Edinburgh Cross 2006

In Edinburgh the endurance runners were taking part in the International Cross Country races. U15 boy Nicky Emsley from Arran put in a good performance for the West District team finishing 20^th in 11,46mins for the 3.2k course. U17 men William Morgan and Daniel Swanson were running in the 4.2k inter district race. Daniel started well and after the first of the four laps was sitting in 3^rd place. It wa a fast pace and Daniel was falling behind the leading pair of runners from Kilbarchan and Central. Going into the final lap Daniel was starting to feel the pace and the runner from the East District passed him with 500m to go, Daniel finished 4^th in 14,03 a good performance and he won a gold medal for the West District team.  William Morgan was running well and was sitting in 11^th place after the first lap. As the pace picked up William lost some ground and at the end of the third lap was back in fifteenth  place. William injected some pace coming into the final 200m and finished strongly passing two runners to finish thirteenth in 14,35mins.

Irvine senior runners Lee Richardson and David Miller were running in the 9k International  race, with top athletes from Ethiopia, Qatar, Eritrea, USA, Spain, Ukraine, and the UK taking part this could be a once in a life time experience. After the first lap Lee was  20^th and David was 21^st . the pace got faster in the second lap and lee was 26^th and David 27^th . On the 3^rd lap lee made up some ground and was  21^st  with David maintaining his 26^th place. Lee was working hard and closing the gap on the runners in front, he kept working and looked as if he could catch his West District team member from Shettleston. Coming up the last incline it was a close race for 20^th place but Lee just could not find that extra pace and he finished 21^st in 29,50mins a great run from the Irvine athlete in this top quality field. David Millar kept up a good pace and finished in 26^th place in 30,36mins another good performance from the Irvine athlete. With a large crowd of over 5000 people watching this race which was televised on TV the athletes from Irvine AC had a great experience and which will be remembered for years to come.       
 

Daniel Swanson at the head of the under-17 field

William Morgan having one of his best runs in the under-17 race

Lee Richardson on the last lap

Dave Miller working hard up the hill

The leaders trying to dodge the flag

Up at the sharp end