Senior Event Round Up 22nd June 2023

It has been another couple of really busy weeks for the club, with the main focus being on our 7th
edition of Roon the Toon which despite the challenging hot conditions was the biggest and best yet
with some fantastic performances!

However, we start out the day before Roon the Toon and a few miles up the road for this week’s
report. Susan Beattie headed north on Saturday the 10 th to take part in the Isle of Skye Half
Marathon. This popular event is held on a challenging course around the Portree area, and we were
reliably informed it was just as warm there as it was at home! Despite the hills and the heat Susan
completed in 2:11:47 which was 193 rd overall and 28 th in her age category – well done Susan.

Onto the main event – Roon the Toon. By our calculations a total of 76 Harriers took to the streets
of Kilmarnock and there were some excellent results recorded. Full results are available online and
there are too many athletes to name everyone sadly, but a huge congratulations to everyone who
pulled on their vest and put a toe on the line. First home was Craig Ferguson who was 5 th overall and
2 nd senior man in 33:32, followed by Martin Brown in 14 th overall (35:29) and David Sherrington in
15 th overall and 5 th V40 (35:48). These performances secured the winning men’s team prize on the
day. The ladies were not to be outdone however, with Lorna Baird (38:57 and 4 th lady overall), Laura
Haggarty (39:30 and 6 th lady overall) and Amanda Bryden (44:07 and 16 th lady) taking the ladies team
prize. Lynsey O’Connor was actually 2 nd Killie lady home (39:07 and 1 st V40) but was dual
representing for the tennis club (who won the non running club team prize!). Kilmarnock were
certainly well represented at the prize giving, with age group wins for Ellie Anderson (1 st U20, 44:30),
Jennie Munro (1 st U17, 48:08), John Cairns (1 st V60, 39:52) and Susan Boyd (1 st V70, 55:16). There
were also age group top 3 placings for Nathan Smith, Sasha I’Anson and Alex Curran, and we
counted a total of 25 Harriers in the top 10 of their age categories – what a great day for the club!

The dust had hardly had time to settle from Roon the Toon when a number of our U20/senior
athletes were back in club vests representing at the Ayrshire Open Graded event at the new
Riverside Arena at Ayr. It was another warm one, which although perfect for the sprinters was not
so welcome for the 3000m runners at the start of the evening! First up was Craig Ferguson who won
his race in 9:12.66, and Ellie Anderson had a good run in the second race for 5 th place with 11:37.72.
There were some fabulous performances from some of our U17 athletes in these events also and the
senior captains are certainly looking forward to them moving up age groups! In the long jump,
Brooke Dunlop was 2 nd with a jump of 4.71m. Meanwhile back on the track we had more athletes
out taking on a slightly different set of distances for the U20/seniors than usual with 150/300/600m
races on offer. The 150s were first, and we had two U20 athletes in the first race. Ally Mitchell took
the win with 16.59s and Brooke Dunlop was 5 th in 20.35s. Douglas Dickson represented the seniors
in the next race with a fine 3 rd in 20.92s. Moving onto the 600m, race 1 had 3 senior Kilmarnock
athletes taking part. Nathan Smith took the win in 1:30.94, Laura Haggarty was 6 th in 1:42.52 and
Jennifer Beattie was 7 th in 1:48.70. Back to the field events, Logan Mitchell took the top spot in the
shot put with a throw of 13.45m and Brooke Dunlop was 7 th , throwing 8.27m. The final track event
of the evening was the 300m, where Ally Mitchell once again took top spot in 35.92s.

Moving to the weekend just gone, we had two athletes competing at the Loch Lomond 10k at
Balloch. Josh Raeburn posted a solid 39:29 and Susan Boyd finished in 55:30 to take the top V70
lady spot – well done to both athletes. A little further afield, we had several athletes travel to
Chelmsford to compete at the England Athletics U20/U23 Open Championships. At this prestigious
event Ally Mitchell was 7 th in his 200m in 22.84s and Sara Barbour was 6 th in the Pole Vault with
3.50m. Logan Mitchell had an exceptional weekend, finishing 1 st U18 in the shot put, throwing a PB

of 15.96m. He was then 2 nd in the discus, throwing another PB of 46.36m and then finally in with the
U20 athletes for the hammer throwing a third PB of the weekend at 50.53m. It is fantastic to see
our club represented at these top level events – huge congratulations to all athletes and their
families and coaches, it really is a team effort!

With another bonus points scoring event in the league at Roon the Toon, the tables are really
starting to heat up. Ellie Anderson holds onto the top spot in the ladies league with 77 points, with
Amanda Bryden retaining 2 nd with 62 points and Sasha I’Anson still sitting 3 rd with 54 points. Lynsey
O’Connor is hot on Sasha’s heels with 53, and there are still plenty other athletes in contention at
this stage with 9 more opportunities available for points. There has been another change at the top
of the men’s table, with Neil Todd regaining the advantage at the top with 66 points. Jonathon
Downey moves to 2 nd with 64 points and Colin Anderson retains 3 rd spot with 57 points. Again there
are still plenty of other athletes in contention as the season continues. Updated league tables can
be seen here – Summer league tables

The next race in the league is Kilmaurs 5k which is now operating a waiting list, followed by Cumbrae
10 mile. Remember that your best Parkrun time will be taken into account for points too, so if you
are yet to run one within the time period then get one planned in! We will be looking for names
soon for the final CSSAL league match on the 23 rd of July – keep an eye on club social media for more
details. For those of you that might want to give track and field a try in a more laid back atmosphere
we have our Club Championships on the 3 rd of September and we will be offering some extra
coaching for the field events closer to the time.