Inter-District Cross Country Championships, Edinburgh - 10/01/2009

The annual Interdistrict Cross Country Championships took place last Saturday as part of the Great Edinburgh Cross Country fixture. As a forerunner to the afternoon's elite races which saw the worlds best endurance athletes competing, the Interdistrict Championships saw the national level junior athletes crossing swords in what is the first national competition of the winter season.

Following the successes of a number of north athletes in district cross country leagues and championships, these athletes were then selected to represent the North Scotland team in Edinburgh. The team wore their red North select vests with pride as they raced against the West and East teams.

With the top 12 district athletes selected in each age group, the 36 athletes in each race included those who will make the running for the podium places at the National Championships in Falkirk in February. The Interdistricts act as a marker for the athletes as to their rankings at national level. Caithness Amateur Athletic Club had 12 athletes selected for the North team with 7 of those able to make it to Edinburgh.

The day provided severe running conditions, with the athletes demonstrating good resilience on a flat but fast course over a distance of 2.4km. The only Caithness representative in the Under 13 girls age group was Shannon Eyers who finished 33rd (12.11min) with Carey Ross from Inverness Harriers the 1st placed North athlete in 24th place.

Ross Gollan in the Under 13 boys was 1st North athlete in 15th place (9.50min) with team mate Alisdair Cooper in 25th place (10.33min). Both boys were part of the North team which placed 3rd in the team competition, with the first 6 athletes in each team counting.

The Under 15 girls race saw the most exciting race finish of the day and an outstanding performance by Emma Dunnett (9.32min) saw her take silver medal after a sprint finish to determine silver and bronze pacings, with 1 second separating her and Kathryn Pennel, Fife AC in third place. Emma like many of the North team members is a first year Under 15 and as such was expected to place in the top ten, so her performance demonstrates the benefits of the hours of training that Emma undertakes.

Emma was not put off by the older athletes in the race and after a conservative start to the two lap course, she picked her way through the field to 10th place by the end of the first lap. With encouragement from club mates, family and the Caithness coach on the day, John Davies, Emma continued to move through the field with a constant acceleration of pace which allowed her to collect her second national silver medal. Along with Oonagh Dunnett in 23rd place (10.33min), both sisters collected bronze team medals.

The Under 15 boys race was without Jake Anderson but team mates Rob Murdoch (10.12min) and David Gardner (10.14) finished 27th and 29th respectively with the first North athlete placing 16th. As 5th North counter, Rob also secured a bronze team medal.

The only other notable North performance of the day came from Moray Road Runner, Gemma Cormack in the Under 17 Women's race. Gemma got outsprinted into third place with the same time as the second placed runner but demonstrated a return to form after a period away from competition.

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