2007-2008 Cross Country Championship Races

The following events will be included in the 2007-2008 Club Championships. An athlete may choose to run in all the events but only their 4 best placings will count.

Latest Race Reports

29 March 2008

Young Athlete Relays at World XC Champs

Under 11 girls were first on the line where the team of Pamela and Emily McNicol and Kirsten Cowe finished 12th and the Biggar girls Molly Simpson, Amy Laird and M. Fraser were 24th. Kathryn Kerr ran the first leg and completed in 25th place.
The under 11 boys were next and the result of the day was the bronze medal won in a close finish by the team of Rory McLaughlin, Jay Cowan and Luke Foss. The other team of Marco Nicholson, Mark Bradshaw and another Biggar debutante, Greg Paton finished in 21st place.
In the under 13 girls race Rachel Hands, Samantha Stevenson and Alice McGrath were 13th and the team of Shona Campbell, Aimee Gray and Cloe Keeper was 23rd.
The under 13 boys team of Stuart Hall, Jamie Cubis and Ross Hill were 4th, narrowly pipped for the bronze medal. Ryan Fernon, Corry Reynolds and Stephen Mann all ran well to complete in 17th position.

28 March 2008

Nicola Lindsay and Craig Wellcoat represented Scottish Schools in the Home Nations School Championship after finishing 2nd and 1st respectively in the  Scottish Schools race. Against the best in Britain and Ireland they really ran well, with Craig finishing an excellent 4th to lead the Scottish Team to team Bronze. Nicola, a little below her best, was still good enough to finish 16th and help her team to a Silver team medal. 
Well done to Craig and Nicola for their performances on the day and throughout a long cross country season where the proved among the best in Scotland.

West District Cross Country Championships , 8th December

Law & District took some athletes to a rainy and windy course over the moors adjoining Irvine Academy to contest the West District Cross Country Championships, one of the most prestigious races in the Scottish calendar. The trip was well worthwhile as the athletes showed exceptional progress to put up outstanding performances.

The best results of the day were the double victories in the under 15 age group, where first Nicola Lindsay ran away form a field containing some of the top under 17 and under 15 girls in the country to win the under 15 title and in the course of the race beat all of the under 17 women as well. This was another excellent run by Nicola. Spurred on by that victory Craig Wellcoat set off in the under 15 boys race on the heels of the leaders. By halfway Craig was stalking the race leader and pushed on with half a mile to go and won comfortably. These were particularly good runs, however all the youngsters ran really well.

In the under 13 girls race, Alice McGrath was 20th, Samantha Stevenson 24th and Ashleigh Anderson 46th. In the under 13 boys race, Ross Hill ran well, but just missed a medal to finish 4th. Calum Lindsay was 43rd, Jamie Cubis 54th and Ryan Fernon 62nd

LANARKSHIRE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP, 24 November 2007

Law & District athletes attended the Lanarkshire Cross Country Championship on a  wet Saturday over a muddy course in Drumpellier Park in Coatbridge.
The young athletes in particular covered themselves in both mud and glory with Nicola Lindsay and Ross Hill individual winners and many other medals won on the day.
In the under 11 girls race Nadine Traynor in her first race for the club ran well for a long way before weakening into 4th place. Nadine was ably backed up by sisters Pamela and Emily McNicol, M Newell and Kirstin Cowe who finished in 15th, 21st, 25th and 30th place respectively to be 4th team overall.
The under 11 boys also put up good performances. Rory McLaughlin in 4th , Luke Foss in 7th , M. Reynolds in 18th took 3rd team place and Stuart Lamin 21st, Stephen Kelman 22nd and Marco Nicholson in 24th ran remarkably well for newcomers to a tough sport.
The under 13 girls led by Alice McGrath 4th, and Samantha Stevenson 6th  putting in strong runs and backed up by in 20th won 2nd team prize.
The under 13 boys won first team prize with Ross Hill winning the race, Stewart Hall in 3rd and Calum Lindsay in 11th. Jamie Cubis in 18th, Ryan Fernon in 20th and Corey Reynolds in 23rd once more put up excellent performances.
In the under 15 boys race Jonathan Valu,  8th, Thomas Laffery in 10th and Bryan Clelland in 16th place all ran well to 3rd team medals.
The under 15 girls team of the race winner, Nicola Lindsay, Julie Dobbin in 11th Abby Currie in 12th and Gwen Morris in 20th place  took bronze team medals.
The under 17 mens’ team of Ross MacDonald  8th, Bobby Hill 10th and Craig Allan 11th also won bronze team medals.
In the Senior mens’ race Jamie McMorrow was 9th, Jim Baird 14th, Jim Rowley 30th and Pat Kelly 33rd.
Overall it was a very good day for the club with many younger members showing enormous promise. Well done to all who took part.  

National Relays, by Pat Kelly

The National Cross Country relays took place in Cumbernauld on Saturday. The course was hilly and soft underfoot, the weather was dry and the best of the Scottish distance runners were present. The Law runners took up the challenge and produced results which promised good things to come in the winter season.
 
There were many fine performances, and the best individual performance of the day was produced by Nicola Lindsay who ran the fastest leg in the under 15 age group. Nicola’s time was joint second best time over all the age groups. Well done Nicola!

The first race of the day was the girls mixed age group relay of 96 teams, where an under 13 passes to an under 15 who passes to an under 17. Law had 3 under 13 girls starting the first leg. Alice McGrath, who was making her first start for the club led off for the first team and ran a remarkable race and handed to Nicola in 24th place.
This was an extremely good first leg by Alice; however Nicola, running at full pelt, ran past some very talented runners and made up 20 places to lift the team into fourth place. Fiona Parkin took over from Nicola and although short of fitness displayed a great deal of determination to hold on as best she could and brought the team home in 18th place.

The other two under 13 girls were running the first leg only; unfortunately, Leigh Sinton dropped out with an asthma attack but Caitlin Whitson ran well after injury to finish 65th overall.

The boy’s relays had 104 teams and once more Law showed themselves to be in the forefront of Scottish distance runners. Ross Hill in an extremely strong field finished the first leg in 6th place, handing to Jonathan Velu. Jonathan fought his way round the course running an excellent time to hand to Ross MacDonald in 9th place. Ross brought the team home in 16th place.

The second team was a runner short due to a mosquito bite to Josh Ellwood (Law corners the market in unusual injuries!). The other two team members were Stewart Hal, U13, who ran well to finish in 29th place, handing to Thomas Lafferty, U15, who ran strongly making up three places.

Another Law runner, under 13 boy Ryan Fernon was invited to make up a team for another club and finished in 74th place. All youngsters who took part did really well in a top grade competition.

The senior men team was led off by Jamie McMorrow who finished 33rd, handing to Stevie Allan, using this as part of his training, completed in 29th place. Gary Grieve took over and dropped a place before handing to Jimmy MacDonald who brought the team home in 27th place. Another fine display.  

West District Relays

Law was represented by 2 teams in the young males race and one team in the young females race. The boys 'A' team of Ross Hill, Craig Wellcoat and Ross MacDonald had an excellent race finishing 6th. The 'B' team of Stewart Hall, Thomas Laffery and Jonathan Velu were also on form, finishing 18th out of the 42 teams that started. In the girls event, Natasha Dalziel stepped in to fill the U13 gap following several late call-offs. Julie Dobbin ran the U15 leg and Nicola Lindsay the final leg to finish 30th from 39 teams.

Individually, there were some very encouraging performaces. Craig Wellcoat and Nicola Lindsay both finished in the top ten: Craig finished 9th fastest boy on the day with a time of 8:32 and Nicola 4th fastest girl with 9:30. Ross Hill ran 9:19 to finish 3rd fastest U13 boy.

It was disappointing to see so few Law athletes running, but those that did can be proud of their performance.

Next XC event is the National Relays at Cumbernauld on Saturday 27 October.