Published: Thursday, 16th October, 2008 8:05am

Harriers go Dutch after cross-country competition

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AT Saturday"s East District Cross-Country Relays in Prestonpans, Carnegie Harriers" men"s A team finished sixth overall in 55:03.

Lewis Lawson ran a strong opening 4000m leg in 14:02 (11th) before passing across to David Simpson, who brought the club up to fifth at halfway, covering his second leg in 13:09. Ian Stewart (14:11, sixth) undertook the penultimate leg before Tommy Lawrence (13:43) brought the club home in sixth place overall.

Carnegie"s B team placed 21st in 1:01.02 and the C team finished 34th in 1:06.45.

The Carnegie ladies team (Morna Fleming 19:32, Julie Humphreys 22:44, Maryann Lawrence, 19:40) placed 24th in 1:01.56.

The club is set to go Dutch this weekend as 23 runners head to Holland for the Amsterdam Marathon.

The club"s distinctive bright orange vests should be prominent on the start line as Mehrnaz Campbell, Morna Fleming, Sue Walker, Gail Murdoch, Helena Sim, Andy Sim, Steven King, Peter Humphreys, Alan Cockburn, Iain Taylor, Stevie Ogg, Robert Milton, Stephen Greer, Jim Small and Johnny Milton are all set to take part.

In the corresponding Amsterdam Half Marathon, the club will have Julie Humphreys, Shamim Akhtar and Ken Walker all taking part.

Pitreavie athletes also performed well in the East District Cross-Country Championships.

In the young females" race, the Pitreavie A team was led off by Katey Turner, who ran a good leg to bring the team home in fifth place, covering the course in 11 minutes 15 seconds. Michaela Brown took over, running 11:21 to pass the team over in sixth to Kathryn Pennel, who ran the fourth fastest time of the day to take the team up to a fifth-place finish overall with an excellent time of 10:31. The B team were 22nd with the C team 30th.

In the young males" race, the Pitreavie A team just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth. The team was led off by Ben Potrykus, who had a big sprint finish to hand over in first place with a time of 10:00. Next was Ewan Dyer, who ran 9:55 to hand over in second place, leaving sprinter Anthony Young to fend off some of Scotland"s top distance runners. He ran well to record 9:56 but the team dropped to fourth. The B team finished 20th with the C team 23rd.

In the senior women"s race, youngest member of the team Sarah Ross led off, running 19:59 to hand over in 27th place to Siobhan Coleman, who was making a welcome return to cross-country. She showed some form of old when running a storming leg to bring the team up 15 places to 12th with a time of 15:38 (fifth fastest time overall). She handed over to Jayne Clark, who also ran a brilliant leg taking the team up to eighth with a time of 16:15.

In the senior men"s race, the Pitreavie A team was led off by veteran Jeff Farquar, who clocked 14:15 to hand over in 15th place to Craig Robertson. He ran the fastest split for the club, with 13:45, to bring the team up to eighth place. Then Barry Davie took over, running 15:10 to hand over in 10th place to Kenneth Anderson, who recorded 16:17 to finish 13th overall.

* West Fife kids made it a clean sweep of gold medals at the Fife Schools Cross-Country Relay Championships, held at Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy. Out of the four events, Dalgety Bay"s Donibristle Primary School won gold in three – with the school"s Primary 7 girls, Primary 6 boys and Primary 6 girls all winning their respective titles. The other gold up for grabs, for Primary 7 boys, was claimed by McLean Primary, who also won silver in the Primary 7 girls event.