National Cross Country Relays 2006

Bonnyman Fastest Westies in Scratch Performance

Another good turnout saw 11 Westies compete in the National Relays at Cumbernauld on a hilly and soft course. Jane continued her 100% turnout record this year with a fine first stage in the woman’s race, followed by Pauline and Christine to complete the course just under the hour.

We managed two full teams (or two teams of fools as Archie quipped) in the men’s relay. Hamilton and Jason had a head-to-head on the first stage. Following the team tactics to perfection, they allowed the front runners to battle it out in an early sprint and used the first couple of miles as a warm-up. Hamilton used his superior plodding skills to edge out Jason by just three seconds. Dave pulled the A team away on the second stage, handing over to Alan, who ran an identical time to Jason He then handed over on the glory leg to Forfarman Brian Bonnyman, who had endured traffic jams on his 2.5 hour journey to the event, only just turning up to take over on leg 4. Most noticeable about Brian’s fine performance, apart from the fact that he was easily fastest Westie of the day, was the incessant scratching of his shorts as he passed the spectating Chris and Jane towards the end of his lap. They were, as you can imagine, bewildered and intrigued by Brian’s behaviour. Was it simply normal runner’s chafing of the thighs, were his shorts too tight or had Louise simply overdosed on the Persil in last week’s laundry? No doubt BonnyBrian will reveal all…which he almost did on Saturday!

Archie, showing no ill effects from his run at the Dunbartonshire’s the previous week, ran a solid second stage for the B team before handing over to Ian and Drew for the final two stages.

Good to see some fine competition building up between Hamilton, Jason and Alan, with only 4 seconds separating them on the day. Who is going to triumph at the next outing?

Results

Women

1 City of Glasgow 49:07

43 Westies 59:58 (Jane 39; 18:57, Pauline 48; 21:06, Christine 43; 19:55)

64 teams finished

Fastest lap Freya Murray ESH 15:14

Men

1 Inverclyde 54:44

71 Westies A 70:10 (Hamilton 101; 18:39, Dave 86; 16:57, Alan 80; 18:43, Brian 71; 15:51)

94 Westies B 84:02 (Jason 104; 18:43, Archie 101; 19:55, Ian 98; 21:49, Drew 94; 23:35)

94 teams finished

Fastest lap Mark Pollard, Inverclyde 13:17