A surprisingly nice day in terms of weather for this year’s Cross-Country Relays in Balloch Country Park saw 1 full men’s team and 1 full ladies’ team take to the grass on the 19th of October. Similar to the course last year for the full XC Championships, although only 1 lap as opposed to the 3 for the full race, saw us go about a kilometre in a long straight before doubling back and then heading round in a loop of the park to get the distance up to the full 2 and a bit miles lap. Due to it being the same weekend as the Yorkshire Marathon (well done again to Scott https://maryhillharriers.com/2019/10/yorkshire-marathon/) it was down to Chris, James, Rory and I to bring it home for the men and ladies’ team lined up with a strong team of Lynsey, Linda and Margaret (fresh from her Glow Ape run the previous weekend https://maryhillharriers.com/2019/11/glow-ape/).
Linda and I took the first legs; I knew I’d went off too fast when I reached Craig Perrie, marshalling at around the halfway point of the course and I was in 8th place. I didn’t manage to hold on to this as we went up the horrific hill and came in with the team in in 11th before handing over to Chris to take over for the second leg. Linda came in a couple of minutes later and handed over to Margaret. Both came in with strong runs before handing over to James and Lynsey (who just about got to the start line in time!). Lynsey ran as strongly as you’d expect considering she’d been hitting parkrun PBs left, right and centre for weeks and brought the women’s team home in 11th place, while James ran well and handed over to Rory to try and retain a top 10 finish. Rory powered through the field gracefully, barely looking like he’d broken a sweat and brought the men’s team from 13th back up to 8th.
A good day out for Cross Country hardcore of Maryhill with some great times all round. The next Merit League race, the XC Championships, will be interesting as we host them at Maryhill Park!
Maryhill Men’s Team, 8th Place
Finn Boyd: 13:53
Chris Hever: 17:57
James Prior: 16:52
Rory Clark: 13:01
Maryhill Ladies’ Team, 11th Place
Linda Sinclair: 19:28
Margaret Peebles: 20:06
Lynsey McLaughlin: 16:16
Pictures at https://photos.app.goo.gl/AWU6PnPTqxJ9LB3i9
