Dumfries Harriers

2011 RACE REPORTS

GNR, Berlin, Stirling & Dumfries

Following on from the clubs busy involvement in the Gallovidian 10k there have been some great performances from the clubs members as the racing season for many comes to an end. A couple of weeks ago two Harriers headed to the North East to compete in the famous Great North Run. Gail Earl and Colin Braid completed the half marathon course in times of 1:56 and 1:58 respectively. These were great finishing times which easily saw both Harriers placed in the top half of the field.

Andrew Amos, the rising superstar of the club, set a new personal best for 10k as he took on Scotland’s best at Stirling. This race has always been a magnet for the very best central belt runners and Andrew finished the race in 39:08, placing him 141^st out of 859 finishers. What is more staggering is that Andrew finished 8^th in a very strong 15 to 19 year old category.

The following week saw no less than 9 Harriers compete in two different competitions. The early starters were the trio who travelled to Berlin to take part in the Marathon. Not only did world records tumble, but Andy Beattie also set himself a new personal best. Encouraged by the sunrise over the Reichstag and temperatures well into the 20’s as they passed the Brandenburg Gate for the last time, Andy finished in a time of 3:26:03. This fantastic time was set by even split times of 1:43 for both the first and second half of the race. Also joining in the fun in Berlin was Caroline Moles and Steve Head. Both Caroline and Steve finished in the top 35% of a massive 41000 field, with Caroline clocking a very impressive time of 3:55:13 and Steve close behind on 4:09:17. Again, both runners had a steady race with only 5 minutes difference between their first half and second half splits. This is a great credit to the hard work and effort put in to their long runs throughout the year.

The second Sunday race saw 6 Harriers take part in the local Dumfries Half Marathon which was celebrating its 30^th Anniversary. The ever present Kevin ‘Tosh’ McCaig stormed home in an impressive time of 1:23:29 to pick up the men’s over 50 prize and a very high overall finish. Tosh was also looking for Grand Prix points, but a personal best performance from Ian Gray finishing in 1:29:18 may be enough to win him the year long contest. Another remarkable personal best was set by Keith Ainslie who has performed highly all season. Keith finished the race in 1:38.19 nearly 2 minutes better than his previous best. Bob Mitchell completed the race in 1:42:03 which was one of his finest runs of the season, this being apparent from the smile on his face as he crossed the well supported finishing line. Close on Bobs heels were Gail Earl and Elaine McMeikan. Gail finished in 1:53:49, which was a great performance considering she had run a hard race only 7 days before at the Great North Run and Elaine finished the race in 2:14:52, which is a credit to the training she has put in over the last few months. This race was a step up from the 10k’s Elaine normally competes in, and in some pretty hard conditions.

Gallovidian 10k

The recent Gallovidian 10k was yet another great occasion for Dumfries Harriers which saw a near record entry for the race and the total amount of money raised by the event pass the £10,000 mark.

With many of the club’s membership taking on the roles of marshals and officials on the night it was a testament to how much the club has grown that it could still muster a squad of 21 to line up with the 251 runners taking part.

Club stalwart, Tosh McCaig, took the honour of being the first Harrier to finish in 38 minutes and 43 seconds, a time that was rewarded with the added bonus of second place in the Veteran 50 competition. Snapping at Tosh’s heels was the 16 year old ‘young pretender’ Andrew Amos who produced yet another personal best performance for the distance in a time of 39:05. Incredibly Andrew turned out to be one of 10 Harriers to record a personal best time on the night and this included the next 3 to finish, Andy Beattie, Steve Carroll and Caroline Moles who registered times of 41:07, 43:01 and 45:31. Rebecca Bardsley and James Oates also performed well after a lengthy absence from racing and were pleased with times of 45:54 and 47:12.

Following some really hard training Colin Braid’s season continues to go from strength to strength and he was the first of another batch of 4 Harriers to achieve a new PB in the race. Finishing in 48:49 Colin narrowly bettered Gail Earl, 50:13, Kirsty Hunter, 50:18 and this seasons surprise package Sandra Little in 53:58. Just sneaking home in front of Sandra was Annie Thompson who produced a fine run to clock a season’s best time of 52:50.

The top prize winner for the Harriers in the race was Anne Head who comfortably won first prize in her age category with a time of 54:15. Anne led home the next group of Lynne Davies, Helen Cameron and Fiona Black in times of 55:10, 57:14 and 57:44.; for Fiona this time proved to be good enough for her to record her second PB in a week.

Nicola Power and Jill Nicholson, both products of the clubs burgeoning beginners group, made impressive racing debuts in club colours and were rightly overjoyed with their times of 63:37 and 63:57 respectively. In a more relaxed mode both Bob Mitchell and Martin McKeown took on the roles of pacemakers during the race, helping friends to complete the course in a time of just over 65 minutes, while Jane Vickers completed the list of Harriers in just under 68 minutes.

Race Director Steve Head was delighted with the night’s proceedings and thanked sponsors Gallovidian Fresh Foods for their ongoing support of the race. Steve also applauded the efforts of all the runners who took part, together with the efforts of the Police and the many volunteers who marshalled and officiated at the race.

Glasgow & Helvellyn Tri

One of the only sunny and warm days of the summer saw Dumfries Harriers compete in three different races. On Sunday, twelve runners headed to Glasgow to take part in the Great Scottish Run at both the half marathon and 10k distances. Over 10000 runners lined up in George Square for the start of the half marathon that would take them around the sights of Glasgow and finish in Glasgow Green. Bob Mitchell came home in an excellent time of 1:41:20 breaking his personal best that was set just a few months earlier at the Bath half marathon. Steve Head and Caroline Moles used the race as a training run for the Berlin Marathon that is fast approaching. Both came home in 1:48:32 and 1:49:15 respectively. This put the first three harriers in the top fifth of all finishers. Kirsty Hunter was competing in her first half marathon and came home in a fantastic 2 hours. She was followed by Sid Oates in 2:16 which was 14 minutes faster than his time from the Coll half marathon only three weeks earlier. Alexa Pike finished in 2:39. Alexa has been out most of the season with injury and decided to run a more social race supporting friends on the way. There were some excellent performances in the 10k. Annie Thompson in her first race of the year stormed home in 53:38. But not to be outdone, Sandra Little set a personal best and followed Annie home in a time of 55:35. Helen Cameron was next back with a seasons best of 57:32. Another personal best was set by Fiona Black with a time of 58:58 which was staggering considering Fiona has only been running for a year. Linda Oates and Val Vince finished in a time of 61:58 and 66:54 which gave them a middle of the field finish rounding off a very good day. Ian Gray travelled to the Lake District to take part in the famous Helvellyn Triathlon, one of the hardest in the British calendar. Ian started off with a strong swim exiting the water in 31 minutes. After a fast transition it was onto the bike and onto some very hilly roads. 2 hours and 20 minutes later, Ian was now taking to the hills in his running shoes. Going well he managed to complete the run in 2 hours 2 minutes but with some drama on the way. With only 2 miles to go Ian fell and hurt himself pretty badly but managed to cross the finish line completely covered in blood from an injury running from his shoulder to his lower leg. Despite that Ian finished in an astounding total time of 4 hours 58 minutes. He has now vowed to have a little rest after a very hard season.

Isle of Coll

Members of Dumfries Harriers were on their travels once again last week-end as they made their way to the beautiful Hebridian island of Coll. The squad had worked hard in preparation for the trip, developing their levels of conditioning and endurance to ensure they could survive the arduous rigors that lay in wait for them; especially the post race ceilidh! However, before the dancing could begin there was the small matter of the ten kilometre and half marathon races that had to be run around a very hilly course in warm and windy conditions.

Competing in the 10k event were Linda Oates and Andrew Amos. Both were looking to move their year’s achievements on a level, with Linda hoping for a good steady performance after time out with injury and Andrew hoping for his first ever top 3 finish. Having overcome a tricky start through the sand dunes on the far side of the island, the 10k runners had to make their way along the undulating course to the finish in Arinagour. To the delight of everyone Andrew was successful in his quest for a podium finish, crossing the finish line in 3^rd place in a time of 41 minutes 36 seconds, 3 minutes clear of the 4^th placed runner. Linda also had much to smile about, running strongly and recording a position in the top 30% of the field in 57 minutes 2 seconds.

The half marathon event proved to be a resounding success for the club, with Ian Gray claiming his first ever top ten finish in a time of 1 hour 36 minutes 34 seconds. Andy Beattie, running in his first half marathon, also impressed, placing 14^th in a time of 1 hour 39 minutes and 27 seconds. One of the more remarkable performances in such a tough event was produced by Keith Ainslie; Keith somehow contrived to finish with a new personal best time of 1 hour 40 minutes 35 seconds, which was just one place behind Andy Beattie. Amazingly the combined efforts of the first 3 Harriers to finish was good enough to give the club its second piece of silverware on the day as they held off a very strong team from Sheffield to claim First place in the team event.

Next home for the club was Ian Anderson and Steve Head, both of whom are more used to running slightly longer distances, especially Ian who’s last event was an incredible 95 miles long! For Ian the Coll race was his last in what has been a hectic season and he was more than satisfied with his time of 1 hour 45 minutes. In contrast Steve was using the event as a warm up for next month’s Berlin Marathon and he was surprised to find sufficient form to place him in the top third of the field in a time of 1 hour 50 minutes. Six minutes behind Steve in the race and a very welcome addition to the travelling party of Harriers was Dawn McDonald of Dumfries Running Club. Dawn had been targeting a time of 2 hours for the event and was pleased with her performance and a 53^rd place finishing position. Sid Oates completed the line up of Harriers on the day and following a lengthy period with injury problems Sid was happy to complete the distance in a time of 2 hours 29 minutes.

So concluded a very enjoyable event for the club and it is perhaps interesting to note that the Harriers were not only the first team to finish the half marathon on Saturday afternoon, but also the last to leave the Ceilidh in the small hours of Sunday morning!

Thunder Run

This week saw a group of Dumfries Harriers travel to Derbyshire to compete in something new to them all. The venue was Catton Hall which is usually famous for its cart horses but there were none on show on Saturday, only some fantastic performances. The 3rd Adidas 24hour Thunder Run was taking place in which relay teams of various sizes run over a 10km cross country course for as many times as possible. With temperatures of near 30 degrees in forest and field that resembled a baker’s oven and with night running to contend with, the team of five certainly had their work cut out. First out of the trap was team captain Craig Kingsley who set the fastest time of the day for the team with a time of 43:48. Not to be outdone Kevin ‘Tosh’ McCaig nearly equalled that time. The first 2 runs seemed to set the extremely fast tempo for the next 24hours racing with a season’s best from Ian Anderson and Steve Head. Andy Beattie who has also been in impressive form this year continued this with some fast runs that were hot on the heels of Craig and Tosh. Unfortunately after only 9 hours the team were struck by injury with Craig Kingsley having to drop out of the running. It was then up to the 4 remaining runners to step up to the mark and with a real team performance it was apparent that they could be chasing a very high placed finish. All in all Andy Beattie ran 7 laps of the 10km course, Steve Head, Tosh McCaig and Ian Anderson all ran 6 laps and Craig Kingsley ran 3 laps. These heroic performances saw Dumfries Harriers being placed 9^th overall with 280km being run in the men’s category in an event which attracted over 1800 people! The top teams were very close, unfortunately the weary legs and lack of sleep couldn’t gain the 6 minutes that would have seen a top 6th finish. So close.

At the same time, Ian Gray took part in the local Durty Traithlon at St Mary’s Loch. Ian had a fantastic swim and cycle, unfortunately in the first mile of the run he was trying to overtake someone on the tough cross country run course and went over and sprained his ankle. Despite this he still managed to finish the race in a time of 3 hours and 6 minutes, a time anyone would be proud of.

The busy week also saw the annual Castle Douglas 5 mile race being run. 7 Harriers attended on the Tuesday night which saw another fantastic performance from Kevin ‘Tosh’ McCaig. He came in 9^th overall in a time of 30.54. Others taking part in the race were Andy Beattie 33.02, Keith Ainsley 35.15, Colin Braid 39.35, Elaine McMeikan 43.13, and Sandra Little and Helen Cameron in 46.23. The race was a hot one with Scotland finally getting its summer. Overall some very good performances from a fantastic little local race.

Next stop for the harriers in a few weeks time is the Isle of Coll half marathon. No less than 8 Harriers are travelling to the Inner Hebridean Island to compete and partake in some socialising.

Edinburgh Marathon

Dumfries Harriers were out in force at last Sundays Edinburgh Festival of Running with no fewer than 16 of the club’s membership taking part in the various events. The blue ribbon event of the day was the marathon race which was run over an out and back course that skirted the river Forth for much of its 26.2 miles. After a gruelling winters training, which often required hours of running in sub zero temperatures, a squad of 10 Harriers made it to the start line of the marathon and all were looking for rich rewards following their months of preparation.

Tosh McCaig and Willie Mason were hot favourites to be the first from the club to reach the finish in Musselburgh and only 5 minutes separated the pair at the end, with Willie taking the honours in 3 hours 7 minutes, ahead of Tosh in 3 hours 12.

The horrendous head winds in the closing miles made life tough for all the runners, but Ian Gray and Keith Ainslie still had the strength and resolve to overcome the elements and produce times way ahead of their pre race expectations. Ian stormed home in an incredible 3 hours 21 and Keith, making a distinguished debut in long distance running, produced an extremely creditable time of 3 hours 37 minutes. But for the exertions of a recent triathlon race in Japan, Andy Beattie would without doubt have been matching Ian and Keith stride for stride in Edinburgh; however Andy should take great satisfaction with his performance on Sunday, finishing in 3 hours 47 minutes.

The first of the 3 lady Harriers taking part in the marathon was next to finish, with Caroline Moles smashing her Edinburgh Marathon time from last year with a thoroughly deserved time of 3 hours 55 minutes. Gail Earl and Linda Oates fought out an extremely close race to earn the right to be the second lady Harrier to finish; in fact the pair could only be separated when the official results were consulted and Gail was found to have triumphed in a time of 4 hours 14 minutes and 39 seconds, a mere 11 seconds ahead of Linda.

Colin Braid was running his second marathon in 5 weeks, having run the London Marathon in a new personal best time last month. Such is the progress that Colin has made as a runner in the last year that not only was he able to complete two marathons in such a short time frame, but he improved his marathon PB yet again with a time of 4 hours 51 minutes.

Michael Rennie proved yet again what a versatile sportsman he is as he completed the line up of Harriers in the marathon with a time of 5 hours 7 minutes, a superb effort for someone better known for his prowess on the rugby field or as an accomplished rower.

To complete a great occasion for the club it is worthy of special note that of the gallant ten Harriers that took part in the marathon no fewer than nine achieved personal best times for the distance. The day also had a special significance for Willie Mason and Caroline Moles who, by being first male and female Harriers to finish, claimed the titles of ‘Club Champions’ for the 2011 season.

Marathon Relay

For those runners not disposed to tackle the marathon route as a sole venture the organisers provided the opportunity for teams of 4 to participate in the main race. Elaine McMeikan took on the first leg of 8.1 miles and set things up well for the rest of the race with a time of 71 minutes 33 seconds. Val Vince picked up the ‘baton’ for the next 5.4 miles, passing on to Helen Cameron after a further 58 minutes 23 seconds. Helen was the first of the team to encounter the troublesome headwind as she moved into the later stages of her 8 mile leg, but was still smiling as she passed onto Anne Head after 87 minutes 3 seconds. Anne had the dubious pleasure of having to wait over 3 and a half hours before setting off to complete the race for the team, but was well compensated by taking the 4.7 mile ‘Glory leg’ of the relay. Crossing the finish line in a combined time of 4 hours 15 minutes, Anne had the rather unusual experience of being awarded 4 finishers medals at the end of the race!

Edinburgh Half Marathon

By opting to race in the half marathon event Colin McMeikan and Bob Mitchell had an early start to their day with the starting gun sounding at 8 o’clock in the morning. Bob set off slightly quicker of the two and reached the 10K point in 48 and a half minutes, one and a half minutes in front of Colin. Although Colin managed to close the gap slightly in the closing stages, Bob held on to take the honour of being the first Harrier to finish in a time of 1 hour 44 minute 11 seconds, with Colin close on his heels in 1 hour 45 minutes 22 seconds.

April

There was certainly nothing royal about London as 37,000 runners passed Buckingham Palace as they took part in the London Marathon. It’s now been 25 years since Steve Head done his first London Marathon but it was touch and go right up to the start gun. Steve travelled to London with fellow Harriers Alexa Armour and Colin Braid for what was a hard race in scorching sun. Steve had been out of running for seven weeks before the race which was hardly ideal preparation but he took the race easy and clocked a very good time of 4 hours 47 minutes considering the lack of training. Steve ran most of the race with Colin Braid who was running London for his second time and finished in an astonishing time of 4 hours 55. This was a personal best by 51 minutes which was set during last year’s race. This was very encouraging for someone relatively new to running and who has put in some serious training during the long winter mornings. Top of the Harrier trio was Alexa Armour who had to give London a miss last year. Alexa previously run London when it was televised in black and white (just kidding, it was only 11 years ago) but stormed home in 4 hours 29 minutes and was delighted with her performance. Unfortunately its back to the hard work again as the three prepare for the Edinburgh Marathon in a month’s time.

On the other side of the world, Andy Beattie took part in his first Triathlon of the year. Andy travelled to take part in the Ishigaki Triathlon in Okinawa, Japan. On a very hilly course Andy set some excellent times including 1500m swim in 25 minutes, 40km bike ride and transition in 1 hour 18 followed by another transition and a 10km run in 45 minutes. Andy finished 117^th overall out of a massive field of 1186 competitors and 19^th in his age group.

Willie Mason ran the Tom scott 10 mile road race in 64.45 for 40th position in very warm conditions 22c

March

Members of Dumfries Harriers were once again on their travels in March, participating in a wide range of events that reflects the great diversity of interests catered for by the club.

At junior level, Andrew Amos was taking a big step up in his emerging athletic career, participating in the Scottish Athletics Junior Road Race Championships. Having to compete in the Under 17 event, Andrew had the daunting prospect of being one of the youngest athletes taking part. Showing great determination he produced an excellent time of 19 minutes 38 seconds for the 5 kilometre event, which placed him in 30^th position.

Many years Andrew’s senior, Jim Ferguson was also racing over the 5k distance at the week-end, joining with Willie Mason for the Strathclyde Park 5k Race. Competing on a cold, windy day against a field of 136 runners, Jim showed that he has lost none of his great running prowess by cruising to the finish and winning the race in a superb time of 17 minutes 26 seconds. Willie Mason was also in cracking form, following up on his brilliant run 2 weeks earlier in a 20 mile race, Willie demonstrated his great athletic versatility by placing 9^th at Strathclyde in the impressive time of 18 minutes 54 seconds.

While his club-mates were sprinting round 5 kilometre races in Scotland’s Central Belt, Ian Anderson headed north to kick off his season of Ultra Marathons in a 33 mile race in Aberdeen. Starting in Duthie Park, the race followed the first part of the Deeside Way as far as Banchory before retracing its steps all the way back to the start area. No stranger to the big endurance events, Ian felt strong during the early miles, running comfortably and reaching the half way point in 2 hours 20 minutes. Indeed it seems certain that but for an upset stomach, which prevented Ian from consuming any energy gels or drinks, a sub 5 hour time for the race was easily in the bag. Even so, Ian was still happy with his finishing time of 5 hours 20 minutes which bodes well for his next two ultras later in the year over the incredible distances of 53 and 95 miles!

On Borderland we run …………………..

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