West Track and Field, Stirling Marathon, and a rather awesome Ultra.

The Ayrshire Athletics Arena was the venue for this year’s West District Track & Field Championships last weekend with many Harriers taking the opportunity to represent the club at their home track.

There were four Senior’s competing across three events, with track newcomer Douglas Dickson running the 200m on Friday night. In good conditions, Douglas completed his first competitive 200m in a time of 28.70 which places him near the top of the Scottish rankings in the V50 category. Next up was Jamie Nix in a high quality 1500m field. Despite finishing 12th, Jamie dug deep to smash his PB by 15 seconds in a time of 4.31, a testament to his hard work in training over the last few months.

Saturday morning saw training partners James Wales and Robert Lindsay take to the track in the 800m event. James smashed his 2.10 target and took the Kilmarnock honours in a time of 2.08.85 with Robert a little behind on 2.10.33. The afternoon session brought some heavier downpours and blustery winds which made conditions that bit tougher for the 400m sessions with Jamie, Robert and Douglas toeing the line in this event. Jamie clocked 61.60, Robert 58.49 and Douglas achieved another PB with a 67.14 to round off a fine weekend for the Veteran.

However, the performances of the weekend must surely go to the younger Members of Kilmarnock Harriers, with a large total of 17 medals across numerous events. Pride of place go to the 6 West District Champions from the Club with Sara Barbour and Jack Edwards claiming Championship Records in the Pole Vault and 300 metres respectively in the Under 15 Age Group Category. Special mentions too go to the huge number of Kilmarnock Harriers who competed over the weekend with many achieving, or being close to personal bests to prove that the future of the Club is in great hands with such a talented bunch of athlete. The Medal Winners were –

1500m	SW	Steph Hewitt	2nd	5.08.92
Hammer	u17	Emily Nix	3rd	18.61m
T. Jump	u20	Jamie Nix	2nd	10.68m
Discus	u15	Luke McManus	3rd	18.44m
100m	SW	Lorne Kerr	3rd	13.24
800m	u15	Hannah Burn	2nd	2.17.55
800m	u15	Aidan Jenner	3rd	2.14.36
Javelin	u15	Sara Barbour	3rd	22.95m
Javelin	u13	Hannah Henderson	3rd	13.04m
Javelin	u15	Andrew Baird	3rd	29.61m
Long Jump	u13	Jonathon Downey	2nd	4.23m
300m	u15	Jack Edwards	1st	38.72	(Championship Record)
100m	u15	Josh Kerr	1st	12.04
800m	u13	Mhairi Chalmers	1st	2.30.77
400m	u17	Michael Bargh	1st	51.72
Pole Vault	u17	Finlay Walker	1st	3.40m
Pole Vault	u15	Sara Barbour	1st	2.40m	Championship Record Equal

On Sunday, the long awaited first staging of the Stirling Scottish Marathon took place, and in the field were high profile names in Olympian Zola Budd, as well as Scottish Marathon Record Holder and former 10,000 metres World Champion Liz McColgan. However, also lining up were a huge number of Kilmarnock Harriers, and on what was to prove a mostly successful day there were a number of personal bests, and debut Marathons.

First home for the Club in an excellent sub 3 hour run was Colin Glencorse who not only finished below that benchmark, but also easily finished inside the top 100 in a field of thousands. Closely behind was Ultra Specialist Jim Connelly in his debut over the distance. First Female for the Harriers was Susan Beattie who featured very prominently in her age category, while Amanda Bryden was seconds behind and clocked another sub 4 hour marathon a mere couple of months after a similar feat in Barcelona.

Personal bests were achieved amongst others by Viv Lambert, and special mentions too goes to Steven Robson and Dorren Wales for great debuts, and also to former Harrier Stuart Murdoch who had another excellent run in a new personal best time of 2.51.

Killie Times were –

63^rd Colin Glencorse 2.59.04, 84^th Jim Connelly 3.01.11, 313rd Steven Robson 3.24.00, 338^th John Tougher 3.25.17, 1398^th Susan Beattie 3.59.19, 1410^th Amanda Bryden 3.59.33, 1711^th Viv Lambert 4.07.22, 1957^th Doreen Wales 4.14.13, 2432^nd Linda Lithgow 4.26.54, 2537^th Mandy Nimbley 4.29.31, 3051st Stewart McRoberts 4.45.09, 3131st Brian Keachie 4.47.28.

Finally Neil Walker, who has been in great shape recently, unfortunately had to withdraw at 12 miles due to injury. Everyone at the Club hopes for a speedy recovery and that he can go on to have a successful season on the back of such a good period of training in the past few months.

Finally, and up amongst the best performances over a great couple of weeks, David McLure was competing in the British 100K Championships.

David came home in an outstanding 3^rd place to secure the bronze medal at the prestigious event and in doing so clocked 7.23.36 for the remarkable 62 miles. David was also crowned Scottish Champion over the distance to add to his feat so very well done to him.

A fantastic effort to cap off a fine spell of athletics in Kilmarnock