Hugh Wilson Memorial 10K, East Kilbride

As usual, the Hugh Wilson Memorial 10K provided loads of excitement, despite the absence of star performers McColl and Fleming(absconded east), Struthers(missing his first EK10K for 47 years), Campbell(Honourably attempting to ensure sufficient beer for the forthcoming club dinner), Campbell(dishonourably studying), Cameron(still on the run from the ’45 rebellion), Murray(wallowing in his success as Jengamaster) and Millen(‘injured’ but no doubt quaking at the prospect of racing Don).

Never mind! We were rewarded with the most exciting women’s finish for some time, with all Westies women finishing within spitting distance of each other. New member and triathlete, Kelly Van Der Toorn, looked almost casual in finishing about 100metres ahead of Liz, who showed the results of her recent sprint training by overhauling Muffy in the last mile. Ana also passed Muffy in the last section of the race to finish as 3rd Westie, but overall it was a splendid Westies Women’s team performance. We would almost certainly have won the team prize, but misogyny still rules in EK , so only the first man’s team were properly rewarded.

Bringing forward the race by two weeks meant that there was no snow or ice to worry about, but the temperature was decidedly Baltic. This was no hindrance to Nigel who easily beat the rest of the Westies men in sub 37 minutes. Local Westie Don Reid is obviously acclimatised to the local conditions. He and Dave were neck and neck until Don’s superior hill strength allowed him to pull away over the pedestrian flyover section. Dave valiantly attempted to catch Don in the final run-in but Don hung on desparately to record his first points of the season. Steffen was next Westie in, at just over 40 minutes, staying ahead of Sandy, who is having a good season so far. Drew came in just after the women to collect his first performance points of the season.

In the Women’s league, Muffy stays in the lead but Liz has overtaken Ana into 2nd place. It’s looking pretty open though. Dave still leads the men’s league, but Nigel is only 2 points behind, despite completing 1 less race. Sandy is going well in 3rd place and Steffen has moved up to 4th. Mark’s trip to the Braids means he drops back to 5th position.

No official results available yet. League details attached and also now available on the web.

Next week is the Dunbartonshire Champs in Dumbarton. Now for some real cross country!