Blackrock, Traprain Law, Scottish Schools T&F & Dunfermline 1/2
June 14th, 2010Gala Harriers took themselves off to run around rocks, up laws, compete against schools from up and down Scotland and battle the elements of the Scottish Half Marathon championships over the last 3 days, with varying degrees of success.
First off was the rock bit – the Black Rock of Kinghorn to be precise. A full busful of Harriers headed to the Fife coast for this popular event on Friday evening after work, which involves sand, water, rocks and quite a lot of liquid refreshment as a reward.
Georgia Nesbitt - 30 mins 20 seconds (2nd lady out of 809 runners overall)
Billy McCulloch - 30.54
Derrick Brydon - 30.54
Rachel Fagan - 31.02
Tony Lunn - 31.16
Malky Gowans - 31.22
David Nightingale - 32.10
Eileen Nicol - 34.52
Ian Wilson - 35.23
Margot Crosbie - 35.29
Alan Murray - 35.34
Carole Fortune - 37.32
Ruth McCann - 37.37
Alison Wilson - 37.59
Graeme Shepherd - 42.57
Lisa Hogg - 43.52
Matthew Purves - 44.24
Pauline Ballantyne - 45.57
Anne Purves - 48.29.
Rachel Fagan and Georgia Nesbitt shared the honours for the Harriers with high placings overall – Rachel winning the first women’s vet prize and Georgia coming home as second female overall. Silver would appear to be her metal of choice as the next day, Georgia took to the slopes of Traprain Law near East Linton and again was the second woman home, a remarkable back-to-back feat. Georgia Nesbitt’s time in the Traprain Law race was 48.23.
Friday and Saturday saw the Scottish Schools Track & Field Championships at Grangemouth and young Harriers representing their schools in a variety of events instead of their club and coming up against stiff competition from their academic counterparts. After coming second in her heat in 5 minutes 10.55 seconds, Lucy Henderson-Morris reached the final of the 1500 metres, where she placed 9th in a consistent 5.12.25.
Rowan Marr found the going tough in the 800m, achieving a solidd 4th in his heat in 2.17.94 but not quite fast enough to take him through to the final. The next day, he returned for the 1500m and again finished 4th in his heat in a personal best of 4.33.08, which took him through to the final where he PB’d again (4.32.76) to finish 9th, such was the quality of the field.
Also in action on Friday was Demi Yorke in the 200m and the long jump. She finished 6th in the long jump with a leap of 4.74 m but cruised through her heat in the 200m in 26.77, coming second and going one better to win the gold medal in the final in 26.45.
The action continued on in Grangemouth on Saturday, with Kerry Sandilands putting in a sterling performance in the 1500m to finish in 5.19.98 but out of the medals. Sophie Elder ran well in the heats of the 300m, qualifying in 44.39 for the final where she finished 7th in an almost identical time of 44.40. Demi Yorke appeared for another day of action, this time in the 100m where she was able to repeat her success of the previous day with a sizzling 12.88 in the heat and 12.75 in the final, lifting her gold medal haul to two.
Sunday saw the running of the Scottish Half Marathon championships alongside the SignPlus Dunfermline City Half Marathon with Dianne Lauder having been selected to represent Scotland in a head to head with rivals England. Over a tough, twisting and undulating course in cold conditions with unseasonably heavy rain, Dianne came 5th in the international race and 6th female overall in an impressive time of 1 hour 19 minutes, not her best but a good performance nevertheless, which allowed Scotland to take the honours on the day (still to be confirmed.)
FOR THE SPORTING WEEK AHEAD - jogscotland 5K challenge at Dryburgh Abbey Hotel on TUESDAY 22 JUNE starting at 7pm.
Neil Renton Says:
Just a quick update on the Dunfermline 1/2 marathon. As well as hosting the home international, this event was also the Scottish 1/2 marathon Championships, where Dianne Lauder won the bronze medal.