Caithness Cross Country Awards - 18/04/2009

The cross country season was rounded off recently with the CAAC prizegiving which gave the Club the opportunity to recognise the vast achievements of all of the athletes who have participated in cross country since last October.

The many competitions this season have taken some of these athletes all over Scotland and saw athletes excelling at district and national level and setting their sights for the first time in 30 years on the international circuit.

Goron MacIntosh, Chairperson of CAAC hosted the evening and thanked all of the athletes and parents who attended. Sophie Dunnett, Endurance Coach captured the efforts of the athletes with a resume of the winter competitions starting with the North District Cross Country Leagues which saw Caithness take home 3 individual golds by Lewis Homes (Under 11), Ross Gollan (under 13) and Emma Dunnett (Under 15). Along with this went 3 team golds in the same age groups, 2 team silvers in the Under 11 Girls and Under 13 Girls and bronze for the Under 15 Boys.

The efforts of the CAAC teams was also recognised in the North District Relay Championships where the girls team took gold and the boys managing a well fought for bronze placing. Sophie explained that although this took the girls into the lead on the tally of Relay Championship medals, she was sure that the boys would be setting their sights on next years event.

The North District Championships saw a slight downturn in individual medals due to illness of key team members but the surprise of the day came in the form of team gold for the Under 15 Boys which as Sophie explained was not even on the radar. Individual medals also went to Ross Gollan with a bronze, Emma Dunnett silver and Graeme Taylor in the Under 20 Men also silver.

Because of the standard of competition by the Caithness athletes, 12 of them were selected to compete this year in the Interdistrict Championships in Edinburgh in January.

The outstanding performance on that day was an individual silver medal for Emma Dunnett in the Under 15 Girls race. Sophie explained that as a first year under 15, although this was an unexpected result, it was well deserved and saw the start of a very successful season at National level.

The second of the National level competitions was the National Championships at Falkirk in February and out of fields of up to 102 runners, Emma took home bronze. Also competing was Oonagh Dunnett, Graeme Taylor and Matthew Sutherland who, running for Edinburgh University, was part of the winning Under 20 Men's team.

From Emma's performance at the Nationals she was selected to compete in the Home Counties International in Nottingham and finished a commendable 40th out of over 300 runners in her first ever competition at this standard. Emma then went on to win North District Schools and the Scottish Schools at Irvine which gained her selection for her first international vest representing Scotland at the Schools International at Bangor where she finished 13th and Scotland took 3rd team.

Emma was also part of the winning team and took an individual silver at the Scottish Road Race Championships running for her first claim club, Edinburgh AC.

Sophie finished her resume by thanking the coaches and parents who travel away with the athletes and encourage their participation in cross country. Sophie was then assisted by Sandy Christie, a well respected senior runner within CAAC, who presented the prizes for the recent CAAC Cross Country Championships and also the following trophies:

Most Promising Female - this award went to Isobel MacLeod who in her first cross country season and also first season of training had given 100% and was beginning to see the benefits. Sophie explained that Isobel had gone from participating in the North District League and had an excellent attitude to hard work.

Most Promising Male - this award was given to Mark O'Brien who again in his first cross country season had improved his placings and along with an exceptional run in CAAC's own Championships, had shown the spirit required for cross country.

Best Performance Female - this was awarded to Emma Dunnett who had demonstrated her rightful place on the National circuit with four individual national medals and one team national medal as well as selection for the Scottish Schools and Scottish team to run in the London Mini-Marathon.

Best Performance Male - this was awarded to a team rather than an individual this year as a mark of their achievement at the North District Championships. Rob Murdoch, Jake Anderson and David Gardner took team gold in this event and surpassed everyone's expectations in doing so.

Boxing Day Hash - this award went to Megan Mackay for her ability not only to run the 5 mile course but also to sort out all of the senior athletes who had managed to lose one of the four markers that runners were meant to navigate their way round.

Jimmy Cassells' Memorial Shield - this was warded to Heather Bain. Sophie explained that although those at the prizegiving had heard about some remarkable achievements made by athletes over the winter, cross country was also about participation. Heather had demonstrated her ability to start a course and know that she would complete it and always delighted herself and her fellow team-mates in her performances.

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