East Sutherland athletes run for their lives at Nairn
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YOUNG athletes from East Sutherland AC travelled to Nairn on Saturday for the North District Cross Country Relay Championships.
All the top clubs in the North of Scotland took part, including Stornoway, Elgin, Inverness, Moray and Nairn.
The format for this annual event requires one runner from each club to complete one lap of the cross country course before handing over to a team mate in the next age group.
Each team comprises one Under 13, one Under 15 and one Under 17 athlete.
The East Sutherland girls’ team got off to the best possible start when 12 year old Constance Nankivell completed her lap in an outstanding time of 12 minutes 55 seconds. This was the only sub 13 minute lap by any girl of any age in the whole competition.
Catriona Gordon took on the Under 15 lap and ran superbly to extend the lead. This allowed Hanna Cleghorn (Under 17) to complete the final lap in style and claim the North District Championship for her ESAC team.
The ESAC "B" team also produced a great result when Helen Gordon (Under 13), Rosie Nankivell (Under 15) and Eilidh Macrae (Under 17) all combined well to exceed expectations by finishing fourth – just 15 seconds away from a bronze medal.
The boys’ competition followed a similar pattern when Eoghann Gollan (Under 13) established a commanding lead on the first lap. Liam Barnsby (Under 15) continued the good work on the second leg and it was down to Junior Scottish International, Alasdair Coupar (Under 17) to bring the team home. This he did successfully to secure the second North District title of the day for East Sutherland.
Said an excited coach John Davies afterwards: "Another fantastic day at Nairn — these kids are in great form and to produce results against teams like Inverness is really outstanding. Inverness usually win both Junior North District titles and when we took the girls’ one off them, that was very satisfying, but when the boys went out and took the second one, it was just amazing!"
