A BUSY WEEK FOR RACING

HARRIERS INVOLVED OVER VARIOUS DISTANCES AND TERRAIN THROUGHOUT THE UK

With the athletics race calendar now filling up rapidly we are now at one of the busiest times of the year and this was never more in evidence than the past week where a number of competitors were in action.

Kicking things off, four Harriers made their way to Linwood for the first outdoor Open Graded meeting of the season last Tuesday evening (18^th April), competing in the 800m where there was a total of nine races with athletes grouped according to their recent performances over the distance.

First up in the A race was Robert Lindsay who showed his consistency with another 2.11 performance to finish in 7th place. The B race pitched club and training partners Jamie Nix and Gordon Reid together in a competitive race which saw Jamie take 2nd place in an excellent 2.14 with Gordon less than half a second behind, lowering his recent PB by over 3 seconds. It was an exciting race with positions changing up until the finish line. Alanis Brydon was next up in the C race and finished on 2.38 which was almost 2 seconds off her PB and bodes well for the start of her track season. The West District Championships is the next big track event on the calendar which is to be hosted at the AAA and will be a major focus for the club’s track runners.

The following evening, Ayrshire Club Ron’s Runners hosted their now annual 5K race in Irvine and there was added significance in that the event doubled up as the Ayrshire Championships this year.

In a race overall won by Steve Daye of Irvine in an excellent 16.46, first Kilmarnock athlete home was Scott Lyden with John Tougher hot on his heels as he clocked a shiny new personal best. First Woman was last years “Roon the Toon” winner Elspeth Curran of Kilbarchan in 17.48 while in the Kilmarnock stakes it was Laura Haggarty who took the honours from Lynn McCaffrey.

With the race also being the first counting event in the Kilmarnock Harriers Summer Championships all Harriers receive nice, and well earned points to kickstart the season.

Kilmarnock Times and positions were – 16^th Scott Lyden 18.58, 17^th John Tougher 19.06, 27^th Alasdair Murray 20.17, 29^th Stephen Emerson 20.56, 32^nd Laura Haggarty 21.26, 37^th Stuart Nibloe 22.06, 53^rd Matt Ferguson 23.34, 54^th Douglas Dickson 23.40, 60^th Lynn McCaffrey 24.08, 63^rd Mark Lyden 24.30, 64^th Amanda Bryden 24.31, 68^th Alisdair Hood 25.06, 69^th Ian McAughtrie 25.07, 85^th Ali Houston 26.45, 87^th Jacqui Sandler 27.06.

On Sunday there were 2 of the UK’s major endurance events taking place, and the first one of these was at the Virgin London Marathon where Kilmarnock’s own David McGill joined tens of thousands of athletes at the start line in Blackheath.

David was competing in his first marathon and crossed the line at The Mall in a hugely respectable 4.17 as he saw months of tough Winter Training come to an excellent climax.

Finally, Colin Glencorse and Craig Ferguson were in race action at the Great Edinburgh 10 Mile Run on Sunday and both have been running very well of late. The duo had also taken part in the Kaim Hill Race 4 days previously with hill running specialist Colin in 8^th place taking the honours on that occasion with Craig 17th, and at Edinburgh there again wasn’t too much between the pair.

In a field of thousands, Colin finished in an excellent 23^rd overall as he clocked 61.29 for the very hilly course while team mate Craig finished 35^th overall in his first race over the distance and ran 62.49.

Well done to everyone who has raced recently