AUGUST ROAD RACES IN IRVINE, PRESTWICK & PAISLEY

TEAM PRIZES FOR KILLIE AT AYRSHIRE 10K CHAMPIONSHIPS

Last Wednesday night (23/8/17) the Irvine Marymass 10K Road Race took place on a slightly altered course and with the race incorporating the 2017 Ayrshire Championships there was added spice this year and Kilmarnock Harriers certainly delivered on a number of fronts.

In the Team event the Senior Men struck Gold, with the first 4 past the post for the Club being the team counters. Craig Ferguson, Mark Alexander, David Moody and Scott Lyden delivered on this occasion, however with a number of athletes close behind it was certainly a team effort by all the Harriers.

In the Women’s event, Kilmarnock took Silver, not too far behind an extremely strong trio from Ayr Seaforth, and the counters for the Club in this category were Kirsty Alexander, Rhona O’Neill and Amanda Bryden. Again the girls had some strong performances just behind which all bodes well.

Individually, the race was won overall by Neil Renault and Laura Wallace respectively although there were some medals amongst the Harriers. Craig Ferguson took an outstanding Silver in the Ayrshire Championships, while Kirsty Alexander not only did likewise in the Women’s race but also took Gold in her age category. Craig ran an excellent personal best time for 10k in the process, while amongst others achieving lifetime bests were new member David Moody, and also inform Gordon Sandler who also has now claimed Bronze in the Kilmarnock Harriers Club Standards Scheme to join a growing list of athletes who have done so.

Full times and positions were –

6^th Craig Ferguson 35.39, 13^th Mark Alexander 37.46, 16^th David Moody 38.07, 19^th Scott Lyden 38.37, 31^st John Tougher 40.21, 39^th Steven Robson 41.04, 53^rd Stewart McAllister 42.23, 57^th Kirsty Alexander 42.41, 64^th Gordon Sandler 43.33, 65^th Kenneth Dudgeon 43.34, 69^th Mario Campagna 44.07, 72^nd Matt Dodds 44.51, 74^th Stuart Nibloe 45.11, 82^nd Stephen Emerson 45.47, 85^th Ross Haswell 46.03, 91^st Stephen McDowell 46.35, 96^th Mark Lyden 47.07, 103^rd Rhona O’Neill 48.06, 112^th Amanda Bryden 48.53, 116^th Ryan Handy 49.15, 117^th Matt Ferguson 49.28, 121^st Kevin Beck 49.57, 133^rd Brian Darroch 50.49, 158^th Jackie Duncan 53.12, 163^rd Ian McAughtrie 53.37, 164^th Dawn McManus 53.37, 170^th Alisdair Hood 54.24, 172^nd Viv Lambert 54.44, 194^th Jacqui Sandler 58.16, 197^th Alison Wales 59.07.

All this means, that with only 2 counting races plus a best Marathon time for the year to count, the leaders in the Club Senior Championship stakes for the year are Amanda Bryden and John Tougher respectively, although with fierce competition behind the duo, nothing is yet decided as the season reaches a grand finale.

The previous week at Prestwick on Sunday 20th August, the town’s popular Road Race took place and following on from her recent victory in Dunoon over the same distance, it was once more Kirsty Alexander who took the honours in the Ladies Race. Kirsty clocked an excellent 41.25.

Also running and having a great run was Scott Lyden (4^th overall in 38.48), while his brother Mark (46.22), Stuart Nibloe (45.09), and Kevin Beck (49.38) also had fine runs.

Finally, at the Paisley 10k on the same day there were 3 Kilmarnock Harriers racing. Husband and wife duo Liz and Les McDerment clocked 46.53 and 48.39 respectively, while Connell Drummond clocked a decent time of 37.39.