Alloa, Clydebank, and Balloch Road Races

ROAD RACING SEASON BEGINS IN EARNEST

Over the past fortnight there were a large number of athletes putting on their racing shoes and nowhere was that more the case than at Sundays (20th March) Alloa Half Marathon.

Good conditions awaited a field of over a couple of thousand athletes in Clackmananshire, and a number of personal bests were achieved to make it an extremely worthwhile trip as some fantastic winter training begins to reap rewards.

Mark Alexander was first Kilmarnock Harrier to cross the line and in doing so he was pleased to cut his lifetime best for 13.1 miles by a couple of minutes, and finish an excellent 61^st overall. Mark, like many others in the field, was using the race in prep for a Marathon and his effort on Sunday suggests he is also in fine fettle to lower his pb over double the distance in London in April.

Behind Mark there were some huge pb’s and debut half marathons, and people with very good reason for celebration were Jacqueline McConnell, David Rutherford, and Kirsteen Salisbury who too is building up for a Marathon debut, in Kirsteen’s case Edinburgh.

Huge mentions too go to Kate Todd who finished 3^rd in her age category, a great result from the former British 100k Champion, and also to husband and wife team Alison and Ken Wales who ran together and enjoyed the run to follow a recent Half Marathon in Australia last month.

Killie results on the day were (chip time)=

61^st Mark Alexander 1.20.38, 253^rd Ali Neil 1.30.24, 574^th Gerry Dodds 1.38.45, 584^th David Rutherford 1.39.01, 671^st Jacqueline McConnell 1.41.19, 690^th Russell Duncan 1.41.50, 720^th Kirsteen Salisbury 1.42.24, 888^th Rhona O’Neill 1.46.24, 1035 Kenneth Dudgeon 1.49.34, 1103rd Jonathon Mackay 1.51.14, 1105^th Cornelius Lotter 1.51.16, 1183^rd Stewart McRoberts 1.53.51, 1222^nd Derek Middleton 1.52.59, 1381^st Kate Todd 1.55.59, 1446^th Brian Darroch 1.57.52, 1795^th Chloe Adams 2.08.40, 1872^nd Jacqui Sandler 2.10.57, 1927^th Alisdair Hood 2.14.02, 2029^th Kenneth Wales 2.20.39, 2030^th Alison Wales 2.20.39.

The previous day and a bit down in distance was the Clydesdale Harriers organised Clydebank 5k, and this is one of the most popular races in Scotland over the distance due in part to the course being quick if conditions are favourable.

This was the case on Saturday and many people took advantage by running huge lifetime bests.

First home for the Harriers was Neil Walker, with the drop down in distance proving to be a wise choice with the former Commonwealth Games cyclist clocking a great time of 16.41.

Running extremely well also and not too far behind Neil were Ross Connelly (17.00), Connell Drummond (17.05), and Stewart McAllister (18.31), all pb’s or close to them, with Ross consolidating his lead in the Kilmarnock Harriers Winter Championships to further make his day a good one.

Finally, but not least, Connell Drummond continued his prep for the London Marathon by running in the Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon on 13^th March, and took another chunk of 16 seconds off of his pb.

Connell clocked 1.17.24, a time which was good enough for an 18^th overall finish and now means that he has improved his half marathon pb by 3 minutes in the last 12 months.