Medals for Fife AC both outdoors and in

Anna Hedley winning the U17 race at the Scottish Cross Country Championships

The popular event, which attracts well is widely regarded as being one of the best in the domestic racing calendar, was nearly cancelled due to extreme flooding in the park caused by recent Storms Ciara and Dennis.

However, the challenging course and wet, windy and at times snowy conditions didn’t seem to stop Fife AC runners who still returned home with a handful of individual and team medals.

Anna Hedley dominated the U17 women’s race, winning gold and making it four national cross county titles in a row. Anna front ran the whole race, eventually taking the title from Hannah Anderson of East Kilbride AC and Cade Wright of Edinburgh AC.

Kevin Wood (right) with the senior men’s medalists.

With strong runs from Anna Dalglish in 15th and Jaden Lenny in 16th, the girls took team silver behind winners Edinburgh AC.

The other individual medal came from Kevin Wood in the senior men’s race as the St Andrews University student secured a bronze medal to add to the silver medal that he won last year.

He ran a smart race, gradually moving his way through the field and finishing fast to pass a number of runners in the final straight and finish behind Central AC’s Jamie Crowe and Inverclyde AC’s Jonny Glen.

There were also strong runs from Lewis Rodgers, who finished 15th, and Tristan Rees, who finished 41st.

Jen Spence (second from right) in the senior women’s race.

In a race that saw a record number of finishers, the club’s successful senior women’s team retained the team gold that they won for the first time last year ahead of Shettleston Harriers and Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds.

It has been a successful year for team since they represented Great Britain at last year’s European Clubs Cross Country Championships in Portugal, with team gold at the East District Cross Country Championships and team silver at the Scottish Short Course Cross Country Championships.

They were led home by Annabel Simpson, who finished a hugely successful cross country season with a silver medal behind 2018 champion Mhairi MacLennan of Inverness Harriers, and Steph Pennycook, who is balancing training with work as a junior doctor and ran well to finish just outside the medals in fourth.

Making up the winning team were Jen Spence in seventh, who outsprinted a number of other runners to gain valuable places, Megan Crawford in 11th, Heather Anderson 15th and Jen Cruickshanks 21st.

Annabel Simpson battles the mud in in the senior women’s race.

There were also good runs from Ailsa Cruickshanks 30th, Halina Rees 50th, Amie Watt 51st and Rhona Van Rensburg 53rd.

The final medal of the day came from the U15 girls’ team of Isla Thoms in fifth, Isla Hedley in seventh, Ruby Russell in 18th and Esmee Thoms in 30th, securing team silver behind Giffnock North AC.

There were brilliant top 10 finishes for Struan Bennett, who finished fourth in the U15 boys’ race, and Ben Sandilands, who finished eighth in the U17 men’s race.

Other top results included:

Jenny Selman with her silver medal at the British Indoor Championships

U13 girls: Katie Sandilands 13th, Freya Hedley 52nd, Niamh Cumming 82nd, Tegan Young 108th.

U13 boys: Archie Suttie 25th, Andrew Sanderson 70th, Beinn Anderson 96th, Marti Pennacchio Torres 97th.

U15 girls: Jen Pickard 87th.

U15 boys: Reiss Marshall 45th, Andrew Gourley 75th, Guillem Pennacchio Torres 90th.

U20 men: Craig Morris 29th, Iain McWhinnie 34th, Gavin McWhinnie 35th.

At the Spar British Indoor Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Jenny Selman secured her first ever British senior medal in the women’s 1500m final.

After qualifying comfortably in her heat on the Saturday, Jenny finished quickly in a tactical final to secure the silver medal in 4.22.57 behind Holly Archer of Cambridge and Coleridge.