Senior Race Roundup 31st May 2022

Following on from our mid-month catch up with all things racing for our senior athletes, the remainder of May has been equally busy!  Our athletes have been doing the club proud up and down the country and even as far as Luxembourg in the past couple of weeks and keeping me busy trying to keep track…  Hopefully we have covered off everything here, but please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have raced somewhere that we haven’t picked up – we love to hear good news stories.

Friday the 20^th of May saw 7 Harriers travel through to the University of Stirling to compete in the annual Monument Mile run by Central Athletics who REALLY put on a show this year with flame units on the gantry and home straight as well as their usual live stream with additional drone footage.  It makes it feel like a really special event and well worth getting an entry in for next year.  Races run from slowest to fastest predicted time which makes for some very exciting racing as the night progresses, and first up in a blue and white vest was Jennifer Beattie in race 4.  The target time for this race was 5:40 – 5:50, and Jennifer was delighted to finish 3^rd in 5:37.86 just ahead of Fiona Matheson who actually broke the V60 world record for the mile on the night.  Next up was Jonathan Downey who completely blew pacer Andy Butchart’s mind by setting off at a very smart pace!  Jonathan duly took the first winner’s yellow cap for the club in an excellent 4:36.39.  Congratulations must also go to Jonathan for being selected to represent Scotland in hill running for the International Youth Cup in Italy later on this year.   Following Jonathan’s success, the next Harriers athlete to step on the track also came home with a coveted yellow cap – a very well executed race from Charlie McNulty in 4:45.52 saw him take the tape in race 14.   The future is definitely bright for our teams with these talented young athletes!  In race 16, David Sherrington took on his first ever mile race and finished a very credible 6^th place in a well spread out field, crossing the line in 4:51.73 – well done David!  Last up and rounding up the night for our senior athletes was Jamie Nix in race 19.  Jamie finished 8^th in his race in 4:53.75.  Although we do not usually cover off junior athletes in these reports I can’t miss out the performances of Jordan and Jamie Phillips on the night.  Jordan was 2^nd in race 21 in 4:31.10, and Jamie was 9^th in race 24 in a blistering time of 4:20.98.  We are very much looking forward to these boys moving up to the U20/senior rankings in the future!

Moving back to road racing, Wednesday the 25^th saw the next in our summer points series – the Land O’Burns 10k.  A total of 20 Harriers put their toe on the line on a somewhat blustery evening, and there were some great results see here.  It was great to see Martin Brown back racing and taking the win in 33:11. Next home was David Sherrington in 6^th overall and 2^nd V40 in 35:41.  First lady back in was Sasha I’Anson who was 15^th lady overall and 2^nd F15-19 (74^th overall) in 48:18.  Michael Corson further consolidated his domination of the V60 category in the local races with 41:51, 1^st V60 and 31^st overall.  Well done to everyone that took part, updated league tables are now available.  Mark Lyden still tops the table for the men though Paul Black is slowly gaining; and Kirsty Mackay has extended her lead in the ladies table.  It would appear that Kirkmichael is not happening, so the next race for points will be Roon the Toon – remember that there are bonus points available for competing at this one as a club race! See the table here – summer points league (1)

The weekend just gone has been extremely busy, with our athletes representing at various events.  First up was Rhona O’Neill who travelled down to Kirkcudbright on Saturday for their 10km race.  The journey was made worthwhile with a 1^st V40 and 3^rd lady overall for Rhona in 49:27 – great running!

Also on the Saturday but slightly further afield, Nick Carter and Lauren Little participated in their first marathon – the ING Luxembourg Night Marathon.  Nick completed in 4:04:31 with Lauren coming home in 4:23:44 – fantastic effort on a tricky course in the dark (as if a marathon isn’t hard enough!) – well done guys.

Another athlete making his marathon debut this weekend was Brian O’Connor, who completed Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday in 3:21:18 – huge congratulations to Brian on a fantastic debut.  Also at Edinburgh but this time in the half marathon, Josh Raeburn consolidated his recent marathon debut performance with a big PB of 1:28:10 in the half marathon.  In the 10k at the same event we also had Kelly Gilbert complete in 47:07 – all in a very good EMF for Kilmarnock Harriers.

Sunday also saw the third and final race of the very popular Babcock series – the Shettleston 10k, this year held on a new course completely within the confines of Glasgow Green.  Craig Ferguson has been contesting this series with great success, and he finished the final race in a fine PB of 33:37 for 5^th place overall.  Brilliant running Craig!

Rounding up a great weekend for the Harriers was Steven Robson who took part in the North Ayrshire Trail Half Marathon at Eglinton Park, finishing in 1:28:56 for 3^rd overall and 1^st Senior man.  Apologies if any other Harrier ran this event and I have missed you – the organisers are yet to post full results.

Next up for the road runners will be Roon the Toon next weekend – if you are not running but would still like to be involved then please consider volunteering on the day – contact Ian Gebbie if you feel you could offer some assistance, it’s a great way to be part of the event without the actual hard work of running the race!  For track athletes the entries have now opened for our Open Graded on the 14^th of June – this is also a great low key event for anyone who might want to have a go, speak to your captains if you need any advice/have any questions.