North District Cross Country League & Caithness Club Championships, Thurso - 31/10/2009

Take over 150 athletes, lots of mud and hills, and a love of cross country running and you have the recent combined North District Cross Country League and Caithness AAC Club Championships. With Clubs visiting from as far a field as Lochaber and the Moray coast, the Race Organisers were delighted at the overhead weather conditions even if under foot was on the muddy side.

CAAC had decided to combine this North fixture with its own Club Championships and this seemed to have been a popular decision with the athletes as 42 CAAC athletes turned out to compete and the Thurso Moors was a sea of white vests with blue diagonals.

The athletes competed over various course lengths depending on their age groups with the Under 9's taking on a 600m course and at the opposite end of the scale, the Senior Men negotiated 9.2K of undulating tracks which by the time they ran had turned in places to congealed rivers of wholesome mud.

more photos below.....

Only two athletes managed to become parted from their shoes during the races including our own Isobel MacLeod and the soft conditions underfoot allowed them to continue running and complete the courses successfully. For those 'clean' athletes who only complete on track or road the prospect of knowingly going out to get yourself covered in mud and traversing streams may not appeal but for those of us who have been involved in cross country for many decades, this is cross country running in its true sense and holds a passion for many.

This includes many of the CAAC athletes who train on the Moors and regularly are returned to parents slightly dirtier than when they are dropped off at training but with the biggest grins on their faces from the experience. These athletes certainly made the most of the home advantage of competing over one of their training grounds on Saturday as they placed well both individually and in the team competitions.

Of particular note was individual wins by Rhiannon Kirk in the Under 11 Girls, Mark O'Brien in the Under 11 Boys, Emma Dunnett in the Under 15 Girls and Andrew Douglas in the Senior Men. In the team competitions CAAC won the Under 11 Girls and the Under 15 Girls. The Senior Men also came up trumps with a second place in the team competition which was especially pleasing given that a number of the senior men competing for other clubs have gained national vests whilst representing Scotland for cross country and road running.

The individual results in the NDCCL for CAAC athletes follow:-

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