A beautiful riverside route taking in a scenic viaduct crossing, a lung-busting hill and a muddy finish greeted the 257 runners who travelled to Peebles for the third round of the Borders Winter Cross Country series on Sunday.

43 Gala Harriers juniors and 33 seniors enjoyed the perfect weather conditions and put in some excellent all round performances. (All results are up on the Norham Running Club website). Just a few seconds separated the first few athletes, with Gala’s Thomas Otton breaking the tape first in 7 minutes 57 seconds, Joe Agnew (8.05) in 4th place and Jamie Logan (8.44) the next one in for the club, taking first place in his age category.  Susannah Godfrey-Faussett came home as the first Gala youngster in 9.39, with some well-deserved second places in their categories for Rhiannon Fagan (9.55) and Jenni Stevenson (15.30).

The massive field of 158 seniors included 33 Gala runners who consolidated their good performances in the earlier rounds. First across the muddy line for the Harriers was Fergus Johnston who was 4th overall in 27.35.  Dianne Lauder secured first overall placing for the ladies in 30.16, and there were high category placings for Andrew Laurie (30.02) Fiona Dalgleish and Jenni Forbes (both 31.46) Rachel Fagan (33.05) and Eileen Maxwell (37.23). (As above, all results are up on the Norham Running Club website).

First published on 2nd December 2013.