Scottish Masters Cross Country

Results | Route

My 6th outing at the Scottish Masters Cross Country, and first time on the Kilmarnock course. Previous outings had been at Cupar, Bathgate, Irvine (x2) and Kirkcaldy.

Arriving at St Joseph's Academy, the weather wasn't too bad. Just raw, cold and a bit rainy. But shortly before the women's race started, conditions deteriorated rapidly, with heavy freezing unpleasant rain. John Quinn and I hurriedly pitched the gazebo for some much needed shelter, and carried out a minimal warm up, and zero course inspection, so I had no idea what to expect once the race started.

There was the usual jostling for position for the first few hundred metres, and perhaps I should have started a bit faster, since there were repeated stretches of narrow trail through woodland where the field virtually ground to a halt. Some downhill stretches were good for easy overtaking, but I felt pretty feeble on the long climb on the 2nd and 3rd laps, and lost ground here each time. On the final run in, I managed to jump past Andrew Ronald and Scott Martin for 40th place, and 7th M45, although I was only 28 seconds off bronze medal place, which wasn't too bad since I've done next to no running or training so far this year.