Mulhare's the Fella at Bella Cross Country

6 FEB2010

Daniel Mulhare and Elspeth Curran won the Scottish 4km Championships on Sunday, January 31 but neither was to win gold in the team events as Shettleston and Edinburgh ran to glory.

Mulhare's the Star but Shettleston's the Team

Daniel Mulhare (Senior) won the 2010 Scottish 4km Championships held at Bellahouston Park, with a time of 11:15. The Inverclyde AC athlete was followed over the finish line by the Shettleston trio of Tewoldeberhan MengistSeaeb (Senior) in 11:23; Tsegezab Woldemichael (Senior) in 11:28 and Tsegai Tewelde (Under 20) in 11:37. It was no surprise whatsoever that Shettleston Harriers were declared winners of the men's team race, with Martin Graham (Senior) making up the team placing 19 in 12:23 to give the Glasgow team a total of 28.

Edinburgh AC finished as runners up with Matthew Bell, Andrew Crichton, Adam Priestley and Ryan O'Hare earning a total of 75. Ronhill Cambuslang placed third with Stuart Gibson, Robert Gilroy, John MacNamara and John Brown accumulating 77 points.

A total of 103 male athletes completed the icy but flat cross country course.

Curran Almost Spoils MacLean's Anniversary Waltz

In the women's event, Elspeth Curran (Senior) of Kilbarchan AAC beat last year's winner Jennifer MacLean (Senior) by eleven seconds to claim Gold. However MacLean's revenge was quick as she celebrated her wedding annivesary by leading her Edinburgh AC team to first place in the women's team race ahead of Kilbarchan. Sarah Hood and Niamh Devlin made up the Edinburgh team, which won with a total of 19 points. Triathlete Kerry Lang and Cara Sloss ensured runners up spot for Kilbarchan, who accumulated 22 points. Fife's trio of Hester Dix, Helen Sharpe and Alison McGill amassed a total of 32 points to earn third for the Kingdom team. A total of 33 women participated in the cold but sunny event in Glasgow's Southside.

After the race Jenny McLean said "It's been a really busy week for me at work and of course my wedding annivesary. I'm absolutely gobsmaked to win the silver medal and for the Edinburgh AC team to take gold.today. It was a great run which made me cry."

To view Chris Upson's photos of the cross country got to www.flickr.com . Also more of Chris's photos here.