FOLLOWING the second of this winter’s three East District Cross-Country League races, Team Borders sit top of the Under-15 Boys table - eight points to the good over Dundee, with Aberdeen hovering a close third only one further point back.

Despite the early drizzle, occasional shower and the descending temperature, conditions for racing were pretty decent at Broxburn and solid runs from the three Under-15 Borders boys, all Gala Harriers, saw them finish 2nd team on the day, four points adrift of the much improved winners Corstorphine.

Gregor Collins led the team home with his sixth place finish in 15.14 minutes for the 4.1km course.

Ewan Christie was 9th in 15.23 and Ewan Purves 19th in 16.16.

The Under-11 Girls team kicked off proceedings with an encouraging 4th place in their 1.4km race with the three counters all finishing within 12 seconds of each other.

Kirsty Rankine (Gala) was 13th in 5.59 minutes, Ava Mooney (Moorfoot) 16th in 6.03 and Jessica Hendry (Gala) 21st in 6.11.

They sit 6th overall in the league.

In the Under-11 Boys race over the same distance, Gala’s Ross Christie was leading the 78-strong field when taking a bad tumble around the half-way point.

Although he got back on his feet to try to race on, a bash on the knee prevented him from finishing.

That left first-timer Callum Fitzgerald (Moorfoot) as the first Team Borders runner home in 26th place in a time of 5.55. Clubmate Luke Grieve was 34th in 6.10 and Morgan Fairclough (Gala) 42nd in 6.15.

That placed the team 8th on the day and 8th overall.

The Under-13 races were over a 2.7km course and the Team Borders girls also finished 8th.

Isla Paterson (Gala) had a very solid run for 13th in 11.47 and having lost her spikes, Moorfoot newcomer Gracie Linton did well in her trainers in the slippery conditions to finish 33rd in 12.34.

Clubmate Elena Lee was only two places and three seconds behind to complete the team which sits 6th in the league overall.

The Under-13 Boys age-group is certainly the strongest for Team Borders in terms of quantity with nine starters on this occasion, and the quality is not too bad either, the boys sitting third overall in their league after their 5th place finish on the day. Cameron Rankine (Gala) led the team home with his 6th place in 10.28, Ben Allan (Moorfoot) was 22nd in 11.02 and Chirnside’s Zico Field, consistent as ever, was next runner home in 23rd in 11.06.

Call-offs were epidemic in the combined U17/U15 Girls team and Team Borders representation dropped from six runners in Race 1 to just the one runner for Race 2.

Unfortunately, this dropped the girls out of contention in the league after their promising third place start in Race 1.

And it was a similar story in the U17 Men’s race, another incomplete team unfortunately ruling out any chance of a podium place for the team in the final league standings.