Edinburgh Marathon And Other Weekend Action
May 26th, 2008The 26.2 miles of the marathon distance is surely the most gruelling of athletic events but in the capital on Sunday, several Gala Harriers took it in their stride, at the same time as the junior girls’ squad were competing at Meadowbank in the HASL Lothian & Borders League over slightly shorter distances on the track.
The Edinburgh Marathon has changed course dramatically over the last few years and now starts in the city centre and finishes at Musselburgh Race Course, hugging the east coast with all the weather you would expect from a route which goes out almost as far as Aberlady Bay and back. The event has seen extremes of heat and torrential rain but on Sunday it was as kind as it could be, although blustery in parts and very warm towards the end.
(Results will not be published until Tuesday so the times that follow are not exact.)
Running this time for the Scottish police, Harrier Dianne Lauder recorded a spectacular time of 3 hours 1 minute, a tantalising minute over the coveted sub 3 hours but an incredible feat for her first ever marathon, which gave her the first female police placing, the first Scottish female home and 9th woman overall. Had she not been nursing a head cold, she could have certainly gone under the magic sub 3 mark.
With her Gala colours on, Carole Fortune powered home in her third marathon in as many months in 3.25 with Tish Affleck making a welcome return to racing, coming in at a very comfortable 3.31. Training partners Margot Crosbie and Eileen Nicol found their experiences very different with Margot relishing her run and recording a personal best of 3.40 and Eileen, in her 10th marathon but also recovering from a cold finding the going tough, but still finishing in a very respectable 3.54.
The men were represented by John Cairns in 3.30 and Malky Gowans in 3.50, as well as father and son duo Derek and Jack Fraser who teamed up with family to run the Hairy Haggis Relay Race, over the same route as the full marathon but in 4 stages. Another father and son duo in former Harrier and National Hill Champion John Wilkinson and his son Craig, both marathon virgins competed over the full distance in 3.21 and 3.40 respectively, along with Lauderdale Limper Simon.
Check the photo gallery out for some action shots of the marathon!
At Meadowbank in windy and cool conditions, the junior girls were battling it out on the track with considerable success. Against an extremely strong headwind, Hannah Jones took first place in the Under 13 800m in 2.39.9, just pipping twin sister Emily who finished second in 2.40.4. Sophie Elder stormed home to first place in the U15 200m, with Alice Haining and Charlotte Brown both recording PBs over the 800m and taking first and second places in 2.27.7 and 2.33 respectively, a stunning personal best for Charlotte of over 10 seconds.
malky Says:
I,in my usual disorganised style,encountered problems in transit from musselburgh to the start and was sitting on a service bus outside meadowbank just as John Cairns was passing in the race! I jumped off and raced up to the start about twenty five minutes late where they were dismantelling the equipment, and started over the,(hopefully still working )electronic mat then proceded in the race. I clocked myself at 3.34, a minute longer than last year but only needed two pee stops this time and no sit down requirements,the mainclock on finishing showed about 3.58…
rosi capper Says:
Malky, you are amazin! I had to submit the report to the papers without knowing your chip time so apologies for the inaccuracy there - but all the times were estinmates as the results aren’t up til tonight. Well done on your excellent time and as for the pit stops…well, just a bit too much information there!
FIONA GOWANS Says:
Malky, no organised? No like you Malky!!!!