BB Notes: Cross country event dates change

Nine companies were represented in three races over a course with a mix of surfaces from grass and mud to paths and tarmac with a few hills thrown in.

Gary Whigham of 2nd Larbert (Old Church) won the junior race and also picking up the trophy for his team.

Alexander McLeod from 1st Falkirk (Grahamston United Church) won the intermediate trophy with 1st Polmont (Brightons Church) awarded that team prize. In the senior race Kerr Lawson (2nd Larbert) was first across the line helping his team to that trophy.

Winners will form the Battalion teams for the national event in March but all the boys taking part were winners in their own right.

However, special mention must go to the young man, who, late for his junior event, chose still to run with the intermediates; a special brand of commitment!

Thanks to NHS Forth Valley and the Forestry Commission, 2nd Bo’ness for their marquee and all officers who helped on the day.

The trophy for the individual senior champion was presented by Battalion president Daniel Green. This marked his winning that race 50 years previously. He recalls, as I do, the race from Woodburn Road, Falkirk, along Montgomery Street, before passing under the railway bridge, across the fields to Christie and Vesey’s timber yard then back along the track beside the railway, back through the tunnel, down Alexander Avenue, across the Grangemouth Road to finish in Victoria Park.

My memories were jumping gates, retrieving shoes from the mud and the smell of wintergreen. The senior trophy means a lot to some weel kent faces. A few years ago, Rev. Colin Mailer presented the trophy on his 50th anniversary of winning. I wonder if this year’s winner will be in the Brigade in 2066?