MORE than half a dozen athletes from Team East Lothian took to the start line at the scottishathletics Inter District Cross Country Championships.
Nine county athletes travelled to the event, which also doubled up as the third race in the UK-wide Cross Country Challenge series of events, in Renfrew.
The Scottish Inter District Championships is a team event where up to 15 male and female athletes are selected from under-13 to senior age groups to represent the west, north and east of Scotland.
With athletes travelling from all over the UK to take part in the UK Cross Country Challenge event, the races were of a very high standard.
The weather was cold but calm, with clear blue skies, and the underfoot conditions were firm – not a typical Scottish cross country with the lack of mud!
The first race of the day was the under-13 girls’ race.
Team East Lothian had four girls, from a total of 15, selected to represent the Scotland East team, the most from any East District athletics club.
Imogen Turner ran an excellent race against stiff English competition to finish in second place overall in a time of 9m47s, winning a silver medal for the UK Cross Country Challenge event and taking the win and gold medal in the individual Scottish Inter District Championships.
Turner also collected a team gold as Scotland East won the team event.
Next across the line from the Team East Lothian quartet was Morven Kenny in a time of 10m44s for 23rd place, followed closely by Ava Rose Curtis in 10m52s in 29th and Tessa Russell in 10m54s in 32nd.
The next race of the day was the under-13 boys’ race.
Tom Ibbs, from Team East Lothian, was selected for the Scotland East team and ran a fantastic race to finish in 13th in a time of 9m37s.
The team competition scores the first six counters from the overall team of up to 15 and the county athlete was the sixth counter for the Scotland East team, picking up a team silver medal.
The next race with TEL representation was the super-competitive under-15 boys’ event. Team East Lothian had three members representing Scotland East.
Joe Smith, in 14th place overall in a time of 13m26s, was the first of the trio over the line.
Closely following him were Jake Page in 22nd place in a time of 13m32s and Thomas Gornall in 36th place in a time of 14m31s.
In the combined under-20 and under-17 men’s race, Team East Lothian were represented by Ronnie Brown in the Scotland East team.
In a competitive race which included international teams from Scotland and Ireland, Brown finished a very credible 18th place overall and 10th in the under-17 competition.
With Brown being the fourth counter for the Scotland East team, a team silver medal was awarded.
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