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Scottish National Cross Country
Threatening wintry weather gave way to bright sunshine, once the senior women's race was underway.
Heather Akers brought home the women's team with the fastest run of the day. Niall had an outstanding run in the men's race, finishing right up the field in 61st place.
Summary of Westies:
Women
170. Heather Akers, 41:23
172. Eleanor Brown, 41:37
182. Helen MacPherson, 42:09
183. Claire Larravide, 42:14
190. Christine Menhennet, 42:41
201. Gaynor Gillespie, 43:35
Men
61. Niall McAlinden, 44:52
149. John Denovan, 48:28
180. Chris Upson, 49:18
242. Johnston Orr, 51:25
281. Tony Dickinson, 52:40
327. John Quinn, 54:38
439. John Hamer, 1:00:05
Posted by Chris Upson on Mon 20 Feb 2012 | 11 comments
Category cross country
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Comments
JQ said...
Well done everyone. Brilliant days racing and a PB by 6 seconds for myself. 2 years older 6 seconds faster. If the improvement is on a sliding scale I could be in the top 100 by the time I am 60. Thanks to Ciaran for his support and carrying the Gazebo back to my car but especially for the pint of Guinness back in Glasgow.
Monday 20th February 2012 9.57am
Chris said...
Well done John. I seem to be sliding (accelerating) in the opposite direction! 3 minutes slower than last year, and almost 5 minutes slower than 2007 and 2008.
Monday 20th February 2012 11.05am
Johnston said...
Yup, well done JQ (and good to see the Winter League trophy safe in your hands at last).
I was about 3 mins quicker than last year's post-injury shuffle but 2 mins slower than 2010's PB. That said, many folks' times were down perhaps because the going was so soft and sludgy, so a PB is particularly impressive (likewise for Niall's run - clearly a man getting back into top form). Chris, for that reason I wouldn't worry too much about your time.
Huge congrats to the Westies women for getting out there with our biggest turnout of the last 3 years (EDIT - make that the biggest turnout noted in these here electronic archives!!!!), including some new or relatively new faces. Hope you all enjoyed it (perhaps aside from Gaynor's traffic trauma) and thanks for the support. Good to see some close competition there - often a key driver of improvement. Interesting season ahead!
I was pleased to register a slight improvement in relative finishing position over 2010, and to nudge ahead of some runners I had trailed in the past.
First lap was a shock to the system and I tried desperately to keep Tony in sight, wondering if I would be able to hold on. Somewhere near the start of lap 2 I burst past, thinking it was a rash move, but I managed to keep sneaking up the field right through to the finish. Shame there were no more Westies men as I was then rather marooned in a Westies-less void with Chris out of sight ahead.
Thanks to the Westies supporters too, from the youngest (Benjamin) to the oldest and Grimmest. Team mascot Oscar Dober looked to be keen to get in on the action too.
Amazed at the massive HBT turnout! Less surprised by Freya Murray's continued dominance and Derek Hawkins' clear victory again - superb running.
Monday 20th February 2012 9.09pm
One lap oldie said...
A grand day out, after flurries of snow arriving over the Campsies around noon, but disappearing soon after. Good to see wee Benjamin, 64 yrs my junior - seems that Ellie is determined to toughen him up from birth? Other than Ellie, it was encouraging to see almost as many Westy wummin as men in the results. I could have continued my Peter Grassl impersonation for two more laps, but I fear (from John Hamer's time) that I wouldn't have broken the hour mark, which I last dipped under maybe 5 years ago.
Two mysteries remain: first, what became of the Eritrean Shetts? and second, who was inside the Boggies' ten-foot tall mascot? It wasn't Dick Wall, last seen waddling into his 3rd lap, urged on by my shout that his beer-belly had a 2-second lead on him (maybe 3?).
Finally, it's impressive to see such a big winning margin in the senior mens' race; but Derek Hawkins isn't (yet) a Mark 2 Ian McCafferty nor Nat Muir! Freya Murray is the fourth world-class Scots runner with that surname (following Fergus, Yvonne, and Tommy: any I missed?).
Monday 20th February 2012 9.27pm
Niall said...
As you all know, I love cross country... And this is one of the best.
Start was manic as usual, was lined up near John Denovan, and the bella's Greig and Russell. After a bit of a hickup with the starter's hat being blown off we were on out way. After getting badly boxed in last year on the first hill I made sure I was wide around the first two corners and seemed to be in a good open position coming down the first hill.
The rest of the first lap was a bit of a blur, just tried to keep my pace fast and not waste energy in the mud and on the hills. Got some good shouts from the Westies women too. Onto the 2nd lap and I felt I was running well, I had a couple of people ahead that I felt I should catch including two boggies, a shettleston that I've been training with at Glasgow Green and some lad from Glasgow Uni who knew my name. I was stronger on the mud and hills then the boggies but they kept pulling away on the faster bits.
The third lap was predictably hell. My calves started cramping first, closely followed by my quads. I kept pushing as hard as I still could and caught a few more people. Final hill was hard but got a few shouts of encouragement from the women. Just the last muddy down hill and then the path of death to the finish (do they put down extra sticky mud just to make the sprint harder). I got passed by 4 in the sprint so was a little gutted as I could have made top 60 but overall had a great run. A little sad that XC season is over but bring on top 50 next year.
Monday 20th February 2012 9.30pm
Johnston said...
Cracking write-up Niall! Captures the sheer intensity of the race. It's fast, relentless, and very muddy - and that finish line seems to be a painfully long way away from the last corner.
Monday 20th February 2012 10.14pm
John Hamer said...
Who would have thought that cross country could be such fun! It's like a hill race, but with just the muddy bits. I'm already looking forward to next year, with a target of squeezing under the hour. The Westies marquee provided some welcome shelter during the squalls, and I'm sure it will make a regular appearance over the coming months (until it gets blown away in a spot of weather :-).
BTW, Niall may have complained about cramped calves, but he looked sprightly enough on a 30km jaunt across Arran on Sunday!
Monday 20th February 2012 10.37pm
Chris said...
I can concur with Niall about the extra-special stickiness of the mud for that final sprint of death. It was suddenly like having lead weights attached to your feet. And also like looking down a telescope the wrong way when you realised how far away the finishing arch was.
Tuesday 21st February 2012 12.58pm
much-lapped oldie said...
Oh aye, more great Scottish running Murrays: seems there is a young "ultra" called Andrew Murray (not the tennis star) who has run from Scotland to North Africa (and written a book about it).
As the old ballad has it,
"He was a braw callant, and he played at the glove
And the bonny Earl o' Murray, he was the queen's love".
Tuesday 21st February 2012 2.24pm
Dave said...
Hey MLO, how about our very own extremely talented Barbara Murray, international cross country runner of some repute and one of the first ever Scottish woman allowed to compete in an open road race along with men (GU Road Race, circa 1981 if I recall?)
And then there is her hubby Raph...another impressive athlete and ex-Westie.
I love these descriptions of the cross country mud. Ye canny whack it!
Thursday 23rd February 2012 4.44am
James Callender said...
Just got round to reading this now, Niall's write-up sounds fantastic, 'mon the Westies! Am absolutely gutted I missed it but ended up paying some woman in the East End to rip shards of nail out my flesh instead and my limping hobble would have done little for club glory. Next year, next year.
Wednesday 29th February 2012 8.25am