Murray, running in the women’s race, was just back from warm weather training at altitude in Kenya, prior to her debut at the London marathon, where she’s hoping to meet the Olympic standards time. So she’s quite good!

Unfortunately, injuries to Will and Gordon prevented the men from fielding a full-strength, and roadworks almost prevented Rhian making it on time – made it to the start line with seconds to spare, but not enough time to don the new team socks!

Sol was running in the under-13 boys race, and came a very impressive 26th, out of a field of 99. This came just a few days after his 3rd place at the Perthshire schools cross-country championships at Perth racecourse.

For the women, Wendy was first to finish, in 59th position, followed by Kerry (85th), Rhian (106th) and Liz (204th), in a total field of 234 runners. The race was won for the sixth consecutive time by Freya Murray.

By the time the men ran, the weather was improving – still cold, but the snow flurries had passed, and the sun was out – but the course was very churned up, with lots of very sticky mud, and there were a few cases of shoes being left behind in the mud. Andy was first Harrier to finish in 194th position, followed by Phil T (318th), Phil M (346th) and me (361st), in a total field of 505 runners. I did keep getting glimpses of Phil, and at one point at the start of the 3rd lap I did think I’d be able to catch him, but the mud was dragging the energy from my legs and in the end, I didn’t really close the gap. However, I did avoid being lapped, which was a small consolation.

For once, we were out-noised by HBT, but they did have about 100 runners at the event. Kerry and Liz did have the best socks, which is a previously unrecognised achievement. In the end, I’m not sure any of us really enjoyed the event, but I wouldn’t bank on us not going back for more next year.