Stirling & Kilmarnock

What happened?

Stirling – 4 laps of a golf course in the posh part of town.
Kilmarnock – 3 laps of the fields by the Ayrshire Athletics Arena

Who was there?

Stirling – James C, James B & Niall
Kilmarnock – James C, Scott & Niall

Where was everyone else?

Stirling – Disgracing themselves on the Southside.
Kilmarnock – Excelling at Feel the Burns

How was the weather?

Stirling – Storm Brendan.
Kilmarnock – Sunny with an occasionally bitter wind.

The field?

Stirling – A classy assortment of Olympians, Commonwealth Games medallists and other international athletes. And us.
Kilmarnock – A small but perfectly formed group of West of Scotland club runners.

The course

Stirling – Hilly in places with hunners of difficult hair-pin bends in others.
Kilmarnock – Nice and flat.

And the mud?

Stirling – Ankle grabbing, strength sapping, morale-draining quagmire.
Kilmarnock – Negligible. About 20ft of unpleasantness per lap.

Your pre-race goals?

Stirling – Don’t get lapped.
Kilmarnock – Run faster than I did in Stirling.

How’d that go?

Stirling – Didn’t get lapped. Happy with 108th place.
Kilmarnock – Sat off Niall’s shoulder for the first 1 ¾ laps then faded a bit . Happy with 7th place.

Anything else?

Stirling – Got a 4 pack of Bounty bars for couriering some spikes to the race.
Kilmarnock – Niall got 3rd after very narrowly missing out on 2nd.

In conclusion?

Cross-country is a land of contrasts.