Senior/U20 Event Round-up 16th September 2024

The days are getting shorter and winter training has started for a lot of our athletes, but the
summer season is not quite finished yet! The last couple of weeks have been really busy,
with club events, track and field, road racing, hill racing and ultra marathons all featuring in
this week’s round up – great to see the blue and white vests at events up and down the
country!

We start this week on Saturday the 7 th with a little trip south of the border to Corby for the
English Masters Inter Area Challenge, where ladies captain Jennifer Beattie and second
claim athlete Robert McHarg both represented team Scottish Veteran Harriers. Jennifer
competed in the 200, 400 and 800m events managing to secure some valuable points, and
Robert decimated the field in his 800m to win in 2:09.

Sunday the 8 th was a really busy day, with athletes in action at a number of different events.
We had a number of U20, senior and masters athletes taking part in our annual Club
Championships which this year included a 200m, 800m, shot put and long jump. Final
results will be published in due course, but it is safe to say that a great day was had by all –
huge thanks to all of the officials and volunteers who allow us to have these excellent club
events.

A bit further down the road, Logan Mitchell was finishing off his season in fine style at the
Lesley Little Memorial Hammer Throw meet at Carlisle, winning the U20 hammer with a
56.86m throw (just short of the meeting record). Exciting times looking ahead to the 2025
season for this talented young athlete!

Across in the north east and NOT enjoying the same conditions we were treated to at club
champs, we had two athletes competing in the Great North Run. Colin Anderson finished in
1:32:44 and Kirsty Mackay ran 1:55:52 – well done both in grim weather.

Our final event this weekend was the final counting race in our summer league – the
Podfather Stirling 10k incorporating the Scottish 10k championships. First across the line for
the team was Scott Masterton (35:42), followed by Ross Granger (37:42), Gary Martin
(43:48), Susan Ballantyne (51:44) and Eilidh Ballantyne (57:33 and 9 th U20 female overall).
Well done to all our athletes at this very competitive event!

We then move on to our first midweek fixture for a wee while – the ever-popular Valley Dash,
the club’s annual handicap race. A total of 37 runners set out on this challenging course
from Galston to Newmilns and back, and first back across the line (and guaranteed a MUCH
tougher handicap next year!) was Alistair Craig who finished in a total time of 34:44. Next
home and first lady across the line was Hannah O’Shea (37:38). Rounding up the first 3
home was Mark Lyden (33:53). Fastest man on the night was Jonathon Downey (24:10)
and fastest lady was Eilidh Ballantyne (32:04), Nick Carter took the prize for being closest to
predicted time, and spot prizes were also awarded to Mike Corson and Russell Duncan.
Well done to everyone who took part or helped on the night, and thank you to Alisdair Hood
for supplying the excellent buffet – definitely a highlight of the evening!

The weekend just gone saw our athletes competing at a number of different events once
more. Jacqui Sandler and Ronnie McCormick were competing in the Kyles 10 miles race
with Jacqui completing in 1:30:01 (9 th V50) and Ronnie completing in 1:59:33 and 2 nd V70+,
well done both! Michelle Goldie was enjoying the sunshine at the Porto Half Marathon
where she completed in 2:21:01 putting her in the top 100 in her age category – well done
Michelle. Mark Henderson took on the Merrick Hill race – no results as yet but apparently it
was great fun!

For a few of our athletes this weekend was the big one – the culmination of months of
training to take on the River Ayr Way Ultra. We had 3 Harriers take on this challenge and
they certainly did us proud! Graeme Quinn was 3 rd overall in 5:27:07, Paul Black was 38 th
overall (13 th M40) in 7:57:19 and Lynne McCaffrey was 54 th overall and 3 rd FV40 in 7:57:19 –
huge effort from all of you, huge well done! Meanwhile, we had a team of 3 Harriers in the
relay – team Paws Tails and Trails made up of Robin Bourne, Kirsty Mackay and Louise
Baillie who finished in a very credible 16 th overall (8:29:20) – great running guys.

For the summer league tables there has been some movement at the top of the men’s table
– Ross Granger now leads the men with 50 points, followed by Sam Rice with 44 and Scott
Masterton with 42. For the ladies, there is no change with Izzy Caufield at the top with 51,
Susan Boyd second with 41 and Lauren Little with 28. We still have half marathon and
marathon times to take into consideration (up to 1/10/24 for the HM and 31/10/24 for the
marathon – we will be asking for these times shortly!). We made changes to the format this
summer to try and increase participation at Championship events but it has not been as
popular as we would have liked – we will be producing a questionnaire/vote to see what you
would like to see included next season in the next few months, so please give this some
thought. The winter league races will be published soon, but you can expect it to look very
similar to last winter if you are planning ahead of time!

Latest tables can be seen here – Summer 2024 tables

Coming up are the XC trial this Thursday night at the Kay Park (6:30pm start, just pick up a
number and race!), then West Relays at Kilmarnock on the 5 th of October (entries close
Tuesday 17 th ). We will then be looking for names for both Ayrshire relays (Rozelle Park, 12 th
October) and National relays (19 th October at Cumbernauld) as well as National Short
Course (2 nd November at Kirkcaldy) – get those spikes dug out!