North District Cross Country - Forres - 16/02/2008

The final North District League fixture for 2007-08 took place last Saturday in Forres on what proved to be a very profitable day for the Caithness athletes. With a total of 52 athletes from Caithness Amateur Athletic Club taking part at some point in the season, the growth of enthusiasm for cross country is self-evident.

There was a core of 38 athletes who attended the six fixtures and tested their endurance over a variety of courses from hilly moorland to beaches, forests and fields. The ages of the athletes ranged from 9 year olds competing in the Under 11 age groups to much older athletes competing in the Veteran Women and Men's age groups.

Unlike many past cross country seasons when most of the overall League placings were decided before the final fixture, this year a number of key placings were still up for grabs on the final race day. The first of those was in the Under 11 Girls age group where two Caithness athletes Hannah MacLeod and Aspen Priddy were both in with a chance of securing the bronze medal place.

Over the short but fast Forres course, Hannah came out on top with a 4th place finish over Aspen's 6th which gave her 3rd place overall, 2 points ahead of Aspen. The other Caithness team members were Lauren Lafferty who was 8th overall and Megan Mackay who finished 11th in the League. The Caithness team of Hannah, Aspen and Rebecca Bryan took 2nd team place with 1172 points, just 8 points behind eventual winners, Inverness Harriers.

This was in contrast to the Under 11 Boys where Ross Gollan and Lewis Holmes had already secured 1st and 2nd places in the League before the last race but still came home in 1st and 2nd places at Forres which confirmed their authority in this age group. The boys along with Alistair Cooper who finished 4th overall, also dominated the team event and took first team place with 1187 points, ahead of Inverness Harriers with 1140 points.

In the Under 13 Girls race, Emma Dunnett who already had retained her League title, won the final race for good measure some 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Team mate Jade Currie was 3rd home to secure 2nd placing in the League whilst Oonagh Dunnett finished in 4th place, giving her the 3rd overall position in the League by 1 point.

This is the same order that the girls completed the League in last year and demonstrates their authority of this age group for the past two years. Other team members were Erin Mackay in 6th place, Nikki MacDonald in 11th place, Sarah Henderson in 15th place, Shannon Eyers in 17th place and Isobel MacLeod in 20th place. The Caithness girls took first team with 1182 points ahead of Inverness Harriers with 1133 points.

In the Under 13 Boys, Rob Murdoch did not participate in enough of the League fixtures to be in with a shout for a final placing which with two 3rd places and a 6th place, was on form to be in the top four athletes. However the top Caithness finisher was Rorie Stewart who took 5ht place overall despite having a poor race in Forres where he finished 12th. The other Caithness athlete to complete the League was Dean Britton who finished 11th overall and the Caithness boys took 3rd team place with 1103 points behind Inverness Harriers and Moray Road Runners.

The two Under 15 Girls demonstrated continued determination over the winter and were rewarded with a 5th overall place for Leanne Eyers and 6th for Hannah Paterson. They also took 2nd team with 764 points, behind Inverness Harriers. The Under 15 Boys saw the 3rd place in the League coming down to the last race between Duncan Patterson and David Gardner. With respective 4th and 9th places at Forres, the boys tied for 3rd place and along with Jake Anderson who placed 9th overall, they scooped 2nd team with 1142 points, only 25 points behind Moray Road Runners.

The sole Under 17 Women, Rebecca Manson finished 5th in Forres and 5th overall in the league. In contrast the Under 17 Men showed strength in numbers throughout the League which allowed them to control the team placings throughout and finish 1st team with 1063 points, almost double the points of the Moray Road Runners team.

Despite having already won the League, Graeme Taylor ran in Forres with team mate David Mitchell, both sporting rather loud Bermuda shorts and putting a smile on many of the spectators faces. Alistair Black despite struggling with his form recently, took 5th place in the League, David Mitchell took 6th overall and Bruce Stewart was 7th overall.

The women's race came down to the last fixture and saw Caithness's Sheila Gollan finishing 3rd to take 2nd Female overall. The other Caithness athlete in this age group was Sophie Dunnett who finished 6th Veteran in the overall League placings.

With a total of three individual golds, 2 silver, 4 bronze and 3 team golds, there were a lot of shields and replicas heading up north and reflecting the hard work of the athletes in all of the fixtures. Thanks goes from the athletes and Endurance Coach, Sophie Dunnett to the parent helpers and fellow coaches who travelled away with the team during the winter to provide support and encouragement.

Although the North District Leagues are now completed, a smaller number of the athletes are still involved in cross country with forthcoming National Championships, the completion of the Round the Castles Series, Scottish Schools Championships, Home Counties Championships and the Inter Counties in conjunction with the World Championships.

End-of-Document