Plenty of Uppies and Doonies at the Jed Half Marathon
October 31st, 2004The Simply Scottish Jedburgh Half Marathon attracted a field of over 600 runners on Sunday and is now firmly established as the biggest mass participation event in the borders. The men’s race was won by Hunters Bog Trotters, who took revenge on Central AC who had beaten them in last weeks district relays at Kelso.
Gala’s men’s teams acquitted themselves well, with the ‘A’ team of Euan Jardine, Fergus Johnston, Mark Bryson and John Borthwick finishing a creditable 27th from the 100 teams that started the race. Euan Jardine was the fastest harrier on the day, starting first and completing the tough 4.5 km course in an impressive time of 14.20.
Fergus Johnston and Mark Bryson ran identical times of 15.30, which left the team in 30th position until a storming run of 15.02 by John Borthwick pulled the team up to 27th.
The ‘B’ team of Struan King, Alastair Laurie, Robin Murray and Tony Lunn were pleased with their efforts in finishing 49th, with fast runs in particular from Struan in a time of 15.34.
The Selkirk pair of Alastair Laurie and men’s captain Robin Murray shared the same time of 16.44, while Tony Lunn ran a superb anchor leg time of 16.15, picking up ten places in the process.
The men’s ‘C’ team of Malky Gowans, Tommy Knox, Derek Fraser and Martin Clarke competed well to finish 84th, with their fastest time coming from Martin who ran 17.09. Tommy Knox was running his first race for the harriers and half way round he was telling anyone who cared to listen that it was going to be his last as well!
Tommy changed his mind about ten minutes after he’d finished his leg, when he could start breathing and walking again and could see that everyone was finding the course just as hard going.
The ladies teams had a lot to live up to with the harriers lifting the vet’s title and finishing third overall a couple of years ago. There were no members of that team present on Saturday but those who did turn up put up a good showing.
Katy Anderson, Eileen Nichol and Angela Foss represented the ‘A’ team, while Karen Renton, Fiona Dalglish and Nicola Meikle ran for the ‘B’ team. Fastest runs came from Katy, Nicola and Fiona, who all went under 19 minutes, with times of 18.22, 18.42 and 18.46 respectively.
Both ladies teams finished very close to each other in 24th and 29th place respectively, a special mention must go to Fiona who ran an excellent leg in her first ever cross country race for the harriers and even managed to finish with a smile.
