Senior race roundup 4th April 2023

Spring is truly in the air, and the races are coming thick and fast – it’s hard to believe we’re in April
already! Since our last report, we have had Harriers representing at local, national and world level
and it is exciting to share so much good news from the last month.

The 5 th of March saw Louise Baillie compete in the London Olympic Park 10k where she ran 50:46 –
good enough for 19 th senior lady and 126 th overall – great running Louise! Also on the 5 th of March
we had two Harriers posting results at the Cambuslang Harriers Down by The River 10k. Scott
Martin finished in 38:25 as 6 th V50 and 39 th overall, and Andy Taylor finished in 51:51 as 10 th V60 and
191 st overall.

The 11 th of March saw U20 athlete Jonathon Downey travel to Loughborough to represent West of
Scotland at the Inter Counties XC match. Conditions were pretty challenging, but Jonathon finished
in an extremely credible 63 rd overall in a very competitive race. Although we do not usually cover
our younger athletes in these reports it would be wrong not to highlight the performance of U15
athlete Jamie Work who was 70 th in the U15 race at the same event. Jamie has had an excellent
winter season and with athletes like this in the pipeline our future senior teams are in good hands!
On the 12 th of March half marathon season really began to get underway, with Harriers vests on
show at 3 separate events on the day! Heading north for the weekend, Louise Baillie and Susan
Beattie both completed the Inverness Half marathon with Louise crossing the line in 1:52.01 and
Susan finishing in 1:56.13 – well done ladies! David McLure headed in the opposite direction to
compete in the Carlisle Half Marathon. Despite windy conditions, David completed in 79:27 as 6 th
senior man and 13 th overall. Closer to home we had 3 athletes take on Alloa Half Marathon. First
home in blue and white was Josh Raeburn in 87:59, followed by Victoria Deane in 1:53.53 and Brian
McLure in 2:00.49 – well done all.

On the 18 th of March, John Speirs took part in the Cupar 5 mile road race. Despite being surprised by
how hilly it actually was, John stopped the clock in 28:31 for 19 th overall and 3 rd V40. John then
travelled to Poland the following day with the RAF team to participate on the Cross Zaganski which is
a team XC match between GB, Poland and the USA. Held on the 25 th of March, John finished in 7 th
overall and 2 nd V40 as a counting score to help team GB towards victory – well done John!
However, John was not the only Harrier travelling to Poland – Masters athlete Laura Haggarty was
also on a plane last week! Laura travelled to Torun to take part in the World Masters Athletics
Indoor championships. A well-executed 3 rd place in the 800m heats was more than enough to take
Laura through to the final the following evening. The final was extremely competitive and with 9
athletes on the 6 lane track there was all to play for, and Laura ran a great PB (2:20.62) to finish 5 th .
After a rest day the next event was the 1500m which was a straight final, again with a big and
competitive field. It was probably more nerve wracking for the supporters at home than it was for
Laura as the camera footage wasn’t the best, but it was incredible to see her storming up the home
straight for a huge PB of 4:45.22 and that all important bronze medal. The icing on the cake was
then a call up to the 4×200 relay team, where Laura looked every inch the sprinter to run a really
strong second leg and help team GB to another bronze medal. Huge congratulations to Laura and
her coaches for an incredible achievement.

Closer to home, a number of Harriers competed in our first summer championship event – the Tom
Scott Memorial 10 mile race held at Strathclyde Park. First back was Lorna Baird in 62:55 (11 th senior
lady and 15 th lady overall), followed by Connell Drummond (63:57 and 8 th V50 man), Neil Todd

(68:45), Megan Jane Campbell (73:07) and Stephen Vass (84:25). Some fantastic times, league tables
will be updated and posted online.

Sunday the 2 nd also saw the first Ayrshire Open Graded track and field meet of the season. Athletes
were blessed with a fairly calm and mild day, and there were some great performances from our
U20 and senior athletes. In the 100m event, Ally Mitchell was 1 st in his race with 11:36; Luca
Dickson also won his race in 12:59 (PB) with dad Douglas 4 th in the same race with 13.97; and Robert
Lindsay was 2 nd in his race with 13.11. In the 1500m, Jonathon Downey ran a fine PB in 4:11.49 to
take the win, with Connor Scobie 6 th in the same race in 4:34.24. In the second race, Murray
McDonald was 5 th in 5:19.39; and in the third race Sasha I’Anson was 2 nd in a new PB of 5:42.02. Izzy
Caufield was 7 th in this race in 6:11.06. In the final 1500m race Callum Campbell crossed the line first
in 4:51.13. In the discus, Alex McIntosh threw 29.89 for 3 rd overall, and in the 400m Robert Lindsay
was =4 th in his race with 59.71. Great to see so many U20 and senior athletes supporting the event –
if you fancy having a go at track these local open graded events are a great place to start out! Speak
to your club captains if this is something you think you might like to try in 2023 and we’ll keep you
right.

The next few races for the summer league are Ron’s Runners 5k (26/4/23), Troon 10k (3/5/23) and
Shettleston 10k (14/5/23) – let’s get some points on the board!

Here are your current standings – Summer league tables