Irvine 5 Miler Sees Podium Places.

SUCCESS IN IRVINE 5 MILER FOR KILLIE HARRIERS

On Sunday morning, Irvine Running Club hosted their popular, and annual, 5 mile road race and in the latest instalment of the Kilmarnock Harriers Road Racing Championship for 2016 there was the usual high number of blue and white vests in the large field.

The morning saw drizzly and windy conditions but this did not hamper new Harrier Richard Mair who continues to impress as he had another stormer to finish 3^rd overall and take many a scalp in the process. With no pre race form over the 5 mile distance, Richard clocked an excellent 26.47 to shoot himself up the rankings and was just reward for his tough training since he joined the Club.

Next Male Harrier was Jim Connelly who also shows huge improvements, while Neil Walker was next home for the Club in his first race in a spell after recent injury, and can look forward to getting back to full fitness soon.

Taking an excellent 2^nd place overall in the women’s field  in a step up in distance for her was Stephanie Hewitt who, like Richard, is a fairly new recruit and excellent addition to Kilmarnock Harriers.

Stephanie ran 34 minutes  to finish behind Ayr Seaforth athlete Laura Wallace, and combined with Paula Wilson and Kate Todd to take the Team Prize back to Killie, with their Male counterparts finishing narrowly behind hosts Irvine to just  miss out on a double.

Kate Todd deservedly finished 1^st in her age category, while as a footnote a number of athletes including Kate, Paula and Stewart McAllister gained times that got them Gold, Silver or Bronze in the Kilmarnock Harriers Club Standards scheme, details of which are on the Club website.

The previous week and following on from the Arran Half at the start of the month, Girvan hosted the second of the 2 Ayrshire Half Marathons in the calendar and this doubled up as the Ayrshire Championships.

With Kerry Wilson of Cambuslang taking the honours, first to feature for Kilmarnock was Connell Drummond in 4^th.

Arguably performance of the day however came from Stewart McAllister who took an outstanding time of over 5 minutes off of his personal best for the distance, and with improvements like this should see many further times up for review very soon.

Killie Times were –

4^th Connell Drummond 1.19.30, 6^th James Connelly 1.22.02, 15^th Stewart McAllister 1.27.51, 27^th Mark Hamilton 1.35.24, 42^nd Gerry Dodds 1.43.52, 44^th Stewart McRoberts 1.44.02.

Well done to everyone and more local athletics info is at www.kilmarnockharriers.com