TROON 10K 2014

Large number of Killie athletes head for the seaside.

On Wednesday May 7^th, Troon Tortoises hosted their annual and massively popular 10K Road and once more entries were sold out well in advance as close on 900 people of the 1,000 pre entrants lined up for the race start down by the coast.

In very blustery conditions any pb hopes seemed to be pretty optimistic, however by the end of the 6.2 miles a number of the 30 plus Kilmarnock Harriers had shown their fitness by smashing lifetime bests.

At the gun, Shettleston athletes Mike Deason and Kevin Brydon were always favourites to lead everyone home and so it proved as an early gap was established between themselves and the rest of the field. Last year’s Ladies race champion and Kilmarnock Harrier Kara Tait too shot off fast, and at halfway the respective race winners were more or less established with many a fine performance taking place in the rest of the field.

At halfway, Keith Haining overtook Scott Martin to lay claim on Club bragging rights while Neil Walker, Stuart Murdoch and Robert Lindsay weren’t too far behind as they strived for high positions and new personal best times. Lindsay McMahon was running strongly in 2^nd place in the ladies race, and although stomach issues held her back in the second half of the race the former race winner and Scottish Internationalist dug in strongly for a high finishing position and a benchmark for the rest of the season.

A tough slog for everyone in the second half of the run into the wind, did indeed see Keith show his strength to come home as first Harrier, with an excellent 5^th place finish for the 2.39 marathoner of 4 years ago. Scott too just sneaked into the Top 10 and the pair secured the top 2 Vet positions in the process.

Remarkably Neil, Stuart and Robert, joined Mark Alexander and Scott Lyden in being amongst those who achieved pb’s on a wild night and gained just rewards for hard Winters training.

Kara ran strongly to take top spot in the ladies field in her 2^nd quickest 10K time to date and with clear daylight over the runner up. Lindsay joined Keith and Scott in scooping Vet prizes while amongst the Killie lassies Kirstin Dale and Rhona O’Neill bagged their best ever times for the distance and going under 50 minutes for the first time.

Massive mentions have to go to Gillian Johnstone, who continues to dramatically improve by finishing not only first Junior, but well inside the top third of the field overall.

In a very large field, Kilmarnock Harrier and AC times and positions were –

5^th Keith Haining 35.07, 10^th Scott Martin 35.42, 11^th Neil Walker 36.02, 12^th Stuart Murdoch 36.08, 16^th Kara Tait 36.29 (1^st lady), 17^th Robert Lindsay 36.30, 24^th Stewart Ferguson 37.25, 25^th Scott Lyden 37.26, 28^th James Wales 37.38, 30th Gordon Reid 37.42, 32^nd Connell Drummond 37.53, 34^th Mark Alexander 38.22, 44^th Steven Milligan 39.21, 75^th Paul Bennie 41.36, 76^th Lindsay McMahon 41.57 (5^th Lady), 138^th Paul Millar 43.40, 151^st Rosemary McMillan 44.30, 231^st Natalie Boyce 47.03, 232^nd Darren Ridout 46.56, 239^th Gillian Johnstone 47.40, 241^st Alex McGhee 47.22, 259^th Matt Ferguson 48.22, 286^th Kirstin Dale 49.09, 287^th Ken Wales 49.11, 300^th  Rhona O’Neill 49.40, 320th  Liz McDerment 50.02, 414^th Brian Darroch 52.54, 433^rd Alan Anderson 53.23, 511^th Jackie McCulloch 55.25, 571^st Susan Beattie 56.51, 653^rd Emmy Dodds 59.42, 717^th Pamela Gray 63.55, 719^th Christine McShane 64.00, 839^th Dawn-Marie Wylie 70.54

Full marks to all, with special mentions to the many on course supporters and coaches, as well as injured Club Captain Cameron Wilson who took on the mantle of photographer for the night, and all his cracking pictures can be found on the Kilmarnock Harriers Facebook page.