Naomi and Harry win Scottish Student Sport XC titles at Livingston

Monday 20th November 2023

The Scottish Student Sport medallists at Livingston (photos by D Stewart Sports)

Results (scroll down page, with links within the info)

The Scottish Student Sport XC Championships were held at Dechmont Law, Livingston on Saturday.

The Championship is organised by Scottish Student Sport and this year was hosted by the students of Heriot Watt ably led by Fraser Holman.

Women’s and Men’s races were both contested over the same three-lap 8km course with a mixture of grass, trail and woodland paths plus some muddy parts for good measure.

In the women’s race Naomi Lang of Glasgow Uni led from the start. A 150m lead at the end of lap one was stretched over the remaining two laps and Naomi finished in 31:08 with a winning margin of 1:23.

She was followed by Grace Tindall in 32:31 and then Clare Stewart in 32:51. Clare set the tone for the team race as Glasgow then had their four team counters in positions 1, 3, 5 and 6 giving them an unassailable team result.

The Men’s race was more closely contested with a leading group of five fighting for the podium places.

Come the finish line, Harry Henriksen of Edinburgh University was 11 seconds clear of Calum Philip of Edinburgh Napier who was followed home by Andrew McGill of Glasgow.

This competition has often produced close results.

In 2022, Edinburgh won the Men’s Team from Glasgow by one point. In 2023 when the mud was washed away the results stood with Stirling and Edinburgh Men both tied with 33 points!

In this situation the highest place last counter is used as the tie-break.  Two places and 12 seconds denied Stirling the Men’s team prize as David Bunn of Edinburgh was just ahead of Alastair Marshall of Stirling.

Men

1 Harry Henrikson (Edinburgh) 26:06; 2 Calum Philip (Napier) 26:17; 3 Andrew McGill (Glasgow) 26:28

Women

1 Naomi Lang (Glasgow) 31:08; Grace Tindall (Edinburgh) 32:31; 3 Clare Stewart (Glasgow) 32:51

Men’s Team

1 Edinburgh Uni; 2 Stirling; 3 Glasgow

Women’s Team

1 Glasgow Uni; 2 Edinburgh; 3 Stirling

With thanks to Ted Finch

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Tags: Harry Henriksen, Naomi Lang, Scottish Student Sport XC