Gala Harriers’ female masters go for gold at first east district cross-country relays of new season

Gala Harriers' ladies' masters team of Katy Barden, Sara Green and Pamela Baillie at Livingston (Pic: Gillian Lunn)

Mud and sweat were in plentiful supply for Gala Harriers at Saturday’s first east district cross-country relays of the new season but no tears as the Borderers defied adverse weather conditions to give a good account of themselves at Livingston.

The juniors raced over a 2.5km course represented by three runners, one each at under-13, U15 and U17 levels.

First up in West Lothian were Gala’s girls, with three teams competing in a field of 44.

Annabelle Stewart, Kirsty Rankine and Erin Gray secured an eighth place; Javeira Unibazo, Elise Field and Ava Richardson an 11th; and Holly Craig, Kacie Brown and Poppy Lunn a 22nd.

Gala Harriers U17 Poppy Lunn at Livingston (Pic: Michael Philp)

Erin, Kirsty and Ava clocked the 11th, 12th and 14th fastest laps respectively overall out of 128 runners, with 9:57, 10:00 and 10:05.

Next up were the Galashiels party’s junior boys, with two teams competing in a field of 38.

Bryn McAree, Archie Dalgliesh and Zico Field finished ninth in a combined time of 28:08 and Cameron Tunmore, Gregor Adamson and Irvine Welsh got back 16th in 29:33 all told.

Zico, Irvine and Archie respectively clocked the 14th, 18th and 23rd fastest laps overall out of 107 runners, their times being 8:39, 8:50 and 8:57 respectively.

Gala Harriers senior Isla Paterson at Livingston (Pic: Michael Philp)

As the rain continued to lash down, Gala’s three ladies’ teams, one of them not the full complement, headed out.

Isla Paterson, in her first year as a senior, finished the 4km course in 14:58, the ninth fastest time of the day out of 98 seniors, with Gillian Lunn taking over from Isla for lap two to complete their partial team, clocking 18:57, but ending up being classified as non-finishers due to their lack of numbers.

Gala’s primary masters team of Katy Barden, Pamela Baillie and Sara Green led from the start, with each of them recording the fastest lap for their leg and securing the gold medal with a winning margin of over three minutes in a time of 48:03.

Barden’s time was 15:43, Baillie’s 17:13 and European masters half-marathon champion Green’s 15:07.

The Borderers’ second masters team of Lisa Dalgliesh, Charlotte Hendry and Gina Allen were ninth out of 17 contenders.

Dalgliesh clocked 19:08, Hendry 22:24 and Allen 20:13.

Robbie Welsh led out Gala’s senior men’s team, followed by Marcus D’Agrosa, Ian Maxwell and Simon Adamson, and they finished 24th out of 45 in 1:00:43.

Welsh clocked the fastest lap for the club in 13:20, followed by D’Agrosa in 13:30, with Maxwell recording 17:07 and Adamson 16:46.

Gala’s male masters team of Graeme Murdoch, Jamie McGowan, Iain Stewart and Tim Darlow ended up sixth out of a field of 34 teams in a combined time of 1:02:04.

Stewart and Murdoch clocked respectively the 25th and 27th best laps out of the 121 masters competing, with 15:17 and 15:21.

McGowan’s time was 15:46 and Darlow’s 15:40.

Former Gala Harriers junior Cameron Rankine was also on the run at Livingston, making his debut running for one of three Stirling University male senior teams and helping them secure 15th place with a time of 14:26.