Race report round-up from the last week
May 30th, 2006Featauring Jack Knox’s gold medal haul at the Scottish Masters, Britannic Asset Management Womens 10k, club 800m and the Eastern Cairngorms Challenge.
Scottish Masters
Jack Knox showed it’s not just the young Gala Harriers that can win national titles as he lifted three gold medals at the Scottish Masters Track Championships. Jack was competing in Glasgow at a very wet and windy Scotstoun track and was hoping to improve on the two gold medals he won last year.
Competing in the 60+ category, Jack comfortably won the 800, 1500 and the 5000 metres, all in the space of a couple of hours, beating many athletes much younger than himself. Jack will now be seriously eyeing the British titles, which will be held at Birmingham in July.
Karen Haldane was also competing for the harriers and picked up a well deserved silver medal in the ladies 3000 metres.
Britannic Asset Management Women’s 10K
Gillian Duncan and Lisa Gregg were among the world record turnout of 15,000 all women runners in the ‘Britannic Asset Management Women’s 10K’ held in Glasgow last Sunday. Gillian finished 83rd in an excellent time of 43.39, with Lisa recording 45.24 to finish 171st.
Club 800m Track Race
Not quite as many turned up on Thursday night at the Tweedbank track for the harriers second club track race of the season but there was still a healthy turnout of juniors and seniors. Kerry Sandilands won the first race of the evening in the P4/5 Girls 400m. Kerry recorded a time of 1.22.31, with Amy Thomson 2nd and Lorna Dagg 3rd. David Bonnar ran a storming race to win the boys P4/5 event in an excellent time of 1.18.68, with Euan Duncan 2nd and Darren Knox 3rd.
Alice Haining smashed her personal best by 8 seconds winning the girls P6/7 600 metres. Alice recorded 1.48.01, with Lucy McClung 2nd and Martha Douglas 3rd. The boys P6/7 race was a much tighter affair with Cameron Gowans sprinting clear over the last hundred metres to win in a time of 1.59.37, with Sean Scott 2nd and Keith Young 3rd.
The S1/2 races were over 800 metres and produced a PB performance by Emily Douglas as she recorded 2.41.10 to win comfortably over Ashley Hedderly and Jenna Waldie. Alistair Russell dominated the S1/2 boy’s race, winning in a time of 2.41.57, with Andrew McCrirrick 2nd and Paul Ferguson 3rd.
Gillian Inglis ran an excellent 2.45.17 to win the Senior girls race, with Samantha Brown 2nd and Claire Wilson 3rd. Fraser Anderson recorded a superb 2.21.00 to win a very competitive senior boys race, with Iain Frater 2nd and Sandy Walker 3rd.
Gillian Duncan was too strong for the rest of the senior ladies field as she won the ladies 800m title in a time of 2.43.21, with Mel Goodson finishing with a great sprint to take 2nd place on the line from ladies captain Katy Anderson.
Rory Methven produced another impressive track performance, winning the men’s race in a time of 2.12.64, with Graeme Murdoch 2nd in 2.17.93 and Ewan Lindores 3rd in 2.18.96.
Eastern Cairngorms Challenge
Robin Murray and Graham Capper took on a different challenge at the weekend as they competed in the inaugural Eastern Cairngorms Challenge, from Glen Clova to Braemar.
The race involved an 11mile hill run, followed by a 6 mile mountain bike decent into Braemar. Despite getting lost and breaking his finger in a fall, Robin finished 8th with Graham nursing a few bruises of his own close behind in 14th place.
On a final note, it was agreed that Gala Harriers will host the East District XC Championships in December this year, the decision was taken after the East District AGM last Wednesday. It has been four years since Gala hosted a big race and everyone in the club is excited at the prospect of organising such a big event in the town again.
