If you are out on the golf cart paths of Peachtree City on a Sunday afternoon, you might see them running. To most people, they would look like two average high school kids out for a jog, but those who follow cross country know that these two runners, Iain Turnbull and Emily Borsare, have two of the fastest times in the state and are contending for state titles in Class AAAA.

Turnbull, who attends Marist and stays in town during the week, approached Borsare after a meet at Georgia Tech this year to see if she would want to run on Sundays before he headed back to school.

“It’s not fun to run by yourself,” Turnbull said. “She’s a really good runner and I figured we could both learn from each other.”

The two typically go for a 10 mile run each Sunday and there is never a set route. Some times they will run from City Hall to the Estates and other times they will run from Lake Kedron to Tyrone. The important thing for both of them is to get their miles in. Borsare credits her success to putting in more miles each year, while Turnbull sees a change in his attitude as being the biggest factor in his success. Both have a number of race wins already this year. Borsare’s best time is a 17:41 at the Clara Bowl, while Turnbull’s best was a 15:35 at the Asics Invitational. While each is proud of their individual success, they each talk up their teammates and their school’s cross country programs.

McIntosh’s girls recently won another county cross country championship and has found themselves at or near the top in many of their races this year. Borsare added that all of her teammates’ times are continuing to come down on a weekly basis, which bodes well for the team’s title hopes. Marist is also having a good year and has defeated some solid programs in their races this year. They will be shooting for their fourth straight state title.

Borsare, a junior, has been sensational since starting her cross country career at McIntosh High School. Her best time as a freshman was just over 20 minutes and she is consistently under 18 minutes this season. In addition to running more miles, she states that she has started lifting weights and chooses to focus on running her race and not on the race of Emily Reese, the girl many make out to be Borsare’s main rival.

“I can only focus on what I want to do in a race and not on anything else,” Borsare said.

Turnbull, a senior, hasn’t had the easiest career in cross country. He made a name for himself as a freshman with a season best time of 17:12. As a sophomore he got it down to 16:40 before tearing both achilles and ending his season. Still injured, Turnbull ran as a junior and got his time down to 16:05. This year, Turnbull feels 100 percent and has shaved another 40 seconds off of his time. He added that he tends to do better in a race by staying calm and not getting all worked up.

Neither can definitively say that their Sunday afternoon running sessions have truly made a difference in their running this year, but both would argue that it doesn’t hurt either. Both hope to take home titles at the state meet this November and if they do other runners may be looking for a Sunday afternoon running partner as well.

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