John Muir Country Park provided the backdrop for the 2016 East Lothian Cross Country, which incorporated the East Lothian championships. There were over 180 finishers in the three-race event, which included U9 and U11 races over 1.4 miles, U13, U15 and U17W over 2.75 miles and the U17M, U20, Seniors and Veterans over a 6.2 mile course (which was advertised as 4.9 miles!).
If you have raced before on the JMW (in the FoxTrail races, for example) then you’ll know the terrain – generally soft underfoot with sand, mud and broken ground, but fairly dry in places. A proper cross country test. Before the race I spotted Fiona Mackenzie in a Carnethy top, but she was racing for Edinburgh Running Network (is that allowed? ;-)) but aside from that it was just me. In contrast to HBT, who had a lot of runners on show.
It wasn’t my best run of recent times. I started off well enough, but perhaps it was the cold that I’d had this week, because each mile seemed to be getting slower (it was, according to Strava!) and I was overtaken constantly by a succession of seemingly brown vests and I was glad to get to the finish for a 22nd place (11th Vet) in 43.29. The race was won by HBT’s Duncan Coombs in 35.46, with first female Sarah Louise MacIsaac (also from HBT) in 40.20. Fiona Mackenzie finished in 58.06.
A nice race (good value for SAL members at £7) and a nice part of the world to run in. Race 3 results
Mike Lynch