Athletics: Falkirk Vics impress at first cross-country meet

Falkirk Victoria Harriers ace Fiona Matheson placed second in the veteran women section in her 5200m race, finishing in 22.56 (Photo: Neil Renton)

Hundreds of runners from around 32 clubs took part in races on a challenging course ranging from 1700m for the U11s to 7800m for the junior and senior men.

A number of Falkirk Vics placed in the top ten for their age groups – Benjamin Anderson (under-11) sixth place for 1700m in 7.19 minutes, Skye Robertson and Neve Taylor (under-13) were third and ninth in 11.42 and 12.25 respectively in the 2600m race, with Ray Taylor first place under-15 boys 4300m race in 15.07, leading confidently from early on, Emily Christie second under-15 girl in the 4300m race in 18.23, Katie Hedges fifth under-17 in 18.09, Lois Cant sixth under-17 in 18.42, Lucie Gibson seventh under-17 in 18.48, all finishing strongly in a race featuring 68 runners.

Finally, Vics legend Fiona Matheson was second veteran woman in her 5200m race, finishing in 22.56. For the individuals to score teams points, it’s three individuals to score for the under-11s to under-17s and the masters, four for the senior women and six for the senior men.

Under-17 ace Katie Hedges in action at Beveridge Park (Photo: Neil Renton)

The under-11s girls team, consisting of Isla Hedges, Erin Donaldson and Arianna Bennet are currently sitting in fourth place out of 15 teams, the under-13s girls team, consisting of Skye Robertson, Neve Taylor and Aine McAtarsney are in third place out of 15 teams.

The under-15s and under-17s girls team of Emily Christie, Katie Hedges and Lois Cant are second out of 17 teams and the under-20/senior/masters women’s team consisting of Fiona Matheson, Niamh Brown, Danielle Callaghan and Eilidh McCallum are in second place out of 25 teams.

The aggregate teams scores mean the males are in fourth place overall while the female teams are in second place overall, in what is great start to the season for Falkirk Victoria Harriers.

Looking ahead to this weekend, on Saturday, Vics athletes will take place in the Lindsays National Relay Championships at Cumbernauld House.

In that one, senior/junior and master men will run four laps - masters 50 will run three laps only. Senior/junior women will run four laps - Masters women and W50+ will run three laps.