Fife AC runners return with a medal haul from Cumbernauld

Ben Sandilands sprints to win the team silver.

Fife AC excelled at the Scottish Cross Country Relay Championships in Cumbernauld, with the club returning home from the popular event with a team gold, a team silver and two team bronzes.

The junior girls team of Katie Sandilands (u13), Isla Thoms (u15) and Anna Hedley (u17) built on their success at the East District Cross Country Relays two weeks ago and successfully defended the title they won for the first time last year.

Katie got the girls off to a great start, battling the mud to place 9th in 10.34 on leg one. Isla tore through the field on leg two, taking the girls into second place with a 9.35 clocking.

Anna then clocked a superb 9.11, the fastest leg of the day, to bring the team home in gold medal position ahead of rivals Giffnock North AC and Edinburgh AC.

The junior men’s team of Archie Suttie (u13), Struan Bennet (u15) and Ben Sandilands (u17) secured the silver medal behind Giffnock North AC in an exciting junior boys race.

After strong runs from Archie and Struan, clocking 9.57 and 8.57 respectively, Ben started the third and final leg in fifth place. He timed his race to perfection, picking teams off one by one and sprinting past the Central AC team on the final straight to clinch the silver medal. Ben’s impressive time of 8.25 was the third fastest of the day, with only two seconds separating the top three.

The senior women’s A team of Jenny Selman, Laura Gibson, Jen Spence and Sheena Logan was missing a few key figures but still ran very well to place 6th. On leg one, Jenny came in first and ran the second fastest leg of the day behind Megan Keith of Inverness Harriers with a 13.59 clocking.

The senior men’s A team of Kevin Wood, Ryan Lafferty, Lewis Rodgers and Alistair Gudgin placed a credible 11th against one of the strongest fields the championship has seen in years. Kevin finished fourth on leg one in 12.22, which was enough for 10th fastest of the day behind the likes of World Championships marathon fourth placer Callum Hawkins of Kilbarchan AC and recently crowned World Mountain Run Cup Champion Andrew Douglas of Inverclyde AC.

The women’s V50 team of Margaret Martin, Mary Western and Nanette Heaney and the women’s V40 team of Elise Methven, Angela Howe and Michaela McLean both secured the bronze medals in their respective age categories.

Further south, Annabel Simpson and Steph Pennycook ran brilliant personal bests over 10k at the Leeds Abbey Dash.

Annabel ran took more than a minute off her previous personal best with a superb 33.30 clocking while Steph, who was on home turf after recently locating to Leeds for work, was close behind in 33.38.