Devils Burden Relay 2018

For the 3rd consecutive year the “Ayrshire Tatties”, a team lead by Roddy Pugh and comprising members of Kilmarnock Harriers, Irvine Running Club and North Ayrshire Athletics were the first finishers of around 90 “early” starters in this hill relay event.

Entrants have the choice of a 9.20 or 10.30 start, with the earlier start intended for the “slower” teams.

Alasdair Murray ran the first leg, the shortest and flatest, handing over in around 26th place to our secret weapons of David White and Colin Glencorse who took on the toughest leg made more difficult this year by low cloud and strong winds.  Despite this they tore through the hills and handed over in 2nd place to Roddy Pugh and Alasdair McCallum (NAAC) to take on the 3rd leg.  They too had a strong run, in similar conditions, closing the gap on the leading pair from Dundee to around 30 seconds before handing over to Tommy Begley (Irvine).  Despite claiming a relatively light period of training recently his teammates confidence was not misplaced as we saw him, the first runner,  approaching the finish line and the team finished in 3.30.56.

The course was altered a little this year so comparing individual leg times to previous years is limited, as is the case anyway in trail/ hill runs.

Overall we finished 26th of 151 teams, one place higher than last year.  The winning team, Westerlands, completed in 2.47.04