National Cross Country Championships - Callendar, Falkirk - 23/02/2008

The recent Scottish Power National Cross Country Championships saw four athletes from Caithness Amateur Athletic Club travelling to Falkirk to participate. The course at Callendar Park was very muddy under foot due to the recent rainfall and made for challenging conditions for the athletes.

There were around 3,000 athletes at what has become one of the highlights of the national cross country season with the standard of competition being very high amongst all of the age groups.

The first Caithness athletes participating were in the Under 13 Girls race over two miles which involved one medium loop of the undulating course around the Park. Although the three Caithness girls has been performing well all season, the expectations of the athletes were for top ten, fifteen and thirty placings for Emma Dunnett, Jade Currie and Oonagh Dunnett respectively.

With a field of 122 athletes, the start becomes vital and the gutsy determination of the CAAC athletes saw the girls in the leading pack of runners as they climbed the first hill, just 200m into the race. As the athletes worked their way down the hill towards a narrower section of the course, Emma had risen to the occasion and was sharing in the pace setting along with Sarah Cassells, Ayr Seaforth, Kate Murdoch, Aberdeen AC and Kathryn Gillespie, Central AC.

As the race unfolded, Emma found herself in elite company as Kathryn Gillespie and Kate Murdoch had placed 1st and 2nd respectively at the recent Interdistrict Championships in Edinburgh and were tipped as hot favourites to medal at the National Championships.

Emma showed strong determination and even after a small gap had been set up between herself and the lead runners, she pulled it back to bring herself into medal contention. Around the final climb on the course the four runners were inseparable and the race came down to mental and physical determination.

Emma drew on all her reserves and the hours of training she undertakes to see her heading into the final straight in silver medal position having opened up a gap of 9 seconds from Kate Murdoch. Emma finishing Kathryn Gillespie had withdrawn from the race within the final 800m and that left Sarah Cassells to come home in front.

The three medal winners including Emma, have scoped places on an elite team which will race at the forthcoming Junior World Relays on Saturday 29th March. This event which is open to athletes in the Under 11 and Under 13 age groups is being run as part of the 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh and will be an opportunity of a lifetime for such a young athlete.

Whilst the front race positions were unfolding, Jade Carrie and Oonagh Dunnett were representing themselves well just off the pace of the top group of runners. Jade had gone out hard at the start of the race and found the underfoot conditions difficult in the second half of the race. She dropped back a couple of places and was caught by Oonagh who worked her way through the field moving up from 15th position after the first 800m to finish in 9th place. Jade finished 7 seconds behind her in 10th place.

All three girls far exceeded their own expectations with their finishing times being Emma Dunnett (12.22min), Oonagh Dunnett (3.13min) and Jade Curry (13.20min).

After that excitement, Graeme Taylor had to compete over a four mile course; two laps of the Under 13 Girls course. In this race the 73 runners took off at a fast pace and Graeme got himself well settled into the race at an early stage. He came off the first hill well placed and out of the mass of runners which allowed him to select the most appropriate race lines given the muddy conditions underfoot.

Graeme worked well through out the race along with Joshua Morrison from Shetland AAC who he has raced against at district level before. After having been spiked in the crowded start, Graeme had to run through the pain caused by the puncture wounds in his knee from the spikes. He worked well with Joshua and each used the other to keep them in a strong position.

With a top ten placing on the agenda, Graeme met his target finishing in a time of 22.08min. The standard of his race was such that this time would have given him 5th place last year. This performance should have secured Graeme selection for the Home Counties Championships in Nottingham in the middle of March although final decisions about him racing at this event have still to be decided. He has however been selected for the Highland team for the Home Counties in conjunction with the 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh and so will race along with Emma that day.

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