Liverpool Cross Country results, Springburn XC, Giffordtown 5K, Glasgow Sports Council Awards, WD Cross Country League

Liverpool as the venue for  the second leg of the British Athletics Cross Challenge incorporating the trial for the European Cross Country Championships and the trial for the European Clubs Cross Country Championships.

Lynn McKenna was the star performer for the club  just missing automatic selection for the UK team for the European Cross Country Championships  in Brussels on the 10^th December finishing 1 second behind the automatic selection 5^th place  in the U/23 age group. Lynn who has a number of age  group vests for  Scotland over the country and hills was running in her  national vest as a senior for the first time and did not let her country down. Congratulationbs to Lynn and John Montgomery ,her  coach, for a fantastic performance. Monday is the key day  for this young law graduate when the 6^th person will be selected for the UK team for Brussels. I know everyone in the club will be keeping a eye on the British athletics webpage for the selection news on Monday. Her clubmate, Fionnuala Ross, is already selected for Ireland after her superb 4^th place in the Irish National Championships last weekend .

The ladies of the club were also in Liverpool trying to get selected for the European Clubs Cross Country Championships in Portugal in February 2024. Following a fantastic few months they were selected to represent Scotland in the trial race. Hopes are high they will be selected on Monday after the British Athletics Selection Meeting. 2024 is the 2Oth  anniversary of  girls being part of the main Shettleston Harriers club following the clubs centenary in 2004. Club historians will know we had a very successful section in the 1930’s and two very  successful pararel clubs ,Monkland Shettleston Ladies and Shettleston Harriers Ladies in the past but not part of the main club. It will be a fitting reward to Avril Mason and Elaine Mackay  who have worked  so hard over these 20 years to put our ladies to the forefront of Scottish Athletics if selected yet again.

Ladies results – (427 finishers) Lynn McKenna  27^th ( 6^th U/23), Aoife Carr 94^th, Hannah Terrance 102^ndAvril Mason 128^th, Tara Walker 157^th

It was great to see Lachlan Oates in the club vest at Liverpool and we look forward to see him next weekend at the West District Cross Country Championships. Lachlan is currently living in Elgin in the North of Scotland ,a long trip to Liverpool. He finished 66^th in a field of over 700 in the mud of Liverpool. His club mate, Taha Ghafari, also ran wearing the vest of his English club, Highgate Harriers, when finishing 109^th. All the athletes travelling to Liverpool were helped in their travel with a grant for the Alistair Blamire fund. Alistair was a very successful athlete in the club in 1960s/70s and the club is very grateful to Alastair for supplying funds to allow our athletes to travel to events outside Scotland for endurance events.

We had three young athletes also  running and the experience of running in such a high quality of event with help in their development , Alastair will be delighted to have supported them. U/17 Ladies  -Katie Woods 43^rd (100 finished) , U/17 Men  – Adam Clifford 81^st , Matthew Fox 85^th (150 finished)

Thank you to all the club  supporters who made the trip to Liverpool and thank you Kilbarchan AAC for allowing us to use your club tent

The weekend continued with many of our Young athletes travelling to Kirkintilloch to compete in the Springburn Harriers Cross Country Races. In the 4^th /5^th /6^th school year race we had a 1, 2  and 3 with Joseph Reilly claiming the gold and Handong Xu the silver. New athlete Olivia Caldwell took 1^st place in the 1^st -3^rd year races. A number of other young athletes also took part but full results are not available yet.

Three senior men made the journey to Giffordtown in Fife to race over 5km and all three were rewarded with PB performances

Sam Lesley 3^rd 15.37, Andrew Taylor 4^th 15.53, Calum Butterworth 15^th 16.50

Next week we move to Strathaven for the West District Cross Country Championships – With over 70 Shettleston athletes entered it promises to be a great day -Full details will be sent to all the athletes entered later this week.

Previous week News (18th & 19th Nov)

The Grand Hall of Glasgow City Chambers was the venue for Clubsport Glasgow (Glasgow Sports Council) Awards evening and a large group of officials and athletes attended the event including Lynn McKenna and Avril Mason. After the fantastic season the girls and the men have had over a variety of surfaces  at National and International level hopes were high we would win the club of the year. Alas this did not happen ,much to the disappointment of everyone at our table. Congratulations to John Mackay  who’s commitment to our club and sport over many years was recognised with one of the main awards of the evening –“The Service to Sport Award” Everyone in the club will know John who is currently the Club Secretary  but has held many of the clubs roles over many years .He is a coach ,official and is co author of the clubs Centenary book. He currently serves on the Scottish Road & Cross  Country Commission and is an international selectors  as well as international team manager. Last year Scottish athletics recognised his contribution to our Sport  with the presentation of the prestigious Tom Stille award.

John was delighted with the award but he was quick to say again this award was for everyone in the club who work so hard to allow our athletes to participate in our Sport.

Saturday 18th November saw the first West Cross Country League of the year at Kilmarnock and again we would like to thanks to all the parents /club coaches /athletes  who helped organise the teams and brought  the club tent. The league allows athletes from U/11 to Masters to compete in the one venue and it was a great introduction for many of the young athletes to cross country before the West District Championships In December.

The weather at Kilmarnock was not as bad as the weather forecast suggested on the Friday but there was still plenty of rain and mud. 28 Shettleston athletes made the short hop to the Ayrshire venue which again was well organised by Kilmarnock Harriers. Congratulations to many  of the athletes  running their first cross country event. Highlights were individual wins for Adam Clifford ,Katie Woods. Both U/17 and 1^st for Gemma Griffiths U/20 Female

The U/11 boys girls were first off  

U/11 girls  Team 5^th – Rowan Lennox 5th, Miley Caldwell 26th, Juliette Graham 29th, Amelia Rose McGurn 48^th, Indie Connelly 49^th

U/11 boys team 7^th – Louis Millican 39^th, Rio Biddlecombe 44th, Naod Woldeselassie 46^th  

U/13 Girls Team 10^th– Charlotte Reilly 35th, Alexia Rigg 40th, Leia Connelly  50^th

U/15 Boys/Girls combined race   Female team 5^th and Male  team 7^th

Olivia Caldwell 5^th F, Lucas Millican 18^th M, Kate Monaghan 17^th F, Cameron McArdle 19^th M

U/17 Boys /Girls combined race  Female team 1^st and Male team 2^nd

Adam Clifford  1^st M , Matthew Fox  5^th  M, Katie Woods 1^st F, Joseph Reilly 16^th M, Katie Burns  5^th F

Seniors -Male /Female Combined Race   Senior men’ s team 4^th   Masters team 1^st , U/20 Female team 1^st

Andrew Taylor  6^th, Jethro Lennox  7^th (2^nd Master ), Callum Butterworth  28^th, John Duffy 44^th  (8^th Master), Gemma Griffiths  1^st U/20 Female, John Oates 67^th (13^th Master), Stephen Clark  93^rd, John Toms 123^rd (32^nd Master)