Edinburgh AC's Kirsty Walker surpasses expectations with podium cross country finish after recent injury

Edinburgh Athletic Club’s Kirsty Walker bounced back from an ankle injury in the summer to finish second at the Scottish National Short-Course Cross-Country Championship at Dunnikier Park in Kirkcaldy.

With backing from her clubmates Beth Ansell (8th), Pippa Carcas (24th) and Sarah Brown (25th), Edinburgh Athletic Club also took team silver medals. Walker, who has recently moved to Edinburgh, suffered a bad ankle injury in the summer but has worked her way back to fitness and was delighted with her second place finish in a field of 260 female runners, clocking an impressive 12:59 minutes on the two-lap, undulating, 4km course.

She said: “I really enjoyed the race. I have just been focusing on getting back into consistent training after my ankle injury, and coming into this race I was aiming for the top 10. I was really happy to come away with second place. For the team to take silver medals was great too.”

Noah Howlett was Edinburgh AC’s top male finisher, clocking 12:01 in a men’s field of 484 runners. The club’s under-15 girls also had success. Jessica Taylor took a fine third place in her race, and she led her team-mates Megan Mackay and Dashka MacDonald to team bronze medals.

Edinburgh AC senior ladies team, from left to right: Beth Ansell, Sarah Brown, Pippa Carcas, Kirsty Walker.

Edinburgh AC athletes will now be looking towards the upcoming East District Cross-Country Championships at Stirling University at the start of December. At stake will be qualification to represent Scotland east at national and international events in the New Year. Consequentially, the district championships are always a popular and high-quality set of races across all age groups.