Kilmarnock Harriers in action at two separate events

Jul 3 2009 by Clair Fullarton, Kilmarnock Standard

ALTHOUGH a number of people are gearing up for upcoming holidays, five members of Kilmarnock Harriers were in action last week in two very different events.

On Wednesday evening, the JogScotland 5K Race Series which takes place across the country rolled into Glasgow.

And as it doubled up as the latest instalment in the Scottishathletics Grand Prix event it was a healthy mixture of competitive athletes and fun runners alike who lined up at the start of the race.

David Mitchell and Brian Darroch have been doing a number of events recently, and the duo were joined on this occasion by Scott Martin who was returning from injury and wanted a run out.

The course ran in and around Glasgow Green, and while the route had a few slight inclines and was slightly windy, conditions were generally favourable.

David had another good run, and though he was a bit disappointed with his time of just over 21 minutes, he continues to improve and will no doubt start to dip below the 20 minute mark in the very near future.

Brian wasn’t too far behind as he continues to rack up the races, while Scott welcomed a return to racing with no new injury setbacks.

Special mentions too, to Ayr’s Toni Mackintosh who won the ladies race and continues to lead the way in the Scottish Grand Prix standings for the year.

In a field of 827 finishers, Killie times were: Scott Martin 17.45 (29th) David Mitchell 21.06 (110th) Brian Darroch 21.36 (126th).

On Friday, Keith Haining and Connell Drummond took the short trip to Calderglen Country Park where they took part in the Calderglen Trail Races.

The well organised race meeting features a 1K kids run, a 3K, a 5K, and a 10K race – all of which are run over tough trails around the park.

The Killie lads were there for the longer race – not for the first time – and as the course takes in all sorts of obstacles you would expect in a trail race, including stairs, times are never relevant compared to normal 10K runs.

Again though, Keith was in the prizes as on this occasion he was to finish 4th overall and 2nd Vet. Hot on the heels of winning the overall Vets title at the recent Polaroid Road Race Series, Keith proved it wasn’t just on the roads where he excels.

Connell too was happy, as he took a massive two minutes plus off his 2008 time for the course and he continues to improve.

In a field of 155 runners the times were – Keith 37.33 (4th), Connell 40.43 (18th).

Wednesday saw the ASDA sponsored Kilmarnock Harriers 10 and 5K Road Races, and a report will be included next week.

The club would like at this time to thank everyone involved in helping to organise the event as without timekeepers, marshals and the like it would be impossible to organise these races.

The next Harriers committee meeting takes place this Monday, July 6, and if any member wishes anything brought up on their behalf they should see secretary Scott Martin or any committee member before the meeting.

Much more details on running, and Kilmarnock Harriers in particular as always can be found at www.kilmarnockharriers.com