Gala club's district cross-country runners go for gold at Gordonstoun

A large number of club runners travelled to Livingston and braved freezing temperatures to compete, with athletes securing gold, silver and bronze medals.

The ever-successful ladies’ masters team reached top spot on the podium, thanks to strong runs by Fiona Dalgleish, Rachel Fagan and Gillian Duncan, who were seventh, 17th and 25th respectively.

The U20 men’s team secured silver medals after Faisal Khursheed finished in fifth position, closely followed by Callum Tharme in sixth and Robert Fox (21st).

Faisal’s younger brother, Yousef Khursheed, had an outstanding run in the U17 men’s race to win an individual bronze medal, following closely behind Robert Sparks of Fife AC and race winner Christian Graham of Lasswade AAC. The U17 team was sixth overall, with Lewis Tharme finishing 19th and James Logan 34th.

The female U17s also ran well, with Susannah Godfrey-Fausset finishing 17th, followed by clubmate Eilidh Forbes just a second later, in 18th. With no third counting runner, they were unable to challenge for a position in the team event.

The U15 boys team secured eighth position, with Gregor Collins having a superb run to take fifth spot overall. Ewan Purves was 33rd and Evan McConnell 47th.

Ewan Christie (U13 boys) also had another impressive run to finish fifth overall, with team mate Cameron Rankine crossing the line in 49th place.

In the U20 women’s race, Zoe Pflug continued her good form to finish seventh overall, with Katie Rourke crossing the line in ninth position.

In the senior women’s race, Sara Green competed well in a field of high class runners to come 21st overall, with Kirstin Maxwell finishing 32nd, Fiona Dalgleish 43rd (seventh masters athlete), Rachel Fagan 56 th (17th masters) and Gillian Duncan 73rd (25th masters athlete). This was enough to secure the senior women’s team eighth position and the gold for the masters ladies.

In the senior men’s race, Darrell Hastie ran well to cross the line in 15th, with Marcus D’Agrosa 34th. Craig Mattocks, Gary Trewartha, Tim Darlow, Rory Campbell, Fergus Johnston, Yan Horsburgh, Jamie McGowan, Tony Lunn, Bob Johnson, Billy McCulloch, Derrick Bryden and James Purves finished further down the field. The senior men’s team finished 10 th overall, with the masters team securing fifth position.

The race took place in the picturesque grounds of Gordonstoun School, with the athletes completing laps varying from one mile for the U11s to six miles for the senior men.