Saturday 24^th February saw over 2200 runners descend on Callendar Park, Falkirk for the Lindsays Scottish Athletics National Cross Country Championships.  This event, essentially, brings the Scottish cross country season to a close and attracts high calibre competitors from across Scotland from the Borders to Shetland.  The underfoot conditions were soft, but not the usual mud and the early morning frost was soon gone from an unusual February sunny morning.  Team East Lothian had 11 athletes competing in the various age groups from under 13 to under 20.  Unfortunately, a number of illnesses and injuries prevented TEL from fielding enough runners in any age group to compete for team medals, however, there were a number of individual successes.

First race of the day was the under 13 girls 3.3km race, where Team East Lothian had 3 girls competing.  Imogen Turner ran into the lead after the starter’s gun went off and extended this lead throughout the race to take a convincing win and gold medal in 12:42.  Ava Rose Curtis was the next TEL athlete across the line in this competitive event in 15^th place (13:43) and Tessa Russell coming home in 45^th place in 15:05.

In the under 13 boys 3.3km race, Tom Ibbs, ran superbly to come home in 19^th place in a time of 12:54.  Both Tom and Tessa will have another chance in this age group next year where many of the competitors from yesterday will move into the under 15 age category.

Sula Russell was the only TEL girl in the under 15 4.3km race and ran very well to come home in 61^st place in a time of 19:55.  In the under 15 boys race, Joe Smith had a fantastic run to cross the line in 9^th place overall in a time of 15:35, followed by Thomas Gornall in 35^th place (16:41) and Jacob Lamb in 57^th place (17:28).

The next race of the day was the under 17 men’s race where Team East Lothian only fielded a single runner.  Running a very clever race, Ronnie Brown made his way from 8^th place to cross the line in 3^rd overall and take the Scottish Athletics under 17 men’s bronze medal.

In the under 20 men’s 6.8km race Jamie Smith ran well to cross the line in 29^th place in a time of 24:42.  And last but not least Ella Nicholson had a superb race in the under 20 women’s event to come home in 14^th place in a time of 29:28.