RISING rivers, flooding and torrential rain throughout the week wasn’t enough to affect the Hawick cross-country course, and the race went ahead as planned on Saturday.

To the delight of the runners, spectators and organisers, it actually turned out to be a sunny day, with excellent running conditions and a gloriously muddy cross-country course over Hawick Moor.

East Lothian had runners in all of the age group races, and achieved some fantastic results to kick off the East District League.

In the under-17 boys’ race, Corey Campbell, from Team East Lothian, paced the 6.4k race to perfection to beat the competition and win in a time of 22m44s, from Aberdeen runner Hamish McKay (22m56s).

Team-mate Angus Wright (TEL) had a strong run to finish in fourth position with a time of 23m38s.

Team East Lothian under-15 boys had a good run in their 4.8k race, with Fraser Lupton placing 22nd and Isaac Stevenson 33rd (23m24s).

Representing Musselburgh & District AC in the under-15 age category were Sandy Henry, 32nd (23m02s), and Isaac Wintour, 36th (23m51s).

Rachel Stevens had a great run in the U15-U17 girls’ 4.8k race to reach a top-10 finish in a time of 21m15s.

Jessica Bullen also ran well to finish in 29th place in 25m6s.

In the under-13 boys’ race, Howie Allison, from TEL, was the first East Lothian athlete to finish the challenging 3.2k route.

He finished in third place with a time of 12m29s.

Thomas Gornall, also from TEL, had a strong run to finish well up the field in 12th place (13m44s).

Cohen Hardie (15m39s) and Ben Anderson (15m43s), from Musselburgh, were 25th and 26th respectively, with Lachlan Baillie (18m04s), from Haddington, in 33rd.

In the U13 girls’ race, Cerys Wright had a fantastic run to finish in second place with a time of 13m12s over the 3.2k route, with team-mate Freya Brown just a few seconds behind in third place.

Sula Russell had a strong run to finish in 16th place (14m55s) and together the girls’ performance placed Team East Lothian in second place (in the U13 girls’ category) in the league.

Robyn Lupton, from Haddington, was 31st in a time of 19m20s.

In the under-11 boys’ race, Josh Cooper and Archie Brown, from Haddington, had brilliant runs, finishing in positions sixth and eighth with times of 6m25s and 6m33s respectively.

The under-11 girls’ race had six young athletes from East Lothian clubs taking part in the 1,600m cross-country course.

Fastest finishers were sisters Morven and Branna Kenny, from Haddington Running Club, sixth (6m51s) and seventh (7m01s) respectively.

Also achieving a top-10 finish was Tessa Russell from Dunbar in 7m17s.

The third Haddington runner was Florence Baillie in 14th place (7m42s), which put Haddington in third position in the league table.

In 24th place was Megan Baillie, from Haddington (8m41s), followed by Ava-Rose Watters, from Musselburgh (9m02s).

In the U20 women’s race, Flora Henry, from Team East Lothian, had a strong run to finish in 13th place, with a superb time of 30m exactly for the 6.4k route over Hawick Moor.

Rhona Anderson, from Dunbar, ran well to finish in 20th in 32m09s.

The last race of the day, the senior/junior men’s race, was the longest at 8k.

First East Lothian athlete home was Rob Henry, from Musselburgh, in 62nd with a time of 34m50s.

Craig O’Donnell, from Dunbar, was only a few seconds behind in 63rd place (34m53s).

Andy Anderson, from Dunbar, was 116th (42m44s) and Dee Surtees, from Musselburgh, was 121st (44m31s).

Thanks were given to host club Teviotdale Harriers for staging this weekend’s first East District League cross-country event and for keeping clubs updated on course conditions throughout the week. Thanks also went to Alex Corbett for capturing some fantastic action shots.

The next East District League event will be at Camperdown Park in Dundee on November 20.