North District Cross Country, Fort William - 04/10/2008

The first of the North District Cross Country Leagues saw a welcome return for the Caithness athletes to the Fort william course; enjoyed by most for its harsh conditions. This year was no exception with the previous week's heavy rainfall providing ample surface water and overflowing streams to negotiate.

The Caithness athletes, prepared as always, had not only put in a couple of months training ready for the start of the cross country season but had also taken their wellie boots; most important.

With some eleven athletes cutting their teeth on their first district level cross country course, the three coaches who accompanied the athletes were delighted with not only the performances but the spirit with which the athletes entered into the competition.

The Fort William fixture forms the first of six Leagues with individual and team placings being based on the four best performances over the winter.

In the Under 11 Girls, the top three Caithness athletes bunched well in 4th, 5th and 8th places to take 2nd team place behind Inverness Harriers. The Under 11 Boys saw a turn up for the books with a battle between Ruiridh Gollan and Lewis Holmes seeing Ruiridh taking the honours in 1st place on this occasion. Along with Murray Mackay in 7th place the boys took first team place in this first fixture.

Erin Mackay, Murrays' sister, demonstrated that good performances can run in the family as she came home in 3rd place, with the Caithness team taking 2nd place overall along with Sarah Henderson and Hannah MacLeod.

Another family double was evident in the Under 13 Boys as Ross Gollan dominated the race finishing 30seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The Caithness boys took first team but with only one point separating them from Inverness Harriers, they need to make sure they are on form as the season progresses.

The Under 15 Girls race saw a healthy field of 17 athletes which demonstrates the strength of cross country running in the Highlands and also within the Caithness membership with six of the athletes competing in Caithness colours and a further two regular members missing from the line-up.

Oonagh Dunnett took the Caithness team home in 3rd place and led the remaining team members, Sarah MacKinnon and Nikki MacDonald home into 2nd team placing. With only two Caithness athletes in the Under 15 Boys age group, this excluded David Gardner and Rob Murdoch from placing in the team competition although they did place 4th and 5th respectively.

In the Under 17 Men's race, Duncan Paterson saw the benefits of some quality training with a third place in his first year in this age group. Cameron Boyd completed his first cross country race in 4th place on what is notable the toughest cross country course in the north circuit.

The results are as following:-

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