Borderers fly high in Livingston leg of East District Cross-country

On a perfect, if chilly, day for running, the muddy underfoot conditions proved a tough test, but one to which the Borders runners rose with vigour.

Rory Williams and Josh Abbott (both Gala) yo-yoed between second and third place in the under-11 boys’ race over 1,500m, with Rory just prevailing in the end.

And with Craig Angus (Moorfoot) showing good improvement in seventh it was another comfortable team win to start the day.

The under-11 girls also took the team spoils through Rhiannon Fagan (Gala) in second, Beth Hobbs (Moorfoot) fourth, and newcomer Molly Falconer (Moorfoot), who ran steadily for ninth.

The under-13 boys’ team showed good improvement from leg one, with Jamie Logan (Gala) home in seventh, Andrew Hogg (Gala) just behind in eighth and Euan Hood (Moorfoot) 15th for third team on the day. Zaynah Aziz (Moorfoot) produced an excellent individual win in the Under-13 girls’ race. Newcomer Fiona Grant (Moorfoot) had a tremendous first outing to finish strongly for 11th with team-mate Mairi Wallace just behind in 13th.

In the combined under-15 girls’/under-17 women’s race over 3.2km, Louise Mercer (Gala) in seventh, Kerry Sandilands (Gala) in 13th and Sophie Collins (Moorfoot) 21st were the team counters for third team on the day.

The strength of the Borders Under-15 boys’ squad was demonstrated by their team win despite the absence of top performer Nathan Cox.

Kobe Stevens (Moorfoot) showed good commitment for eighth, Thomas Otton (Gala) followed him home in ninth and Joe Agnew (Gala) turned in a much-improved performance for 12th.

The under-17 men’s squad is stronger still and they again dominated their team race.

Jacob Adkin (Moorfoot) ran a committed second lap of the four-mile course to take second place, with his Selkirk-based team-mates John McLean and Jack Stanners in third and fifth.

Overall, a return from Livingston of four team wins and three thirds for the seven age-group races for Team Borders puts them in a strong position for a clutch of age-group league titles if they can hold that form for the third leg in January.