west district

Report from Gerry There was a good turnout of Bellas for the west district cross country championships at Ardgowan Estate near Greenock yesterday, 13 guys and 5 girls. The course was one of the flattest courses I have known but that’s not to say it wasn’t testing, the tricky muddy conditions more than made up for the lack of hills and making it difficult in areas to keep on your feet. Fortunately the overhead conditions were good and much milder than the previous few freezing days. In the ladies event, over 6.4km, our girls put in a gutsy performance and our team were 7th out of 9 finishing teams. Romy Beard had an excellent run finishing 12th and just 2mins 40 secs behind the winner who is a high quality runner. It was really good to see us getting an improved turnout for the ladies team and we hope to build on this for the National Cross Country at Callendar Park in February. In the men’s event over 10km our guys put in a strong performance and we were 6th placed team out of 17 as well as 2nd placed men’s team in the vet category. Kieran Docherty was our first home, in an outstanding 16th position. One point learned from the race is to check the map of the route and look carefully at how the races finishes. As we turned a sharp bend into what I had expected was a final half mile + loop I was hearing shouts of “you’re nearly there”. I didn’t pay too much attention until I got around the corner and could see the finishing line less than 100 yards away. Though great to see the finish line a bit frustrating when you’ve been holding back a little for the final push. Still a great workout. Full results on the forum and will appear on the SA website Roll on the National Cross Country and hope to see a large turonout of Bella there.