Tackling the cross country

Perth Road Runners travelled to Broxburn for more cross country action over the weekend.

The East District League meeting saw six women and 12 men from the Fair City club lace up their trainers.

The women finished 10th overall - an increase of 10 places from last month - and the vets team finished in sixth place. It was an 11th place finish for the men’s team with their vets team claiming seventh.

The men were represented by Mike Dales, Duncan Ryan, Richard Ward, Kevin Rogers, Kevin Riddell, Simon Grieshaber, Stewart Reid, Ronnie Glen, Mark Crawford, Myles Bax and Kenny Cairns. Fabienne Thompson, Rhona Younger, Gillian Edwards, Fiona Manson, Louise Waywell and Rhona Henderson made up the teams for the women.

Perth Strathtay Harriers were also well represented in Broxburn with highlights of the day including fine runs in the 1.4km race by under-11 stars Gideon Lidstone and Ethan Stark. Ethan finished marginally ahead in eighth place.

Not to be outdone by the boys, the under-11 girls were equally impressive while, in the older age groups, Ben Henderson and Emma Jenkins both performed well.

Elsewhere, road runner Paul Stewart competed in the Glen Tress Winter Half Marathon. He finished in 2:05.06 despite having to tackle almost 700 metres of elevation and some tricky conditions underfoot.

No less than 40 green vests ran Perth parkrun on Saturday with a further seven members volunteering. As it was Perth parkrun’s fifth birthday, runners dressed up in circus attire and made donations to Perth Foodbank.

There was also cause for celebration for Gillian Smith as this was her 100th parkrun.

The annual Yahoo event is to be hosted on December 11, with times to be submitted by December 4. Runners require a hi-vis and head torch.