West District Relays

Captain Leads Westies Charge Shocker as Girlies Show the Way

The official start to the Westies Cross-Country Season started on Saturday as valiant Captain Chick led his team to a stunning 36th place in the West District Relays in Coatbridge. However the Westies Women clearly outclassed the men, both in terms of numbers and quality.

In the Women's race, completed over a 2.5 mile circuit of Coatbridge's famed football pitches, Elsie led off for the A team. After a respectable performance (which is more than can be said about her performance at the Pond Hotel later on!), she handed over to World Mountain Racing Medallist Chris, who promptly completed her stage 9 seconds faster. Jane was not to be outdone, whizzing around her lap almost a minute faster, as the Westies A team finished 9th. Jane was in a hurry; as she headed off into the distance she was heard to mutter that she couldn't come to the club dinner as she had to go to the pictures. I've heard of pathetic excuses, but......!!

Chick Captain Muffy showed experienced skills in team selection in demoting herself to the B team, where she still managed to keep Elsie in sight at the end of the lap. Liz Horton made her debut appearance in a Westies vest (actually Helen's 1986 vintage original style heavyweight cotton viloft), running the second leg only slightly slower than Muffy, whilst Helen anchored to complete the race to ensure that Westies were one of the few clubs to complete the event with more than one team.

In the men's event, only 4 Westies guys actually raced (Andy Freer, where were you?), but it was a stunning example of even paced running as the first three runners all completed the lap within 5 seconds of each other. Charlie handed over to Blair, who managed to get the fastest Westies time of the day at 14:44. John Donnelly finished only a second slower, thus ensuring, in the absence of Don, a new rivalry for the forthcoming season. Keith anchored in the fourth leg with a ateady performance in his warmup to the Pentland Skyline on Sunday (as were Blair and John). No doubt a race report on that event will follow?

So, the skirmish at the start of the cross-country season saw Jane and Blair coming out on top. Smart money is on Jane to take the Westies Women's Winter League title this year. However, for my money, Blair will have to watch out for his erstwhile rival Don Reid as the man to watch for the men's title. A lame excuse from Don about having to work on Saturday seemed a bit far-fetched as rumours abound that he was spotted that afternoon completing a testing interval session (15x800m in 2:20, with 1 minute recoveries) to finalise his training in advance of the Dunbartonshire Relays next week. Time will tell!

Women A Team 9th place

Elsie 16:53

Chris 16:44

Jane 15:58

B Team 12th place

Muffy 17:27

Liz 17:59

Helen 18:38

Men 36th place

Charlie 14:49

Blair 14:44

John 14:45

Keith 15:35

Posted by Dave Calder on Wed 30 Nov -0001 | comments are closed

Category winter league