Published: Thursday, 30th October, 2008 7:40am

West Fife athletes in national cross-country relays

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PITREAVIE athletes braved atrocious conditions on Saturday at the Scottish national cross-country relays in Cumbernauld.

Gale-force winds, driving rain and large expanses of mud welcomed all age groups.

The top performers of the day were the girls" A team, who finished a very respectable ninth after a good start in the under-13s.

Katy Turner came in fourth (12 minutes, 14 seconds), handed over to Michaela Brown (12:28), who in her first season of cross-country started well but suffered a little in the gale-force headwind at the far end of the course. She still kept the team in contention handing over to Kathryn Pennel in 14th place.

Kathryn ran superbly against her under-17 competition, despite only being an under-15 herself, to come in an excellent ninth overall, completing the course in 11:25.

The young male team were led off by Ben Potrykus, who ran a storming leg to come back in third place in 10:45 and only a few seconds behind the leader.

Scott McAlpine (13:08), as one of the youngest in the under-15 age group, found the competition hard but fought bravely to try and stay in contention before handing over in 35th place to Craig Robinson (11:47), who eventually brought the team home in 44th position overall.

The senior men"s A team were led off by Craig Robertson, who showed his new strength running a good leg in 15:07 to hand over in 13th place to John Newsom for his first outing over the country this season. John ran another solid leg in 15:06 to hand over in sixth place.

Jeff Farquar (17:03) took over and stuck to the task, dropping only three places to hand over to Neil MacLachlan (18:21) who brought the team home in 15th place out of a total of 89 teams.

The senior women"s A team saw Siobhan Coleman continue her return to competition, leading the team off with a good performance, coming back in 13th position in a time of 17:59, handing over to Alison Whyte (19:41), who is just returning from injury. She ran well only dropping one position before handing over to Hazel Bradley (23:25), who battled hard against some heavy squalls to bring the team home 23rd out of 49.

Carnegie Harriers" male veterans" team placed a fine fourth in their age category and 28th overall.

Lewis Lawson undertook the incredibly muddy first leg, covering the 4000m course in 16:07 handing across to Ian Stewart, who ploughed his way around the tough course in 16:30.

Stevie Ogg ran the penultimate stage in 17:41 before Ian Johnstson brought the team home in 18:05 in a total time of 1:08.23.