Saturday 3rd of December was the date of the Scottish Athletics West District Championships. This year the venue was Kilmarnock, next to the Ayrshire Athletics Arena. The day presented cold and crisp conditions ideal for cross country racing, and all members of the Blue and Gold took full advantage.
The juniors started off, with representation across the age groups. Fine performances were produced, with Sam and Lucas having good runs in the U13’s. In the U15s there was a great 12th place finish for Katie Woods, with Katie Burns running well also. An 8th place for Matthew Fox in the U15’s was fantastic, with strong runs from Adam Clifford and Joesph Reilly in the U17’s to round off the junior representation.
U13 Boys
29th Sam MCGOWAN 13:59
40th Lucas MILLICAN 15:20
U15 Girls
12th Katie WOODS 16:39
38th Katie BURNS 18:56
U15 Boys
8th Matthew FOX 14:18
U17 Men
17th Adam CLIFFORD 18:06
32nd Joseph REILLY 19:27
With the course now suitably churned up we move to the seniors/masters’ ladies and men.
The senior ladies team continued their fine form this year with another medal performance. Off the back of their first-place finish down in Liverpool at the British Athletics Cross Challenge (in so doing have been selected to represent UKA at the European Champion Club Cross Country Cup held in Spain in February 2023), they produced a silver at the West District Championships.
This was their 11th team medal (9 golds and 2 silvers) since 2011-2012, an incredible achievement and testament to the hard work these athletes have put in over the years. There were notable performances from quite a number of new members, showing the strength and depth that has contributed to the successes this year. Ruth Joss was first home in a fantastic 12th place, supported by recent new recruits Hannah Terrance, Matilda Cornall and club stalwart Avril Mason.
Full Results:
12th Ruth JOSS SW 33:43
14th Hannah TERRANCE SW 33:48
18th Matilda CORNALL SW 34:19
19th Avril MASON W45 34:31
25th Zoe BARBER SW 35:09
31st Tara WALKER SW 36:19
32nd Emma BAIRD SW 36:31
58th Amy MACLELLAN SW 39:26
83rd Carly MONAGHAN SW 42:23
To cap off a fine day for Shettleston Harriers, the senior men achieved a second place to add to their medal haul in recent years. Taha had a brilliant run to come in 2nd place, closely followed by Jamie Burns in 3rd (running for Glasgow uni) with Lachlan Oates running well to finish in 6th for the club. The A team was rounded off by strong runs from Chris McGarrity, Fred Davies, Mike Deason and Jethro Lennox. The masters team also finished in second place with Jethro Lennox, Grant Pantrey and Iain Burns making up the team. Paul Sorrie crossed the line with several other runners and collapsed in a heap. The finishers seem to have missed him from the provisional results but he will hopefully be added into the top 50 and our second master.
Full Results:
2nd Seyd TAHA GHAFARI SM 27:01
6th Lachlan OATES SM 27:37
17th Christopher MCGARRITY 28:42
25th Fred DAVIES SM 29:31
28th Michael DEASON M35 29:38
35th Jethro LENNOX M45 30:06
36th Philip NEILSON SM 30:17
38th Sam LESLEY SM 30:23
48th? Paul Sorrie (TBC)
57th Michael PAXTON M35 31:02
69th Chris GRANT PANTREY M40 31:33
71st Iain BURNS M40 31:42
82nd Alexander CLARKSON SM 32:18
90th Andrew TAYLOR SM 32:40
92nd Scott MCKELVIE SM 32:42
98th Daniel LOWE SM 32:50
116th Andrew ROCKETT JACKSON SM 33:31
118th Mark THISTLETHWAITE M40 33:43
139th John DUFFY M55 34:36
150th Denis WILLIAMS M55 35:14
152nd John OATES M60 35:16
157th John CRAIG M35 35:42
159th Duncan MCCAULEY M40 35:42
248th David MURPHY M50 41:00
251st Stephen CLARK M35 41:02
After a successful day, all that was left was to pack up the tent and head back up the road for warm baths/showers with perhaps a good old Killie Pie on the way!
Full results here
Thanks to Adam Peters for race report and Malcolm, Jethro and Tracey for photos.
