A TEAM from Pitreavie AAC started the cross country season with victory in the East District Relay Championships at Peebles.

Jenny Gillanders, Emily Nicholson and Leah Davie won the female young athletes race, finishing 29 seconds ahead of runners-up Lasswade in a time of 30 mins 40 secs.

The girls also recorded some of the fastest individual times in their age groups - Gillanders was fourth fastest under-13 athlete, Nicholson was the third quickest under-15 runner and Davie was the fastest under-17 competitor.

Pitreavie’s B team of Katie Gostick, Zoe Nicholson and Iona Crawford finished in ninth place in a time of 33:18; while the C team of Maya Hutcheon, Ciara Bowman and Emily Mann was 17th in 38:54.

In the male young athletes race, the Pitreavie team of Lewis Blair, James Adam and Tyler White just missed out on a medal, finishing in fourth place in 27:36, behind teams from Edinburgh, Fife and Corstorphine.

Adam recorded the fourth fastest individual time of all the under-15 runners, while White was fifth fastest in the under-17 age group.

Pitreavie B - Lewis Dow, William Cain and Corey Smith - were 17th overall in 29:59, and Pitreavie C - Euan Johnston, Billy Doyle and Andrew McNair - were 22nd in 31:41.

In the women’s race, with each runner completing a leg of 4000m, the Pitreavie team of Amy McAlpine, Sarah Ross and Kirsty Hutton finished 32nd in 70:04.

On Saturday, Pitreavie athletes were in action in the East District Cross Country League, with the first races of the season taking place at Stirling University.

The under-15 boys were the club’s top performers over a 3100m course, with James Adam, Ben Grant and Alex Johnston claiming third place in the team competition.

The under-13 boys, racing over 2400m, were fourth in their team competition, thanks to the efforts of Lewis Blair, Euan Johnston and Gregor McPherson.

Pitreavie’s under-13 girls, also competing over 2400m, were the fifth placed team in their event, with Jenny Gillanders, Jennifer Brydon and L. Telfer in the team.

The U15/U17 girls, competing over a 3100m course, were also fifth in their team event, thanks to the efforts of Iona Crawford, Leah Davie and S. Telfer.

In the under-11 boys race over 1550m, there were good runs by Campbell Dowie and Connor Gourlay.

Rebecca Burns was third in the women’s race over a 6000m course in 22:29, while Tyler White was the club’s top performer in the under-17 men’s race over the same distance, finishing 15th in 21:46.