As the races progressed, evidence of a good few muddy falls became increasingly common. For some face-first tumblers, a couple of slices of cucumber over the eyes was all that was needed to complete the beauty treatment.

Top individual placing on the day again came from Chirnside’s Josh Abbott who demonstrated his fine form with 2nd place in the U13 Boys race in 10.42. Clubmates Jamie Kinghorn (11.38) and Harry Fuller (12.06) in 12th and 21st respectively provided the points for the team to finish 2nd behind Edinburgh. This leaves Team Borders 10 points adrift of their city rivals going into the final race in January.

A full return to fitness by a notable number of absentees could see the deficit reduced but the trophy may just be beyond them this season. Also running exceptionally well was Fraser Clyne who finished in 8th for Teviotdale.

It’s a similar story for the U13 Girls who also sit 2nd team overall 14 points behind Edinburgh. The Moorfoot trio of Beth Hobbs (7th 12.15), Molly Falconer (10th 12.29) and Elena McGorum (12th 12.32) bagged the Borders’ points on this occasion.

Earlier in the day there were fine efforts from the U11 Boys and Girls teams. The boys sit 5th overall and with points coming from Gala’s Harriet Woodland Broome (8th 7.09) and the Moorfoot duo of Megan Hobbs (9th 7.12) and Madeline Collins (12th 7.19), the Girls are currently in a podium place in 3rd behind Edinburgh and Fife.

Top team performance of the day came from the stretched U17 Men who trapped with only the three runners from Gala Harriers. A fine 3rd place by Thomas Otton (22.02) was backed up by Gavin Bryson (9th 22.36) and Jason McIntosh, who dug deep to repel a late challenge for 11th (23.02). That was enough for a 10-point victory on the day which leaves the Borders boys with a 15-point overall lead ahead of Fife and Edinburgh.

In the U15 Boys race it was again a Gala trio who scored the team points. The improving Callum Tharme had an excellent run for 9th, closely followed by the unrecognisable headlong faller Jamie Logan in 11th and Cori Campbell in 17th. This put the team only marginally outside the podium places but a high score in the first round sees them sitting adrift in 5th overall with a final podium place probably out of reach this year.

With no U17 Borders girls it was always going to be a tough day at the office for the young Borders team in the combined U15/U17 Girls race but there were solid runs from Moorfoots Mairi Wallace and Fiona Grant for 19th (16.55) and 25th (17.38). They were split by Gala’s Lindsay Jack who had a very encouraging debut run for 23rd (17.20) despite only finding out on the day that she was too old for the U13 age-group.