East Sutherland Athletics Club brothers dominating North Cross Country League
East Sutherland Athletics Club runners Ross Gollan and Ruairidh Gollan are dominating the North Cross Country League this season as they have won the first three races between them.
The Edderton brothers are in dominant form this season producing excellent performances against the top athletes from across the north.
Ruairidh claimed victory in the first race at Forres with a winning time of 26 minutes and 43 seconds and was 12 seconds clear of his nearest rival James Wilson of Moray Road Runners.
Ross Gollan has claimed victory in the other two races this season winning at Evanton in a time of 32.46 and was 73 seconds clear of the chasing pack.
Ruairidh Gollan, Gordon Lennox and Blair Mackay all finished within the top eight to ensure individual and team victories for East Sutherland Athletics Club.
Ross also dominated the third race at Peterhead winning in a time of 29.23 and was 107 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The flagship event of the year is the North District Cross Country Championships held at Gordonstoun School Grounds where Inter-District places are up for grabs as well as individual and team medals. East Sutherland travelled with a strong squad to try and retain their crown which they won for the first time last year. The individual race was a no contest with Ross Gollan leading from gun to tape, covering the 8k distance in a highly impressive time of 24.50.
Ruairidh finished a superb second to cement his place as one of the top athletes in the north and with that an East Sutherland 1-2. Gordon Lennox took the Veteran 40 title, adding to his tally of age-group victories over the course of the year.
Team Gold was secured by just eight points from Highland Hill Runners in a tight affair which went down to the wire.
Finlay Murray (6th), Gordon Lennox (8th) and Blair Mackay (9th) ensured East Sutherland had five athletes in the top 10 but it was the gritty performance of new member Adam MacLellan (25th) who battled until the end to ensure East Sutherland regained their title. The final East Sutherland athlete was veteran Gary Urqhuart who improved significant on his time from last year and should be proud of his performance.
A club record was broken at the event as the five East Sutherland Athletes who finished in the top 10 were selected for the upcoming inter-district event in Glasgow on the 11th January where they will represent team ‘Scotland North’ against other Scottish districts.
In the ladies’ section Catriona Scott was the sole athlete but continued her fine form by running well throughout, finishing in a strong position. Earlier in the day, John Michael Diracles ran well in a highly competitive junior race to secure his selection for the Under 17 Scotland North squad.
Away from the mud, another club record was broken, this time at the Valencia Marathon. Shaun Cumming, who has had an exceptional season on the roads, including multiple victories and north district medals, set off to Spain for his fourth marathon of the year. He bettered all his times this season by completing the course in a club record of two hours 26 minutes and 46 seconds which is just over five minutes 30 seconds per mile for 26.2 miles.
