Cross Country
Six of Ayrshire’s finest athletes from Ayr Seaforth took part in the Dunnydeer Hill Race on Sunday, 6th June.
At just over 9 miles, 4,000ft of elevation and a couple of pretty serious descents it proved to be a tough but enjoyable run for all who took part.
Top form from Alasdair Meldrum, Simon Kirk, Iain Pettigrew, Peter Maclean, Ian Morrison and Gillian Hannah for their efforts on the day.
The first race of the 2019 cross country season took place at a very muddy Kilmarnock on Saturday. This was a chance for those new to this type of running to get their teeth into a true cross country course that had plenty of mud and the infamous Kilmarnock swamp. There was a healthy turnout from Seaforth with the Senior Men being particularly well represented.
The Junior races take place over a 2500m course with 3 athletes per team. The first runner is an under 13 athlete with leg 2 allowing for either an u13 or u15 and leg 3 being an u15 or u17. The Senior Womens race comprises of teams of 3 athletes each taking on a 4000m course and the Senior Men being teams of 4 athletes taking on the same 4000m course.
In the Junior Girls race the Seaforth team of Iona Hubbard, Sophie McColm and Morven Hubbard took a creditable 5th place with the 2nd Seaforth team taking 27th place in a 48 complete team field.
The Junior Boys race saw the first Seaforth team home in 18th place with the 2nd team taking 24th, the 3rd team 26th of 47 complete teams.
In the Senior Womens race Seaforth saw teams home in 10th and 48th place.
The Senior Mens race saw a massive 70 complete teams take part with Seaforth taking 12th, 21st, 45th and 59th places.
Full individual times are shown below.
| Team Position / Time | Name / Age Group | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|
| 5th / 31.34 | Iona Hubbard / U13 | 10.09 |
| Sophie McColm / U15 | 10.55 | |
| Morven Hubbard / U17 | 10.30 | |
| 27th / 34.49 | Sophie McCallum / U13 | 10.21 |
| Clare McLaughlin / U15 | 11.28 | |
| Lucy Stanley / U17 | 13.00 |
| Team Position / Time | Athlete / Age Group | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|
| 18th / 29.43 | Daniel Byers / U13 | 10.28 |
| Evan Kelly / U15 | 10.01 | |
| Euan Bell / U17 | 9.14 | |
| 24th / 30.31 | Fraser McIntyre / U13 | 10.33 |
| Fergus Muir / U15 | 10.51 | |
| Alex Crooks / U17 | 9.07 | |
| 26th / 30.44 | Roddy Crean / U13 | 10.52 |
| Ethan Polson / U15 | 9.36 | |
| Nathan McColm / U17 | 10.16 | |
| Incomplete Team | Brady McLean / U13 | 11.18 |
| Connor Scobie / U15 | 11.12 | |
| Incomplete Team | Sam McCrorie / U13 | 13.11 |
| Team Position / Time | Athlete | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10th / 50.42 | Toni McIntosh | 15.43 |
| Gael Neill | 18.18 | |
| Laura Wallace | 16.41 | |
| 48th / 66.18 | Ruth Kirk | 22.04 |
| Gillian Hannah | 21.16 | |
| Kirsty Green | 22.58 |
| Team Position / Time | Athlete | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|
| 12th / 56.10 | Lewis Ross | 13.25 |
| Daniel Graham | 14.03 | |
| Grahame Hopper | 14.10 | |
| Scott Sprang | 14.32 | |
| 21st / 59.01 | Brian Robinson | 14.21 |
| Stephen McCrorie | 14.58 | |
| Alasdair Meldrum | 15.49 | |
| Kenneth Neill | 13.53 | |
| 45th / 66.10 | Iain Pettigrew | 16.45 |
| Stuart McLean | 15.53 | |
| Simon Kirk | 16.44 | |
| Alasdair Armstrong | 16.48 | |
| 59th / 69.18 | Laurence Baker | 17.39 |
| Barry Duddy | 16.31 | |
| Tim Downie | 17.57 | |
| Ian Young | 17.11 |
This years Scottish National Cross Country Championships took place today at the regular venue of Callendar Park, Falkirk in somewhat different conditions from what we are used to for most of the event. Gone was the wind, rain, mud and even the snow and athletes were instead greeted with unseasonably warm and very dry conditions although the rain did arrive before the event concluded.
Ayr Seaforth were again well represented from the U13 age group through to the Seniors in what was the largest field ever at the nationals. with the total number of entries put at 2458 it was the largest since the mens and womens Championships were combined in 1993-94.
First up was the U13 Girls who raced over a 3100m course where 146 athletes completed the course. Seaforth athletes were Iona Hubbard (12th-13:37), Anna Kirk (33rd-4:15), Sophie McCallum (38th-14:20), Sophie McColm (57th-4:50) and Katie Murray (72nd-15:19) with the Seaforth team narrowly missing out on a bronze medal taking 5th place overall.
The U13 Boys had the same 3100m course with a field of 185 contestants. Evan Kelly (38th-13:10) was first home followed by Ethan Polson (53rd-3:26), Daniel Byers (64th-3:37), Fraser McIntyre (75th-13:46) and Callum Moir (77th-13:47).
The U15 athletes had a slightly longer 4100m course for both girls & boys with the girls running first. Morven Hubbard (1st-17:10) led the way from the only other Seaforth entrant who was her sister Islay Hubbard (72nd-19:00).
The U15 Boys saw sole Seaforth representative Euan Bell (43rd-15:51).
The last Junior Seaforth athlete of the day was U17 Woman Emma Frew who claimed 28th-28:54 over the 6000m course.
Sandwiching the U20 races were the Senior athletes with the Senior Women taking to the stage first over the 10000m course. A massive field of 319 completed the race with Gael Neill (159th-53:09) and Kirsty Green (313th-70:03).
The Senior mens race had an even bigger field of 719 athletes with the hardy Seaforth team taking 28th team position overall. Individual places and times were Kenneth Neill (91st-39:04), Stephen McCrorie (294th-44:37), Stuart McClean (314th-45:04), Alasdair Meldrum (320th-45:3), Simon Kirk (370th-46:24), Iain Pettigrew (48:32), Laurence Baker (571st-51:15), Ian Morrison (618th-53:09), Stuart McColm (631st-53:45) and Peter Laing (664th-55:11).
For most this will be the end of the cross country season and some may have a well deserved break before they get down to the serious business of the 2019 track season. Many thanks to all of the coaches who have prepared the athletes over the winter for these Championships.
This years West District Cross Country Championships took place at a very wet and muddy Kilmarnock yesterday. While the strong winds of earlier in the week had gone the mud was as bad as ever with the rain returning before the event finished.
The first race of the day was the U13 Girls race which unfortunately was victim to an error on the course where the runners were marshalled over a far shorter course than the 3200m they were supposed to run, the organisers however decided that the results stood which saw Ayr Seaforth off to a good start with Iona Hubbard taking second place with the team of Iona Hubbard, Anna Kirk & Sophie McCallum taking the Team Silver medals.
The U13 Boys followed and this time there was no marshalling mistakes. Over the 3200m course the Seaforth team of Ethan Polson, Calum Moir & Daniel Byers took 5th place overall.
The U15 Girls was the next race which was over a longer course of some 4000m and this was followed by the U15 Boys who took on the same distance.
The next race where Seaforth was represented was the U17 Women over 5500m and it was in this race we saw the performance of the day with Rosie Davidson taking the Gold medal.
The Senior Women then took on the same 8500m course that the Senior would run in the last race of the day with the U17 Men competing on the 5500m course in between these races.
Cross country now takes a break until the National Championships which are in Falkirk towards the end of February.
| Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 2 (Team Silver) | Iona Hubbard | 5:01 |
| 12 (Team Silver) | Anna Kirk | 5:10 |
| 16 (Team Silver) | Sophie McCallum | 5:17 |
| 17 | Sophie McColm | 5:20 |
| 20 | Katie Murray | 5:21 |
| 28 | Emma McMillan | 5:31 |
| Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Ethan Polson | 13:23 |
| 23 | Calum Moir | 13:39 |
| 29 | Daniel Byers | 13:52 |
| 37 | Fraser McIntyre | 14:07 |
| Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Morven Hubbard | 19:01 |
| 48 | Islay Hubbard | 20:57 |
| Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 43 | Joshua Mirtle | 8:53 |
| Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosie Davidson | 2:02 |
| 5 | Emma Frew | 22:57 |
| Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Toni McIntosh | 37:05 |
| 15 | Nicola Dunn | 38:24 |
| 90 | Ruth Kirk | 48:05 |
| 122 | Kirsty Green | 58:25 |
| Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Scott Sprang | 20:40 |
| Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | Kenny Neill | 33:02 |
| 52 | Grahame Hopper | 35:02 |
| 150 | Simon Kirk | 40:25 |
| 178 | Iain Pettigrew | 42:12 |
| 190 | Tim Downie | 43:30 |
| 194 | Laurence Baker | 43:41 |
| 227 | Brian Dunn | 48:57 |
A sizeable group from Ayr Seaforth made the now annual trip to Liverpool this weekend to compete in the 3rd leg of this seasons British Cross Country Challenge which is a series of races in Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, Belfast and Loughborough. Points are awarded for finishing places in each race with the season winners decided in the final race at Lougborough by accumulated points totals. The race at Liverpool was also the trials for this seasons European Championships with the UK team at the older age groups being decided. The Seaforth performance of the day was in the U13 Girls race where Iona Hubbard came home in 16th place although this was only 2 places better than U17 Woman Rosie Davidson who took 18th place in her race.
In the U13 Girls race Seaforth had 5 girls competing resulting in Iona Hubbard (16th), Anna Kirk (26th), Sophie McCallum (28th), Sophie McColm (41st) and Drew Walker (78th) while in the U13 Boys it was Daniel Byers (48th), Calum Moir (60th) and Connor Scobie (74th).
The U15 Girls saw the other two Hubbard sisters running with Morven Hubbard (60th) and Islay Hubbard (102nd), in the U15 Boys Euan Bell was 69th with Alex Crooks (117th) and Fergus Muir (119th).
The U17 Womens race had Rosie Davidson (18th), Emma Frew (25th) and Evie Mackay (75th). The U17 Men race which was won by Hamish Armitt of Giffnock North saw Scott Sprang (63rd) and Max McLean (119th).
There was only a solo Senior athlete from Ayr Seaforth competing on the day and this was Ruth Kirk in the Senior Womens race where she completed the gruelling course in 193rd position.
This years Ayrshire Cross Country Championships took place at an unusually sunny Kilmarnock on Saturday although conditions underfoot were still slightly soft in places. First up was the U11 races where Seaforth athlete Brady McLean took the Gold medal in the boys race. There was success in both U13 races however with Iona Hubbard taking Gold & Anna Kirk the Silver in the girls race while Ethan Polson took Silver & Daniel Byers Bronze in the boys race. Euan Bell followed this taking Silver in the U15 boys race while Morven Hubbard also took Silver in the U15 girls race. Not to be outdone it was then the turn of Scott Sprang to take Gold & Emma Frew also Gold in the U17 races. The final races of the day were the Seniors where Toni McIntosh won Gold in the womens with twin sister Laura Wallace taking bronze, in the mens race Lewis Ross won bronze while also taking the position of 1st in the U20 section. All in all it was good day for Ayr Seaforth and full results can be found below.
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 1st (3rd Team) | Brady McLean |
| 8th (3rd Team) | Matthew Copland |
| 12th (3rd Team) | Finlay Leishman |
| 14th | Sam McCrorie |
| 17th | Lucan Marshall-Watt |
| 19th | Sebastien Ballantyne |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 6th | Leya Gardiner |
| 7th | Jessica Byers |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 2nd (1st Team) | Ethan Polson |
| 3rd (1st Team) | Daniel Byers |
| 5th (1st Team) | Connor Scobie |
| 7th (1st Team) | Fraser McIntyre |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 1st (1st Team) | Iona Hubbard |
| 3rd (1st Team) | Anna Kirk |
| 5th (1st Team) | Sophie McColm |
| 8th | Emma McMillan |
| 9th | Claire McLaughlin |
| 10th | Drew Walker |
| 15th | Emma Ablett |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 2nd (2nd Team) | Euan Bell |
| 4th (2nd Team) | Alex Crooks |
| 6th (2nd Team) | Joshua Mirtle |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 2nd | Morven Hubbard |
| 6th | Islay Hubbard |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 1st | Scott Sprang |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 1st | Emma Frew |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 3rd (2nd Team/1st U20) | Lewis Ross |
| 4th (2nd Team/1st M40) | Kenny Neill |
| 6th (2nd Team) | Grahame Hopper |
| 14th (2nd Team) | Alasdair Meldrum |
| 23rd (2nd Team) | Simon Kirk |
| 27th | Iain Pettigrew |
| 31st | Peter Laing |
| 32nd | Stuart McColm |
| 36th | Brian Dunn |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| 1st (1st Team) | Toni McIntosh |
| 3rd (1st Team) | Laure Wallace |
| 4th (1st Team) | Nicola Dunn |
| 9th | Gael Neill |
| 12th | Ruth Kirk |
This years National Short Course XC moved to a new venue at Lanark Race Course. This is a cross country race which is run over a much shorter distance than usual making it something of a cross country sprint. It is limited to age groups of U15 and above with the U15 racing over a 2km course, U17 over a 3km course and the U20/Senior over a 4km course. In the U15 Girls race Morven Hubbard took 36th place with sister Islay Hubbard taking 61st place. In the U15 Boys race Alex Crooks completed the course in 24th place with Fergus Muir in 106th. The U17 Women saw the performance of the day from Seaforth with Rosie Davidson (5th place), Emma Frew (13th place) and Evie Mackay (46th place) giving them the team Bronze medal. With there being no U17 men competing from Seaforth on the day it was then the turn of the Seniors. In the Senior Women it was Toni McIntosh who led the way finishing in 22nd place followed by Nicola Dunn in 64th place from a field of 206 competitors. The Senior Men completed the days competition with Grahame Hopper in 170th place, Alasdair Meldrum 268th, Simon Kirk 304th, Craig Brown 309th and Tim Downie 416th.
This years Scottish National XC Relay Championships took place on Saturday at a somewhat mudless Cumbernauld which is extremely unusual. On a day with a bright,sunny sky and low temperatures there was no sign of the mud which is a normal feature of this course but this in no way made it any easier for the competitors who still had to negotiate the rolling hills of the course.
The first race of the day was that of the Young Females where teams of 3 compete with an U13 athlete running the 2500m course first followed by either an U13 or U15 who then hands over to either an U15 or U17. Seaforth had 3 complete teams and an incomplete team competing in this race with Team 1 giving the club their best result of the day with 8th place.
Next up was the Young Males who ran in the same format with there being 3 complete teams and an incomplete team.
With only 2 Senior Women available on the day it was an incomplete team of Gael Riddle & Ruth Kirk who competed in the Masters Women section taking on a 4000m course. The Senior Men were well represented with 3 complete teams taking on the 4 x 4000m course. Full results can be seen in the tables below.
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 8th Place (Team 1) | Iona Hubbard (u13) | 10:03 |
| Morven Hubbard (u15) | 10:28 (20:31.1) | |
| Rosie Davidson (u17) | 9:37 (30:08.2) | |
| 30th Place (Team 2) | Anna Kirk (u13) | 10:34 |
| Islay Hubbard (u15) | 11:11 (21:45.7) | |
| Emma Frew (u17) | 9:53 (31:39.2) | |
| 45th Place (Team 3) | Sophie McColm (u13) | 10:43 |
| Katie Murray (u13) | 11:00 (21:43.3) | |
| Evie Mackay (u17) | 11:08 (2:52.1) | |
| Incomplete Team | Sophie McCallum (u13) | 10:35 |
| Drew Walker (u13) | 12:12 (22:48.7) |
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 18th Place (Team 1) | Adam Currie (u13) | 9:48 |
| Alex Crooks (u15) | 9:09 (18:58) | |
| Scott Sprang (u17) | 8:47 (27:45.7) | |
| 74th Place (Team 2) | Daniel Byers (u13) | 9:54 |
| Connor Scobie (u13) | 10:35 (20:30.2) | |
| Max McLean (u17) | 10:37 (31:07.5) | |
| 80th Place (Team 3) | Ethan Polson (u13) | 10:10 |
| Calum Moir (u13) | 12:06 (22:16) | |
| Euan Bell (u15) | 9:16 (31:33.3) | |
| Incomplete Team | Fraser McIntyre (u13) | 10:42 |
| Joshua Mirtle (u15) | 11:10 (21:52.8) |
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Incomplete Team | Gael Neill | 18:06 |
| Ruth Kirk | 19:06 (37:12.9) |
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 39th Place (Team 1) | Stephen McCrorie (M45) | 14:26 |
| Brian Robinson (M40) | 13:53 (28:19) | |
| Kenny Neill (M40) | 13:16 (41:36) | |
| Grahame Hopper | 13:38 (55:15.1) | |
| 87th Place (Team 2) | Simon Kirk (M45) | 15:25 |
| Craig Brown | 15:32 (30:57) | |
| Alasdair Meldrum (M45) | 15:05 (46:02) | |
| Iain Pettigrew (M50) | 15:44 (61:47.5 | |
| 106th Place (Team 3) | Ian Young | 15:55 |
| Peter Laing (M55) | 17:27 (33:23) | |
| Stuart McColm (M50) | 17:46 (51:10) | |
| Stuart McLean (M45) | 16:40 (67.50) |
This years Ayrshire Cross Country Relay Championships took place on Saturday at Irvine Sports Club. Conditions were favourable with the rain holding off till the Senior races although the lack of mud underfoot may have confused a few. There was success on the day for several Seaforth teams with the U11 Boys(A) taking Silver, U13 Boys (A) taking Silver, U13 Girls (B) taking Gold & the (A) team Bronze, Mens (A) took Bronze while the Womens (A) won Gold. Full results can be found below.
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | TEAM A | |
| Brady McLean | 4:51 | |
| Finlay Leishman | 5:10 | |
| Sam McCrorie | 5:16 | |
| Incomplete Team | Lucan Marshall-Watt | 5:41 |
| Incomplete Team | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Jessica Byers | 5:39 | |
| Leya Konther | 5:32 |
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | Daniel Byers | 9:34 |
| Connor Scobie | 10:09 | |
| Fraser McIntyre | 10:29 | |
| Incomplete Team | Ethan Polson | 9:44 |
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Anna Kirk | 10:01 |
| Sophie McCallum | 10:28 | |
| Iona Hubbard | 9:53 | |
| 3rd | Sophie McColm | 10:07 |
| Jessica Donnelly | 11:44 | |
| Claire McLaughlin | 1:25 |
| Team | Position | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Incomplete Team | Alex Crooks | 8:48 |
| Fergus Muir | 11:03 |
| Team | Position | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Incomplete Team | Morven Hubbard | 10:17 |
| Islay Hubbard | 11:09 |
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd | Kenny Neill | 13:46 |
| Grahame Hopper | 14:22 | |
| Stephen McCrorie | 15:23 | |
| Simon Kirk | 16:04 | |
| 11th | Stuart McLean | 17:04 |
| Ian Pettigrew | 16:25 | |
| Barry Duddy | 16:25 | |
| Ian Young | 16:46 | |
| Incomplete Team | Stuart McColm | 18:13 |
| Peter Laing | 17:57 |
| Team Position | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Toni McIntosh | 15:26 |
| Nicola Dunn | 16:09 | |
| Laura Wallace | 15:27 | |
| 5th | Gael Neill | 18:31 |
| Evie MacKay | 17:41 | |
| Ruth Kirk | 20:30 |
This years West District Cross Country Relay Championships took place at an exceptionally wet Irvine Beach Park yesterday but despite the weather around 1200 athletes took part.
Seaforth had teams featuring in each race and first up was the Young Females. This race like the Young Males comprises of teams of 3 athletes each running over a 2500m course. The first runner is an U13 athlete with the second either an U13 or U15 and the third runner either U15 or U17.
In the young Females race which had 45 complete teams, Seaforth had 3 complete teams competing with the first leg runners being Iona Hubbard (Team A), Sophie MCcColm (Team B) and Sophie McCallum (Team C). It was Iona Hubbard who led the race home with a sizeable lead to hand over to the second leg runners who were Morven Hubbard (Team A), Anna Kirk (Team B) and Katie Murray (Team C). For the third and final leg it was Emma Frew (Team A), Evie Mackay (Team B) and Isla Hubbard (Team C) who set off with Team A coming home in 5th place, Team B in 16th place and Team C in 20th place.
The next race was the Young Males where Seaforth had 2 complete teams and an incomplete team in a race with 40 complete teams. First leg runners were Conor Scobie (Team A), Calum Moir (Team B) and Fraser McIntyre (Team C) who then handed over to Alex Crooks (Team A), Daniel Byers (Team B) and Euan Bell (Team C). With no third runner for team C it was left to Scott Sprang (Team A) and Max McLean (Team B) to take up the challenge with Team A coming home in 11th place and Team B in 26th place.
The Senior Women were next up in a race with 34 complete teams. This race was competed by teams of 3 athletes each taking on a 4000m course. With only one complete team and a solo runner it was Laura Wallace (Team A) and Ruth Kirk (Team B) who set off with Laura followed by Gael Neill and Toni McIntosh who brought the team home in 10th place.
The Senior Mens race comprised of teams of 4 athletes each taking on the same 4000m course as the Senior Women. Seaforth had 3 complete teams in a field of 85 complete Senior teams and it was first leg runners Grahame Hopper (Team A), Alasdair Meldrum (Team B) and Laurence Baker (Team C) who led off handing over to Stephen McCrorie (Team A), Simon Kirk (Team B) and Peter Laing(Team C). With persistent rain once again falling it was then the turn of Craig Brown (Team A), Iain Pettigrew (Team B) and Stuart McColm (Team C) who handed over to final leg runners Kenny Neill (Team A), Paul Turnbull (Team B) and Stuart McLean (Team C). In the final overall standings in the Senior category Team A were 28th, Team B 58th and Team C 72nd however in the Seniors only category Team A were 23rd while in the Masters category Team B were 12th and Team C 16th.
Next up is the Ayrshire Cross Country Relays next weekend followed by the National Cross Country Relays at Cumbernauld.
