Gala Harriers in Edinburgh Marathon Action
June 16th, 2003Gala Harriers had ten athletes running in the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday. The organisers must have been very pleased with the turn out of 4,200 runners, making it the second biggest marathon in Britain, next to London.
Ron Logan was hoping for ‘third time lucky’ in this year’s event, having smashed into ‘the wall’ in both his previous attempts. The warm weather and strong head wind along the Portobello to Silvernowes promenade made for a tough race but Ron dug in deep over the last couple of miles, to eventually break the three hour barrier and record a time of 2.59.54.
George Runciman and Dave Nightingale had a very friendly run round Edinburgh and kept each other going to record respectable times of 3.20, which was also a personal best for Dave.
Sally Calder was running the marathon distance for the first time and found the conditions hard but she still managed to run 3.38 and was very pleased to see the finishing line. Having run in the London marathon a couple of months ago Eileen Nichol decided to keep up the training for Edinburgh and must be very satisfied with her time of 3.46.
Karen Renton’s last marathon was in November in the ‘Big Apple’, New York. Determined to improve on her time then, Karen took an impressive chunk off her previous best ever time to dip under the 4 hour mark and record 3.59. Finishing along side Karen was Graeme Sutherland from Lauder, who as usual was running for charity.
Ruth McCann’s last Edinburgh marathon was run dressed up as Marge Simpson but that was obviously too easy for her, so she decided to add a bit more to her costume this time and competed as the Loch Ness Monster. She probably scared a good few runners into running faster times but she will be very pleased to finish in one piece and record a time of 4.29.
Finishing on the same time was Anna White who battled round bravely, despite suffering from a painful tooth abscess. Anna’s race looked over at 25 miles when she collapsed but she managed to pick herself up and run on to record a personal best time, or so she told the stretcher bearers at the finish. Fortunately Anna recovered quickly and is already planning her next marathon, NOT!
John Sharp has been training very hard for this race and will be glad of the few pounds of weight he’s lost in the process but even happier about all the pounds he’s made for charity. John ran 4.29 also but may need some persuasion to improve on this time next year.
This Thursday will be the second of the Gala Harriers track race series at Tweedbank. Senior athletes will be running a 800 metres, while the juniors will be running a 600 and a 300 metre race. The first race will start at 6.45.
Saturday also sees the annual Eildon Two Hills race from the Greenyards in Melrose. Last years event had one of the biggest ever fields of runners and it is hoped for a good turn out again this year. The race starts at 3.00pm, with registration from 1.00pm in the rugby club.
