PUPILS from nine primary schools around Helensburgh and Lomond competed in the annual LiveArgyll and Active Schools cross-country relay competition in the Duchess Wood recently.

The event involved 31 teams of three runners from both P6 and P7 age groups, and was kindly hosted by Lomond School.

Martin Caldwell, from Active Schools, and Margery Taylor, head of PE at Lomond School, both helped in the organisation and the running of the event.

They had the help of Chris Colmer, Betty Colmer, Wilson Hamilton and Sarah Gibson, along with Craig Dunlop and Alex Seales from Lomond’s PE department, while Ailsa Lawn, head of primary at Lomond School, presented the medals to the winning teams.

The first race was for the P6 girls and saw seven schools compete for places on the podium. Hermitage Primary won the gold medals, with Rhu Primary awarded the silver medals for second, and the bronze medals were presented to the Cardross team.

In the P6 boys’ event, an impressive nine teams participated in a fast-paced race with Hermitage ending up comfortable winners in 12 minutes and 34 seconds, taking their second gold medal haul of the day.

The second and third placed battle was extremely close with silver medals being presented to the Arrochar team, and the bronze medals to Kilcreggan.

The primary seven girls’ race had eight schools competing, and it was a strong Cardross team who won the event in a time of 13 minutes and 27 seconds to achieve their gold medals.

Colgrain Primary finished second, receiving silver medals, and Lomond’s team picked up the bronze award.

The primary seven boys’ race saw Hermitage Primary first home once again, achieving the fastest time of the day in an impressive 12 minutes and 19 seconds.

Silver medals were presented to the Colgrain team and the bronze medals went to Lomond School.

The Primary Six Shield was presented to the winners, Hermitage Primary, with Rhu in second place and Colgrain third.

The P7 Shield, meanwhile, was a very close competition, with only five seconds separating the teams in first and second place.

This time it was Colgrain who emerged winners, with Cardross very close behind in second and Lomond School completing the podium.

Martin Caldwell said: “Congratulations to all the runners on the day and a very big thank you to all the parents, teachers and helpers who made the whole event possible.”