JANET FELLOWES, Julia McAfee and Linda Wright led the way for Helensburgh Amateur Athletics Club with a bronze medal at the Scottish Athletics National Road Relay Championships in Livingston.

The trio came home third in the women’s 50-plus race against some stiff competition, with Janet leading off in a first leg time of 29 minutes and 13 seconds and handing over to Julia, just ahead of the team chasing in fourth.

Julia, however, ran an excellent long leg of 45:11 to pull the Helensburgh team clear, and their podium place was solidified by Linda Wright, who ran a strong final leg of 27:14 to bring Helensburgh home behind winners Edinburgh AC and runners-up Gala Harriers.

Teams in the event vary between three, four and six members, depending on the gender and age category, with races alternating between short legs of 3.1 miles and longer stints of 5.9 miles.

The blustery conditions were challenging on parts of the course but thankfully the rain stayed away.

Helensburgh’s senior women’s team of Catherine McCusker, Debbie Savage, Lynda Murchison and Laura Johnstone all ran strong legs for a top 25 finish, Lynda recording the best short leg in 23:57 and Laura the best long leg in a time of 46:46.

Finally, HAAC’s six-man men’s 40-plus team was led off by Craig Binnie, who ran the fastest HAAC short leg of the day of 20 minutes and four seconds

Richard O’Grady claimed the same honours for the long leg with a time of 37:44, while the remaining team members, Gordon Andrew, Ian Brown, Gordon King and Alan Oliver, all put in consistent performances, with the two Gordons finishing inside 25 minutes for the short legs and Ian and Alan each posting long leg times of less than 44 minutes to ensure a creditable finishing position for the team against some tough opposition from all over the country.