Senior race report 10th July 2023

The weather may have taken a turn for the worse since our last report, but our athletes are still in
red hot form and we have a lot of good news to share since the last update!

We start this week with a trip to Scotstoun on the 25 th of June, where out senior athletes were
competing at the Scottish Athletics National Track Relay championships. Our senior men were
defending their 4×100 title and gave us a really exciting race in their attempt to do so. Unfortunately
the VP Glasgow team were just too strong on the day (posting a championship record time) but our
men Josh Smith, Lewis Tidy, Andrew Baird and Ally Mitchell ran a fantastic race for a very well
deserved team silver. We had two senior ladies teams representing in the 3×800, with the A team
of Laura Haggarty, Jennifer Beattie and Ellie Anderson claiming the bronze medal and the B team of
Sasha I’Anson, Izzy Caufield and Christine Clermont finshing in 4 th overall. Huge congratulations to all
our junior teams on the day also!

Away from the track on the 25 th we had two Harriers competing at the Skirt the Skeith 12k race in
Dalry. Conditions were somewhat challenging, but Lorna Baird made light work of them to finish in
7 th overall and 1 st lady in 46:29. Also competing was Paul Lafferty who finished just behind Lorna in
8 th overall (46:33). Well done both! In his outgoing race as a Kilmarnock Harrier, John Speirs was
also in action at the Dechmont Law Trail race, finishing 3 rd overall and 1 st V40 – well done John and all
the best at your new club.

Friday the 30 th saw a squad of Harriers head up to Glasgow Green to compete in the 3k on the Green
race. First home was U17 athlete Matthew Monachello who is having an outstanding season so far,
he completed in 4 th overall in a time of 9:53. Hot on his heels was Ross Granger in 5 th (10:03) and
Adam Todd in 10 th (10:13). Jamie Nix was next across the line in 10:23 (13 th ), with U17 athlete Lewis
Anderson just behind in 10:25 (14 th ). David Anderson completed in 11:28 (26 th ), Ellie Anderson was
33 rd and 3 rd lady overall in 11:55 and Melissa Anderson was 53 rd (13:46). Well done to all who took
part, great to see the club so well represented at this popular and competitive event.

On the 5 th of July we saw hill specialist Roddy Pugh complete the Maddy Moss Hill Race – Roddy
finished in an excellent 43 rd overall in 1:17:09, well done Roddy!

The weekend just gone has been a busy one to say the least! Mark Alexander took on the Newton
5k on Friday evening whilst on holiday in Wales with his family and was 1 st V40 in 19:24. Although
we do not cover junior races as a rule, we will make an exception to point out that Mark’s daughter
Ellie won the junior mile race outright and younger brother Euan was 2 nd boy, and both have been
giving dad a hard time about his performance ever since!

Our Masters track and field athletes were out in full force on Saturday at Grangemouth to contest
the 4J Studios Scottish Athletics Masters Champs. First out on the track was sprinter Douglas
Dickson who ran a season’s best 13.81s in the 100m to take the V55 silver medal in a very
competitive race. Douglas then ran a second season best in the 200m (28.52s) to finish 4 th . In the
800m, Laura Haggarty dominated for a well deserved V35 gold in 2:23.7 and Jennifer Beattie was 2 nd
in the race and 1 st V40 in 2:34.42 to also take the gold. These ladies later competed in the 400m,
where the spectators were treated to a really competitive race between Laura and the V40 athlete
from Ireland. Laura was just pipped at the post overall but ran a great PB of 62.25s to take a second
gold medal of the day. Jennifer ran a season best of 66.95 to take the silver in the V40 category.
Also competing in the 800/400 double were Robert Lindsay and David Sherrington. Robert lifted the
silver in the V45 800 with 2:19.19 and David took his first National Masters title with a 2:12.02 in the
V40 men’s category. In the 400m, Robert again took the V45 silver with 58.92s and David made his

400m debut a winning one, taking the V40 gold in 55.19s. Robert then took the V45 shot put title
with a throw of 8.25m. The biggest winner of the day however was without doubt Alex McIntosh
who lifted an incredible 4 gold medals in the V65 category on the day with a hammer throw of
33.91m, a javelin throw of 28.02m, discus throw of 30.89m and finally a shot put throw of 9.20m. It
is fantastic to see the club so well represented at these events! Also competing on the day in the
open Steeplechase was Jamie Nix, who despite rolling an ankle early on in the race completed his
debut steeplechase in 11:53.35 – well done Jamie!

Grangemouth also played host to the national multi events championships and we had two U20
athletes competing for the Scottish U20 ladies title. After two days of events in the Heptathlon
(100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m for the uninitiated!) it was a
very well deserved gold medal for Isla Raeburn, with teammate Brooke Dunlop claiming the bronze
on the day – huge congratulations to both of these young ladies for some excellent performances,
and what a result for the club to have two athletes on the podium at this level.
The track and field athletes were not having all the fun and prizes however – Craig Ferguson made
the trip to the Girvan Half Marathon a winning one, completing the hilly course in humid conditions
in an excellent 1:15:17. Well done Craig, great running!

There have been no club championship races in the last couple of weeks, but we have the Kilmaurs
5k and Cumbrae 10 mile race coming up in the next week or two. We are also looking for names for
the CSSAL league match on the 23 rd of July at Ayr and there is also an Open Graded at Kilmarnock on
the 4 th of August for anyone wishing to compete at a more low key event but the races are selling
out fast. Remember that your best Parkrun, half marathon and marathon over the summer period
will count towards the summer points league and we also have the inaugural club together awards
sponsored by Howdens in Irvine running throughout the year – check it out and see how close you
are to earning one of these!