A TEAM from Irvine Running Club headed to Glasgow for the West of Scotland district cross country relay championship.

The teams are made up of four runners running the same 4,000 metres loop around Alexandra Park in the Springburn area of Glasgow.

Irvine had entered two teams in the men’s event but due to injury and registration problems were only able to turn out one full team on the day.

This was a new venue and the course was mainly held around the perimeter of the golf course with a few testing hills to make it more interesting.

The first leg was a tight affair with runners jockeying for position on the tight bends and first off for the club was Scott Brown who got the club into 34th position with a time of 15:19 at the end of the first lap.

Taking over was young Cameron Blades running his first cross-country race and he didn’t disappoint by taking the club up another place to 33rd with a time of 15:49.

Colin Miller who has been running in this championship since the 1980’s managed to grab another place taking the club to 32nd with a time of 16:49. Also running this third leg was marathon Olympian Callum Hawkins, who although moving his Kilbarchan club up to 2nd, just missed out on the medals when they finished 4th. Running is one of the few sports where all standards can compete together.

Last up was Craig Houston who moved the club up to 28th place with the fastest Irvine time on the day of 14:46.