Gala Harriers' gold medal-winning female masters team of, from left, Sara Green, Katy Barden and Pamela Baillie at Saturday's national cross-country relays at CumbernauldGala Harriers' gold medal-winning female masters team of, from left, Sara Green, Katy Barden and Pamela Baillie at Saturday's national cross-country relays at Cumbernauld
Gala Harriers' gold medal-winning female masters team of, from left, Sara Green, Katy Barden and Pamela Baillie at Saturday's national cross-country relays at Cumbernauld

In pics: Gala Harriers’ female masters go for gold at Cumbernauld cross-country relays

​Gala Harriers’ women’s masters team hit gold standard at Saturday’s national cross-country relays at Cumbernauld, finishing 50 seconds ahead of runners-up Garscube Harriers.

Making up the Galashiels club’s female masters – one of five sets of seniors, accompanied by six junior ones, in action in North Lanarkshire – were Katy Barden, Pamela Baillie and Sara Green and they clocked a combined time of 49:56.5 to claim top spot on the podium.

Barden and Baillie both finished their legs second, in times of 16:38.7 and 18:00.3 respectively, but Green won hers, in 15:17.5, despite starting almost a minute and a third behind Garscube’s Gillian Blee, clocking 17:24.7 for a combined time of 50:46.5 for the second-placed Glaswegians.

Gala’s over-50 women’s team of Julia Johnstone, Lisa Dalgliesh and Gillian Lunn just missed out on a podium place, finishing fourth in a total time of 58:05.3, almost a minute behind third-placed Kirkintilloch Olympians, with Giffnock North Athletics Club winning and Edinburgh Athletic Club coming second.

Johnstone’s opening leg of 18:32.7 was the Borderers’ speediest, with Dalgliesh clocking 19:47.4 and Lunn 19:45.9.

Gala’s male masters team of Darrell Hastie, Iain Stewart, Jamie McGowan and Gary Trewartha went one better, placing third behind winners Cambuslang Harriers and runners-up Garscube.

Hastie’s time was 13.02.8, putting his team in front after leg one. Stewart’s was 15:20.2, McGowan’s 16:11.3 and Trewartha’s 14:43.8.

Gala’s senior men finished 33rd out of a field of 100 in their 4km race in a combined time of 59:30.4.

Robbie Welsh was their speediest runner with a time of just under 13:27, followed by Marcus D’Agrosa’s 13:36.1, Tim Darlow’s 15:56.8 and Simon Adamson’s 16:30.2.

Their over-50 male clubmates Bob Johnson, Neil Christie and Ian Maxwell finished 18th out of a field of 29 in a total time of 53:42.2.

Johnson clocked 18:17.5, Christie 18:05.0 and Maxwell 17:19.8.

Gala’s first junior girls’ team of under-13 Annabelle Stewart, U15 Ava Richardson and U17 Erin Gray finished tenth out of 69 teams in 33:45.4; their second team of Javiera Unibazo, Elise Field and Kirsty Rankine 20th in 35:06.1; and their third team of Holly Craig, Kacie Brown and Poppy Lunn 27th in 35:40.9.

Their first boys’ team of Bryn McCree, Archie Dalgliesh and Zico Field were 14th out of 59 in 29:54.2; their second team of Cameron Tunmore, Charlie Dalgliesh and Irvine Welsh 20th in 31:16.5; and their thirds – Angus McCarthy, Seb Darlow and Oliver Hastie – 32nd in 32:08.3.

The Harriers’ next cross-country run will be the national short-course contest at Lanark on Saturday, November 4.

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