THE annual Helensburgh and Lomond primary schools’ cross-country relay competition was held at the Duchess Woods in Helensburgh recently, hosted by Lomond School.

Live Argyll Active Schools sponsored the event, with Martin Caldwell helping to organize alongside Margery Taylor and her Lomond PE department staff, including Craig Dunlop, Stuart Louden and Felicity Arthur, and additional help from Lesley Serpell and Wilson Hamilton.

The weather conditions were perfect, apart from the flies, with more than 110 pupils competing in the four different races.

READ MORE: Active Schools holds Helensburgh and Lomond 'day of dance'

First up were the primary six girls, with Arrochar, Cardross, Colgrain, Hermitage, John Logie Baird, Kilcreggan, Lomond, Rhu, Rosneath and St Joseph’s all represented.

The winners were Hermitage Primary with a time of 13 mins 32.70, with Colgrain second and Rosneath third.

Nine schools took part in the P6 boys’ race, with Hermitage posting an extremely quick winning time of 12 minutes and 7.40 seconds; Colgrain came second in 12 mins 25.63, and picking up the third place award were Rhu Primary finishing in a time of 13:15.42.

The P7 races had 10 schools taking part with Garelochhead Primary participating in both the boys’ and girls’ events.

The winning team in the girls’ race was again from Hermitage Primary in an impressive time of 12 minutes 59.68 seconds. Silver medals were presented to second placed Rhu Primary, and the bronze medals were presented to Lomond School.

The last event of the morning was the P7 boys’ race, which had the most competitors on the day with 11 of the local primary schools in the area participating.

READ MORE: Young footballers battle it out in Active Schools tournament

It was Hermitage Primary, who were first home, achieving the fastest time of the day in an amazing 11 minutes 37 seconds.

Silver medals were presented to the runners-up from Lomond, and the bronze medals went to Arrochar Primary.

The Primary 6 Shield was presented to out-and-out winners (boys and girls combined) Hermitage Primary, with Colgrain finishing in second place and Rhu completing the podium in third.

The Primary 7 Shield also was presented to an outstanding Hermitage Primary team with Rhu second and Lomond third.

Martin said afterwards: “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.”