Gala Harrier Sara Green fastest female veteran at cross-country league opener in Fife

Her time of 20:58 for a 5,200m course at Kirkcaldy’s Beveridge Park – just over a minute behind winner Amy Frankland’s 19:56, running for Midlothian’s Lasswade Athletic Club – earned her fifth place overall and helped her four-strong team to a sixth-placed finish.

Green’s Gala teammates were juniors Poppy Lunn and Jessica Smith, 24th in 22:54 and 46th in 24:37 respectively, and veteran Gillian Lunn, 61st in 25:48.

Teviotdale Harriers’ Morag Michie was 79th in 27:09.

Lunn senior was 19th female veteran and her clubmate Kate Darlow was 50th in that class in 29:53.

Fellow Gala runner Robbie Welsh was the first Borderer to finish the 7,800m male version of that race, placing 23rd in a field of 243 in 27:29, with first place going to Fife Athletic Club’s Logan Rees in 24:48.

Welsh was part of a team of six and they ended up sixth. Following him home were his brother Irvine, a junior, 64th in 30:12; veteran Gary Trewartha, 66th in 30:15; Gregor Kerr, 82nd in 31:11; junior Sam Robertson, 90th in 31:34; and veteran Iain Stewart, 103rd in 32:07.

Teviotdale Harriers’ Greg Walker was 43rd in 28:40 and his clubmate Alan Inglis was 182nd in 36:57.

Walker, Trewartha and Stewart’s times saw them place as third, tenth and 22nd masters.

Team Borders claimed four top-20 finishes in the under-17 girls’ race over 4,300m – won by Edinburgh’s Rachel Caves in 16:13 – with Ava Richardson fifth in 17:05, Isabella Moran 11th in 17:27, Kirsty Rankine 15th in 17:41 and Thea Harris 17th in 17:46, the first three of them counting as third team.

That age bracket’s boys’ race over 5,200m – won by Falkirk’s Harrison MacMillan in 18:02 – saw three top-ten finishes go to Team Borders, earning them second place as a team, with Seb Darlow fifth in 18:47, Oliver Hastie eighth in 19:17 and Gregor Adamson tenth in 19:27. Their clubmate Rory Pretswell was 15th in 20:17.

Team Borders’ under-15 boys, racing over 4,300m, placed sixth collectively, with Jack Foley finishing as runner-up to Anster Haddies’ Luca Anderson in 15:02, only three seconds behind the Fifer. His teammates Angus McCarthy and Cameron Tunmore were 25th in 16:53 and 33rd in 17:47, with Teviotdale’s Alfie Walker ninth in 15:39.

Team Borders’ under-13 girls took third place in their 2,600m race, with Rose Davidson finishing third in 10:17, Molly Trewartha seventh in 10:42 and Rowan Johnston 15th in 11:15. Teviotdale’s Freya Walker was 31st in that race in 12:08, with first place going to Aberdeen’s Millie Glass-Park in 9:41.

Their male peers, racing over the same distance, managed two top-20 finishes, with Isaac Hastie placing 17th in 10:33 and Torin Urie 19th in 10:39. That race was won by Dunfermline’s Alfie Whyte in 9:38 and Teviotdale’s Callan Michie was 52nd in 12:15.

Teviotdale’s Freya Michie was first Borderer home in the 1,700m race for under-11 girls, placing 17th in 7:24, trailing winner Emily Birnie’s time of 6:26 for Banchory Stonehaven Athletics Club but ahead of Team Borders’ Sunne Runciman, 20th in 7:32.

The Hawick club’s Connor Davidson was runner-up to Lasswade’s Finlay Scott in that age class’s boys’ race over the same distance, shy of his winning time of 5:52 by two seconds.

Team Borders’ Elliot Baxter was also among a field of 80, placing 35th in 7:05.

Saturday’s meeting was the first of three, followed by one in Dundee on November 22 and another in Bathgate in West Lothian on January 17, both Saturdays too.