2013 Ayr Turkey Trot 10K and 5K Races.

MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR BOXING DAY RACES AT THE SEASIDE

Close on 600 hardy runners converged on the Ayr seafront on Boxing Day to take part in the hugely popular annual Ayrodynamic Triathlon Club organised Turkey Trot Road Races.

The day consists of both a 5K and a 10K Race, and while it isn’t unheard of for people to take part in both events, in 2013 at least all Kilmarnock Harriers involved chose one race or the other.

To the delight of all competitors and organisers, the winds of up to 70mph that had been experienced locally in the past 48 hours had died down a lot, and conditions for both runs weren’t anywhere as bad as they could have been.

First up, at 11.15am was the out and back 5K along the prom and in this there were 217 finishers. From the Harriers, first home was Connell Drummond who was using the run as a sharpener and had a fine run in the conditions to come home 6^th overall. Connell was followed by Angus Kerr who is having a fine Winter’s training and racing, while in the Ladies stakes Lindsay McMahon continued her good recent inprovement by finishing 2^nd Lady overall and amongst the trophy’s.

Although not everyone was taking the race too seriously, times and positions for Killie were –

6^th Connell Drummond 18.52, 14^th Angus Kerr 20.02, 16^th Lindsay McMahon (2^nd lady) 20.19, 34^th Paula Wilson 22.15, 35^th Natalie Boyce 22.22, 36^th Kenny Wales 22.23, 40^th Terry Mulholland 22.40, 53^rd Bryce Kerr 24.15, 56^th Amanda Humes 24.25, 57^th Lorne Kerr 24.25.

Shortly afterwards, the 10K race commenced and a number of inform athletes were competing, including a few from Kilmarnock.

In the field was triathlete David McNamee who regularly trains with the London Olympic medallist Brownlee brothers, and from the gun it was he who set a strong early pace. Not too far back was Killie runner Graeme Cameron who is improving week by week, while another man looking good for a massive pb was Cameron Wilson hovering around the top 5.

Kara Tait was making her race debut on the course and led the ladies from the off, while it was good to see a number of Kilmarnock runners high up the field and on course for lifetime bests.

At the end of the race, Graeme yet again demolished his time as he dipped under 32 minutes for the first time to finish 4^th and within 30 seconds of the race winner David. Cameron Wilson too smashed his pre race target, and with huge pb’s achieved amongst other by Neil Walker (who was over 3 minutes quicker than 2012), and new member Alister Neil it was a very good day all round.

Kara did win the Ladies Race with she too claiming a big new pb, while amongst the rest of the Ladies big mentions go to Laura McFarlane and Kirstin Dale – for Laura’s pb, and for Kirstin defying injury to compete and amazingly finish not too far off her target time.

In a large field of 351 finishers, some taking it more seriously than others, Killie 10K Times were –

4^th Graeme Cameron 31.54, 6^th Cameron Wilson 33.36, 10^th Scott Martin 34.32, 17^th Kara Tait (1^st Lady) 36.09, 18^th Neil Walker 36.11, 36^th Alister Neil 38.50, 57^th John Tougher 40.08, 70^th Alasdair Murray 40.47, 148^th Matt Ferguson 45.49, 158^th Les McDerment 46.17, 166^th Rosemary McMillan 46.34, 167^th Stuart Murray 46.36, 191^st Laura McFarlane 47.56, 198^th Susan Beattie 48.26, 239^th Kirstin Dale 50.40.

Well done to all, and as a footnote the Club would like to wish 4^th placed Graeme Cameron every success for the future as he was due to marry fiancé Laura Stratford in Vegas a few days after the race – all this a few days after his 30^th Birthday!

Overall results, from both races are here – http://www.ayrodynamic.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1375