A MUM and daughter duo raced to a pair of podium places as athletes with Pitreavie AAC continue to impress during the cross-country season.

At the recent Livingston Open, Louise Millar, and under-17 Molly Fairfield, completed a memorable family double by taking silver and bronze respectively with times of 15 minutes and 22 seconds, and 17:31, over the 3.7-kilometre course.

In Lanark, there was a first V60 placing for Jeff Farquhar at the Lindsay's Short Course Championships, where his time of 15:11 over a 4K course saw him finish 16 seconds ahead of Edinburgh AC's Paul Forbes.

The club was also in action at the second match of the East District Cross-Country League, which was held at Dundee's Camperdown Park, with three of their teams finishing in third place overall.

The six under-11 girls that ran the 1.6K course saw top three Heidi Laing, Scarlet Donnelly and Molly McElroy finish 18th, 19th and 22nd respectively, and, while the boys were unfortunate to have an incomplete team due to illness, Adam McAllister and Jacob McLeod still ran in just over eight minutes to secure the top three position.

The largest Pitreavie turnout came in the under-13 age group, where the girls finished seventh, despite missing Isla Gourley, who had placed fourth in the first match.

Nieve Hannell ran the 3.2K comfortably in a time of 14:41, while Christy Cameron – who hadn't tackled cross-country in three years – clocked 15:10, followed by youngster Olivia Pearson, in a highly-creditable 15:17, and Jenna Young, who crossed the line soon after.

There was a third place behind Harmeny AC and Edinburgh AC for the boys' team, which was a fine accomplishment given the inexperience of some team members.

Frazer Lees placed 15th with a fine time of 12:58, just over a minute behind a strong first-placed Falkirk Victoria Harriers, while Ross Allan (14:20) and Daniel Forbes (14:44) also ran well, with Sam Parker and Joseph Whyte showing grit and team spirit to complete the race.

Although other commitments prevented Pitreavie's older age groups from fielding full teams at either of the first two East District matches, those who did take part performed well.

Meanwhile, Caleb McLeod was selected to represent Scotland at the international pentathlon on Saturday in the over-16 age group, while Rebecca Grieve is in the latest intake for the 4J Studios Scottish Athletics National Academy programme.

Pitreavie's Endurance Section (PAACE) have also been busy in recent weeks attending parkruns, which saw Kirstyn Suttie, a club member running on behalf of Forth Valley Canicross, place second female at the Stirling University event alongside canine buddy Harris.

Tina Vandermotten, on a visit to Copenhagen, ran the city's parkrun and was the first F60 athlete in 30:08, with daughter Justine, who used to run with Pitreavie, first female in 22:59, while Graeme Downie (fourth), John Cruickshank (sixth), Fraser Jarvis (seventh), David Henderson (fifth), and Elaine Renouf (second female) all enjoy good runs at the Dunfermline event.

In addition, hardy PAACE members Lorraine Abbott, Lorna Taylor and Kerry Sloan took to the hills in the first snow of the season at the Hermitage and Hill of Braid Trail 5K and 10K where, faced with more than 250 metres of climbs in the 10K course, as well as slippery ice and snow, the runners all showed great determination in finishing the course.