National XC Championship February 2020

NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIPS, FALKIRK by Elaine McGeachy

Well, what can I say?! I finally took part in the XC Championships on Saturday 22nd February and it was… I’m not actually sure what it was!!! Hail, sleet, rain, flooded course, knee deep mud – it certainly was all of those things. I wasn’t on top form but actually loved taking part, well, at the end when I had finally warmed up a few hours later.

I turned up, 15 minutes before my race, in the pouring rain, after declarations had closed to be told that race numbers were at the school – a 10 minute walk away. After a mad dash from Stuart through the mud to pick up my race number and me hiding behind a tree to get changed awkwardly avoiding the mud, I was ready to warm up! The announcer promptly told us that the women were to get in to the pen. Oh well there goes warm up.

The course was pretty churned up the entire way, including a section that you had to go through knee deep water which cleaned you off for all of 2 minutes. I was grateful for a few of the small hills that are on the course as it blocked out the 50 mph winds for a bit! I was also grateful to my husband for changing the spikes for me in order to get up said hills.

Some of these women are top class and just to see them power on and be part of the same race was inspirational. Kudos to anyone who just got round the 10k course under those conditions. If you have a minute – check out the footage online.

The men got it just as bad, if not even worse as the hail intensified and the course got muddier. Kenny and Stuart put in solid performances, both running for Cambuslang.

The best bit? Meeting up with Jocelyn at the finish line! It was fantastic to see her and she put in a tremendous performance for her new club. Hopefully I’ll be on better form next year where I hope to return and beat my 198th position. Let’s pray for sunshine!