Fife Athletic Club under-17 girls’ bring back bronze medal from Aberdeen event

Fife AC fielded athletes in the under-17 women’s, under-20 men’s and senior men’s and women's races at Saturday’s east district cross-country championships in Aberdeen, held at the Balgownie Playing Fields at Bridge of Don. In addition to those cross-country races, Anster Haddies hosted a Santa’s Sleigh of Fire 5k race on Sunday morning at the West Sands beach at St Andrews.

While several Saturday morning parkruns fell victim to the weather, there were some strong performances by Wizard and Fife athletes at those that did go ahead.

Sunday morning’s Bacon Rollers social run went ahead too, with Wizards meeting for a wintry jaunt in Cardenden Woods. Fife’s under-17 ladies’ team brought back a bronze medal from Saturday’s cross-country championships in Aberdeen.

Eliza Konig finished sixth overall in their 5.7km race in 21:24. Nellie Luxford joined her clubmate in the top ten with a time of 21:47, getting back ninth, and Katie Sandilands clocked 22:21 to finish 17th.

In the under-20 men’s 6.4km race, Conor Gourley ran a time of 21:14 to finish 11th overall. Fife’s senior men’s team contested the 8.6km race, with Lewis Rodgers finishing 13th overall in 27:26, Michael Sanderson 20th in 28:06 and Russell Hall 62nd in 30:54.

There were three equally impressive performances in the senior women’s race over the same distance. Megan Crawford finished tenth overall in 33:21, Laura Gibson 15th in 34:11 and Kerry Gibson 31st in 36:38.

In the Santa’s Sleigh of Fire beach race, Fife AC’s Ailsa Cruickshanks achieved a sixth-placed finish with a 21:31 time and Wizard Chloe Herd was 56th out of a field of 80 in a time of 31:05.

Cruickshanks was also first female finisher, almost a minute and a half ahead of runner-up Suzanne Shaw, 12th home overall.

Fife AC trio Stephen Horrocks-Birss (22:01), David Place (22:20) and Fiona Walker (30:24) all produced strong performances at the Craigtoun parkrun.

Elsewhere in Fife, Camperdown Country Park staged its first parkrun in several weeks after the course used for the event suffered severe strong damage during Storm Babet, with Fife AC’s Kenneth Alan McLeod running a time of 32:26.

In East Lothian, Wizards Claire Jurecki and Michaela Sullivan ventured to Whitekirk Hill parkrun at North Berwick, recording times of 36:43 and 52:51 respectively. Further north, Addy Gerrard finished sixth at Aberdeen parkrun with a time of 22:03.

At Torvean Parkrun in Inverness, Fife AC runner Rory Scott finished first in 17:34 and Wizard Lynn Godsell ran a time of 31:33. Venturing furthest afield was Fife AC runner Jonny Taffs. He ran the Great Dunmow parkrun south of the border in Essex, finishing sixth with a time of 22:04.