January 20th, 2020

Members of Cambuslang Harriers were well represented at the Inter District XC Event held in the shadow of historic Stirling Castle between the North, East and West of Scotland and the Scottish Universities.  Selection to this event is based on performance in the district championships and Cambuslang had 12 athletes across the age groups representing the West and one athlete running for the Universities.  Unfortunately with the incessant and heavy rain the ground became more churned up with each successive race and by the later stages it was very much all about survival of the fittest.  Just to finish showed a lot of character.

Under 13 Sam McCarthy was the first Cambuslang representative and he acquitted himself well to finish inside the first third of the field.  Next up were Abbie McClue and Eva Ritchie in the under 15 girls event and both performed gamely in the difficult conditions as did Susie McLaughlin and Shona Carey in the under 17 ladies race.  Susie was rewarded for her efforts as she gained team silver in finishing 2^nd counter for the ladies team.  Under 17 male Brodie Aitken had an excellent run to finish the 3^rd of the 6 counters for the victorious west team.  Behind him the supporting club trio of Jack Mackinnon, Zak Povey and Michael Black finished within 21 seconds of one another.  In the final event of the day Craig Jardine continued his fine run of form to finish 3^rd counter for the runner up Scottish Universities’ team.  Not far behind Alasdair Campbell and Fraser Stewart provided the 2^nd and 4^th counters for the bronze winning west squad.  Although the heavy mud was not to Stuart Gibson’s liking he nevertheless valiantly battled on to help the west cause.

All athletes who competed and finished deserved a medal as did all the officials, coaches and spectators.  If conditions had been as bad as this in 1297 it is possible that the Battle of Stirling Bridge would not have taken place.

On the same day there were parkrun victories for Lewis Roddis at Strathclyde Park and Ritchie Carr with a personal best time at Tollcross.  It was good to see under 15 Lewis in action again after a prolonged injury spell.

David Cooney