The first cross country event of this winter season took place at Glamis Castle just north of Dundee on 14 October. It was a beautiful setting in the grounds of the castle and the we got weather to match. The course was fairly flat so probably suited the faster track based runners.
Lasswade AC had one young female team, two young male teams and an incomplete senior men’s team. All athletes performed well on the day but the highlight was the first boys team. First year U13 Ross Wolfenden ran a solid opening leg to keep us in contention and handed over in 9th place to Harry Henriksen. Harry, who I am sure would have preferred a few more hills ran well to pull back another few places and hand over in 4th place to our final leg runner Christian Graham. Christian who has been improving all summer on the track set off on the chase and quickly pulled back the first couple of runners. Unfortunately the gap the Edinburgh runner had was insurmountable, however Christian had the consolation that in addition to helping the team to the silver medal he was also the fastest young male athlete of the day. Well done and congratulations to all the boys on a fine team performance.
The Lasswade 5k Fund Run was once again a great success with over 80 finishers.
Thanks to Margaret Benham for organising and all coaches and parents for helping on the night.
I attach a link to the results below. Please note that there were several names on the list of entries where the spelling seemed unusual but we have typed as written so my apologies in advance for an errors.
Well done to everyone who took part and thanks once again for all of your support!
The National Cross Country Championships took place on Saturday 25 February at Callendar Park, Falkirk. There had been adverse weather conditions in the lead up to the race and the event was under threat of cancellation. Fortunately, however it went ahead in extremely wet and muddy conditions.
The first race of the day was the under 13 boys and Lasswade AC had six athletes competing, Harry Henriksen, Dexter Howard, Alastair Scott, Matthew Cartledge, Cameron Dickson and Rory Fletcher. Harry Henriksen already the East District and Inter District cross country champion was the pre-race favourite having won all seven of his races this winter. There were some pre race nerves but Harry got off to a good start working his way to the front of the field of 170 runners. Harry looking comfortable in difficult conditions used his strength to gradually build up a lead over the chasing runners to win by eleven seconds and add the National Cross Country title to his growing collection.
Harry Henriksen – U13 National Cross Country Champion – 2017
In the U17 women we had three runners, Lauren Dickson, Ailsa Innes and Eilidh Brown. This race had a quality field with any one of six or seven athletes, including Lauren Dickson who had finished runner up last year, capable of winning the title. The race went as expected with pre race favourite Erin Wallace of Giffnock taking it on and trying to establish an early lead, however she was not going to get it all her own way as a pack of about six runners formed on the first large lap. The pack included Lauren Dickson (Lasswade AC) Naomi Lang (Aberdeen) Clare Stewart (Banchory) and Kate Gallacher (Central). Small gaps started to open towards the end of the first lap where Erin and Naomi began to get away from the other runners with Lauren sitting in fourth place just behind Clare Stewart. Lauren fighting all the way to the end finished just outside the medals in fourth place. Team mates Ailsa Innes finished 23rd with Eilidh Brown 33rd. Unfortunately, the girls team also finished just outside the medals in 4th place missing out on a bronze by three points!
Lauren Dickson who finished 4th in the U17 women’s race.
The under 17 men were running two laps, one large and one medium. Lasswade had five runners, Magnus Tait, Christian Graham, Euan Hood, Jamie Darling and Daniel Kelly. Magnus led the boy’s home with a strong run finishing in 20th place. The fast improving Christian Graham running his first National cross country was 32nd, followed by Euan Hood 56th, Jamie darling 69th and Daniel Kelly 76th.
In the under 13 girls and under 15 girls we had one runner in each race with Fiona Eades (U13) running well to finish 138th and the consistently improving Abby McGlone (U15) in 48th place.
We also had one runner in the under 15 boys, Jamie Kinghorn who had a solid run in 92nd place.
The action at this event is thick and fast with one race quickly following another we had now reached the stage of the day where there were only a couple of races remaining.
In the women’s race we only had one athlete running, Daniella Coutto who unfortunately had to pull out after the first lap injured. However it was good to see a former Lasswade AC athlete, Olympian and six time previous winner of the National cross country, Freya Ross, running and still finishing inside the top 30.
The final event was the senior men with by far the biggest field of the day with 647 finishers. There were eight Lasswade athletes running and they were as follows, Ross Matheson, Scott Thomson, Andrew McGlone, Peter Ness, Scott Dickson, Dave Scott, Ben Mitchell and Stephen Brown.
I was looking forward to this race as not only was Olympian Callum Hawkins competing but our own Ross Matheson was running his first senior national, a former U17 and U20 National XC winner having missed a few seasons was back running and seemed quietly confident. We also had a new athlete running for us today, Scott Thomson so I was also looking forward to seeing him run.
As the race got underway, a spectacle in itself, Callum Hawkins made it clear he was out for a hard run hitting the front early and remaining there to the finish. A little further back Ross was looking good sitting fairly high up the field just outside the top 10 with Scott a bit further back in around 50th place. Over the next two laps both managed to pass another few runners with Ross finishing inside the top 10 in 8th and Scott just outside the top 40 in 42nd.
Lauren Dickson with Ross Matheson and U17 team mate Eilidh Brown
All in all, a great days racing for the club’s distance runners.
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Scottish 4 x 200m Indoor Relay Championships, Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Saturday 4th March
The club would like to put teams in to the above championships. We plan to enter boys and girls teams in the U13, U15 & U17 age groups.
If you would like to be considered for selection for these championships please contact Gordon by email (rtbhq1@googlemail.com) or text (07958 595790) before Saturday 28th January.
Posted inNews and Info|Comments Off on Scottish 4 x 200m Indoor Relay Championships, Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Saturday 4th March
The Great Edinburgh International Cross Country took place in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh on Saturday 7 January 2017. The inter district cross country championships were held as part of this event and a number of Lasswade AC athletes were selected for the East of Scotland team.
Harry Henriksen who has been running well all season was in the under 13 boys race. Harry was in a group pf three runners to break away over the first two of the three lap course. He had been sitting in 3rd postion behind AndrewMcGill (East) and Fraser Sproul (West) when he made his move mid way through the final lap opening a gap to finish seven seconds ahead of Andrew McGill who was followed closely by Fraser Sproul.
In the under 17 women we had two athletes competing, Lauren Dickson and Sarah Tait. Lauren was with the leading group which included Naomi Lang, Clare Stewart and Eloise Walker (All East) for most of the race. It was only mid way through the final lap that some small gaps began to appear, however Lauren dug deep fighting all the way to the finish with an impressive 4th place. Team mate Sarah Tait who has a difficult season to date also ran well in one of her best races of the season finishing in 15th place.
Lasswade also had two runners in the under 17 men’s race, Magnus Tait and Christian Graham. Both boys have been running consistently well this season. Magnus, who would probably have preferred a course with a few more hills, finished a creditable 20th place with Christian in his first cross country season finishing in 31st place.
The east team won gold in all three of the above races.
Congratulations and well done to all the athletes on their performances.
The inter district cross country championships take place at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh on 7 January 2017 as part of the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country event.
Our athletes have been performing well over the cross country this season and as in past years we have a number who have been selected to represent the East of Scotland Team.
U13 Boys – Harry Henriksen
U17 Boys – Magnus Tait and Christian Graham
U17 Girls – Lauren Dickson, Sarah Tait. Ailsa Innes was also selected however has decided not to run and is concentrating on shorter distances for the indoor season.
Congratulations to all of the above athletes on their selection and good luck on the day.
If you don’t have anything planned for 7th January it would be great to see some Lasswade athletes supporting their team mates. Then stay on for the international races where Olympic champion Mo Farah is scheduled to compete as are Olympians Andrew Butchart, Callum Hawkins and Laura Muir
The National Short Course Cross Country Championships took place at Renfrew this year.
This was a new venue for the event having been at Bellahouston park in previous years. The weather was sunny and dry, however there was quite a strong cold wind to challenge the runners over the flat and open course.
A total of 15 athletes from Lasswade entered for this event with 12 athletes competing on the day.
In the under 15 girls we had two athletes competing. Abby McGlone who has been consistently improving was our first finisher in 47th place followed by team mate Lauren Meikle in 84th place.
The highlight of the day for us was the under 17 womens race where Lauren Dickson ran strongly over the two lap course to finish an impressive 3rd overall picking up the bronze medal. Team mates Sarah Tait And Ailsa Innes both also had impressive runs finishing 13th and 18th respectively. This meant the girls finished 3rd team and picked up the bronze team medal. (Unfortunately Sarah is not in the picture below as she was unwell after the race).
Ailsa and Lauren with their medals!
Our under 17 men also did well with Magnus Tait our first finisher in 11th place overall, followed by team mates Christian Graham (32nd), Euan Hood (50th) to finish 7th team overall. In the same race Jamie Darling was 54th and Daniel Kelly 69th.
In the mens race we had two runners, Matthew Smith (u20) who finished 24th (77th overall) and Andrew McGlone (M45) who was 51st (218th overall).
A great event and again an opportunity for the young athletes to watch an Olympic athlete show their class as Laura Muir ran away with the women’s race. It was also good to see Freya Ross-Murray running well to finish 10th in the women’s race a few weeks after running 2.37.50 in the Chicago marathon.
