Malta XC Goes to Glasgow, To Host Home Meet

The Malta cross country team headed east early Saturday morning to Fort Peck, the site of the annual Scottie Cross Country Invitational meet. While we drove east, the wicked west wind pushed us along and we soon arrived there at the Downsteam Campground (Kiwanis Park) there below the Fort Peck Dam. The races would start at the north end of the parking lot of Fort Peck Dam and Interpretive Center. The start of the races would mean that all runners would face the west and the wind and would run into it for over 400 meters or more until you got to the first pond and the trail, not an ideal way to start but that’s how it would be.

The high school girl’s race was first and all of the participants lined up at the start line and tried to keep warm with the wind howling and making it feel cooler than the actual air temp. Fans and coaches stood back to watch the start. As the final instructions were given, a terrific gust of wind hit everyone and made us fans almost fall forward while the runners screeched in fear as they almost blew over backward. Then everyone was reset and the gun went off and into the west wind the runners went. Some of us raced behind the group to get to our spot we had picked out to watch their mile split times, and all the while I was thinking “this is some tough running conditions”.

As we watched the runners come by near the mile mark, we could see them working hard and so was Megan. She was close to her target with her mile time that we had talked about. Then they would run another half a mile or so in the protection of the trees and then out into some open areas. She said it was pretty tough out there with the wind, making it so you could hardly breathe. We saw Megan again heading east with around a half a mile left and she looked good and strong but was off her mark some by then, however she used her fast kick to round the corner of the fishing pond and sprinted into the finish and ended her race well. She placed 45th with a time of 27:47 one of her faster times this season. She commented: “the wind made the course a lot more challenging. I still finished with a good time and am happy with my end sprint.”

The high school boy’s race soon followed the girl’s finish and we were down at the Interpretive Center parking lot facing the west wind again. Kash was determined to work hard through this wind and get a good time. So with the sound of the gun, he shot off with the rest of the runners, looking like he had a great start. He pushed his way west and then around the pond and the trail that circles around with the power houses in the back ground. We could see him running and saw that he passed the mile mark and was ahead of his projected time so we were really happy with that. He kept a good steady pace throughout the race and when he came by us in the last half a mile area, looked like he was doing great and his time was faster than what we had predicted. He had a good kick around the last pond into the finish area where he posted a 56th place and a time of 24:29 which qualified him for the state meet! We were all very happy with how he performed and that he finally met his goal. He commented: “The course was very flat, but the wind was strong enough to bring almost every runner to a stop. And I finally qualified for state! So I am very happy and excited!” And we are too! He has been working hard all season to get a qualifying time for state, and all that hard work paid off and he ran his best time this season. Fort Peck is a great meet to post a fast time with the flat blacktop surface. But given the fierce windy conditions, you had to work hard and earn it which Kash did. We are in the later part of the season and we look forward to the Malta Athletic Club Invitational which will be held at Marian Hills Golf Course on Saturday October 12. We wish all our local runners good luck.