Inglis bags gold at Districts

Dec 11 2008 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

LOTHIAN Running Club athletes were amongst the silverware last weekend at the East District Cross Country Championships at Cupar.

Conditions overhead were wonderful but the same couldn’t be said for underfoot, with the gruelling course taking the athletes over stubble fields, solid and rutted in places and muddy in others.

Lothian race-ace pair Sarah Inglis and Edel Mooney were the top finishers for local runners, both coming home in superb times at senior and junior women’s levels in a combined race.

For the seniors, Mooney finished second behind Freya Murray of Edinburgh Running Club after a tough battle with Carnethy Hill Running Club’s Lyn Wilson, with whom she battled for position throughout the course’s 6400m.

Only in the closing stages did the Lothian athlete break the resilience of the defending champion, but barely a few strides separated them as they crossed the finishing line.

Sarah Inglis continued her superb start to the season with a ninth-place finish overall but her efforts earned her the gold in the junior women’s under-20 category.

Sarah was also involved in a driving finish, winning a four-way dash to the line by a hairs’ breadth.

Inglis recently finished ninth in the McCain UK Cross Challenge in Liverpool and fourth in the Scottish Universities Championship and is enjoying a purple patch of form .

With Sarah Jones finishing in 60th place, the Lothian club took fifth place in the women’s team event.

There was also a big field for the senior/junior men’s race with 223 runners completing the 10,000m course.

First Lothian runner back was Ross Milne in 19th place, then came Robert Inglis in 44th overall, just missing out on a medal as he placed fourth in the junior men’s under-20 category.

Alistair Robertson was the only club representative in the boys’ under-17 event and he came home in 17th place.

In the girls’ equivalent, Rachael McIlwraith and Lana Turnbull crossed the line in 12th and 16th respectively.

The girls’ under-13 race saw Lauren Arbuckle get round the 3200m course to come in 25th, with teammate Alice Horsburgh finishing 39th.