Arran runners clean up at the cross-country league
The fourth and final race of the KA Leisure/North Ayrshire Schools Cross-Country League was run in cold and wet conditions on Saturday April 29 at St Matthew's Academy in Saltcoats.
Once again, Arran was well represented with 28 runners from years P4 to S1 competing.
A lot of team spirit, sportsmanship and camaraderie was shown by the Arran contingent as they filled their usual corner of the race track to cheer on their team members.
In the P5 girls race, Tia McKinnon followed her third race gold medal with bronze in this race, Astrid Hamade (P4) and Ruby MacArthur came in the top 10 with eighth and ninth places respectively and Isobel Hamade (P4) came in 12th.
Tia, Astrid, Isobel and Ruby won the trophy for the fastest P5 girls team (made up of the fastest runners from one school on the day, Arran being counted as one school).
Racing 32 other runners, Callum Brand ran into sixth in the P5 boys' race, followed by Luca Duncan in 12th, Peter Mochan in 17th, Corey Bunyan 18th and Noah Scott, 20th.
All placing in the top 10, the P6 girls' race saw Eirlys Bowen come in fifth, followed by Iona Hamade in eighth and Darci Bunyan in ninth.
The P6 girls also won the trophy for the fastest team. The P6 boys' race saw top 10 runs from Callan Jessop and Mac McArdle who came eighth and ninth respectively.
Three P7 girls managed top 10 placings with Sophie Smyth in sixth, Isla McKinnon, seventh, Jenny Hume, ninth and Emily Mochan in 13th.
The podium was full with Arran runners in the P7 boys' race with Reece Popplewell first, Harry Popplewell second and Charlie Gilmore third.
Reece, Harry and Charlie also won the trophy for the fastest team.
Innes Kendall followed in fifth, Finn Popplewell in 10th and Hector MacArthur in 16th.
The S1 boys also made a clean sweep of the medals with Freddie Lucas coming first, Thomas Morgan-Lee in second, Finlay Jessop in third and all three winning the trophy for the fastest team.
Requiring at least three individual race results, Arran came away with a number of overall individual league placings too: Tia McKinnon took the silver medal in the overall standings for P5 girls with Ruby MacArthur in ninth.
Callum Brand placed eighth overall for P5 boys while Luca Duncan came 10th, Peter Mochan 13th, Frankie Lucas (P4) 14th and Corey Bunyan 17th.
Darci Bunyan came sixth overall in the P6 girls' league, while Mac McArdle came fifth and Riley McAdam seventh in the P6 boys.
Evie Southwick claimed the overall bronze medal for P7 girls while Jenny Hume came ninth, Isla McKinnon 10th and Emily Mochan 13th overall.
Reece Popplewell took the overall gold medal with brother, Harry, taking silver in the P7 boys' league and Charlie Gilmore the bronze, followed by Finn Popplewell in ninth and Hector MacArthur in 13th.
Thomas Morgan-Lee took silver in the overall S1 boys' league, Ewan Southwick gold in S2 boys and Olivia MorganLee the overall bronze in the S3 girls' league.
The P5 boys' team (consisting at different times of Peter Mochan, Callum Brand, Luca Duncan and Frankie Lucas) took the overall team bronze, the P7 girls' team (consisting at different times of Evie Southwick, Isla McKinnon, Emily Mochan, Jenny Hume and Sophie Smyth) took the overall team silver while the P7 boys' team (Reece Popplewell, Harry Popplewell and Charlie Gilmore) took overall gold in the league.
It was an extremely successful cross-country league for all of the Arran runners, whether they ran all four races or just one or two.
It is hoped that the commitment, determination and enjoyment shown by everyone involved will inspire further youngsters to compete in the league next year.