Cross Country Interdistricts, East District & International Championships, Antrim - 23/01/11

The pre-Christmas snowy weather put pay to a number of athletics fixtures and resulted in the rescheduling of events into the New Year. As a result of this a number of athletes found themselves competing at National, District and International level in quick succession.

Andrew Douglas, and Emma and Oonagh Dunnett were all involved in a challenging start to the New Year with trips to Edinburgh, Livingston and Antrim on the cards.

Andrew had, as a result of a successful start to the cross country season, been selected for the West District team for the Interdistricts, and for Scotland for the Antrim Cross Challenge event which featured teams from Kenya, Uganda, all of the GB nations and Europe.

Within a strong international field in Edinburgh, Andrew tackled the challenges of the Holyrood course and just lost out on a 3rd place in the Interdistrict competition in the final straight. The race with was televised by the BBC was won by Mo Farah and saw Andrew lining up with select teams from Great Britain, USA and Europe.

Following this event, Andrew found himself confined to cross training through an injury and missed the opportunity to vie for the West District Championships title. He however managed to get back racing in time for the Antrim Cross Challenge event and finished a very pleasing 19th, 12th European athlete.

Emma and Oonagh also made the trip to Edinburgh to compete for the East District team in the Interdistrict Championships. Following high hopes of a medal placing for Emma, she unfortunately took ill just prior to the race and although she made the starting line, her performance was below par, finishing the race in 13th place.

Oonagh on the other hand, continued to improve her form and found herself racing with athletes she had always held in high regard. A gutsy run in snowy conditions secured Oonagh 8th and a place in the winning East District team. She also secured her 2nd Scottish vest for the Celtic Nations International in Dublin in February, to add to her national vest from the International Hill race last September.

Following this event, Emma and Oonagh headed back down the A9 the following weekend to compete in the East District Championships for Edinburgh. On what turned out to be a very wet and windy day, both girls performed well in securing gold and bronze medal placings in a high standard race. In winning, Emma convincingly bet the winner and runner up at the previous weeks Interdistricts and Oonagh was 1 second behind the previous week's winner.

Along with team mate Olivia O'Hare who finished 6th, the girls won the team competition for Edinburgh. Emma proved a return to form and Oonagh continued to demonstrate her potential at national standard.

Andrew next competes in the 4K National Championships this Sunday in Glasgow, Oonagh heads to Dublin in a fortnight for the Celtic Nations International and Emma has a further week to wait until the 3K Indoor Championships in Kelvin Hall, Glasgow before all three athletes tackle the National Cross Country Championships at Falkirk on the 19th February.

report & photos from Sophie Dunnett

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