Kilmarnock Harriers run in Rowallan Rosebowl

Jul 2 2008

KILMARNOCK Harriers members turned out in force for the annual staging of one of the most popular club events, the Rowallan Rosebowl.

The traditional route is a two-lap course starting at Scott Ellis, heading to and up Queens Drive to the Bellfield Roundabout, then left and down the slip road towards the A77 before turning left to complete the lap back at Scott Ellis, a total of 3.4 miles.

Social race organiser Les J McDerment was charged with the task of allocating the 39 runners into 13 teams of three, and despite the standard complaints, did his usual sterling job.

The race started with Iain Connell favourite in the absence of last year’s winner Eddie Tonner, and he quickly found himself at the head of the field, with a five-man chasing pack of Keith Haining, James Wales, Scott Martin, Ross Connelly and Stephen McNeill in pursuit. In-form Kara Tait was leading lady, with Lindsay McMahon, in her first race of the year, and Avryl Cornforth behind.

A large number of new members from the newly formed jog/walk group were also competing, and it was testament to all involved in the setting-up of this group, including Lorna Sloan and Ian McAughtrie, that they did themselves proud in completing the course.

Iain Connell was first past the post, his sub-18 mins being almost half a minute quicker than his 2007 time, and with Keith Haining coming second, a couple of the younger athletes deserve mentions. James Wales and Ross Connelly both had excellent runs to finish third and sixth respectively.

Kara Tait took around a minute and a half off her time last year, and as well as being leading lady, her time of 20.26 gave her a top 10 placing overall.

Lindsay McMahon finished second, and Avryl Cornforth again showed she is in fine shape for her debut marathon at Inverness in October by finishing third.

Full times and positions: 1 Iain Connell 17:57; 2 Keith Haining 18:28; 3 James Wales 18:39; 4 Stephen McNeill 18:52; 5 Scott Martin 18:53; 6 Ross Connelly 19:05; 7 Stewart Ferguson 19:44; 8 John Cairns 20:04; 9 Connell Drummond 20:17; 10 Kara Tait 20:26; 11 Cameron Mackie 20:48; 12 Grant Beattie 21:08; 13 Harald Bartyl 21:49; 14 Michael Duncan 22:06; 15 Iain Gebbie 22:08; 16 David Meikle 22:17; 17 Ian Kerr 22:21; 18 Lindsay McMahon 22:24; 19 Avril Cornforth 22:27; 20 Paula Wilson 22:42; 21 Willie Duffy 22:57; 22 Mike Corson 22:59; 23 Matt Dodds 24:15; 24 Liz McDerment 24:33; 25 Gillian Mullon 24:34; 26 Gregor Devoy 25:25; 27 Steven Harrison 25:36; 28 Jade Minto 26:22; 29 Heather Hall 27:11; 30 Sean MacAlroy 27:12; 31 Ian McAughtrie 27:34; 32 Anne Anderson 27:35; 33 Stephen Gilmour 28:34; 34 Laura /Nicole 28:5; 35 Carol Evan 29:03; 36 Colin Crosbie 29:27; 37 Wendy Duncan 35:00; 38 Sharon Smith 37:23; 39 Cassie McPhail 37:23.

Liz McDerment, Grant Beattie and Connell Drummond took the team prize with an overall time of 1.05.58 which gave them a clear minute over the second placed team.

Three days later, Calderglen Harriers hosted their annual 10K trail races and three Harriers made the trip.

Competing in the 5K, Harold Bartl’s time of 18.35 gave him a fine top 20 placing as he finished 18th. The 10K race was beset by midges as the route takes in woods, steps, and trails along rivers, but Andy McGhee showed his return from injury is near completion, and his time of 38.11 was not only excellent for the tough course, but enough to secure fifth position.

Racing his first-ever trail race, Connell Drummond also ran well. Despite taking an early fall, the line was crossed in 42.52, and 25th place.

Juniors Hannah and Evie Bartl also ran at Calderglen, both finishing 29th in their categories. Hannah ran the under-13 race in 4.03 and Evie the under-9 race in 5.48.

Personal bests were the order of the day at Sunday’s Arran Half Marathon for a couple of Harriers. Avryl Cornforth finished sixth lady, and her time of 1.33.34 was an improvement of 30 seconds on her previous best effort at Edinburgh in March.

Harold Bartl put a cold to one side to clock 1 hour 31 minutes, and as well as taking the lead in this year’s Road Racing Championships, finished 19th overall and knocked almost two minutes off of his personal best. Matt Dodds completed the Killie line-up, finishing eighth in his age group.

With the track and field season now in full swing, Kilmarnock Harriers achieved good results and winning numerous medals across all disciplines and all age groups at the second meeting at Dam Park, Ayr. It was noticeable that this meeting is now attracting larger numbers of quality athletes from other clubs, such as Motherwell AC and Clydesdale, making the competitions even more exciting and challenging.

In the under-11s, the boys who shared all the medals among them in the shot putt event. Special mention must go to Alanis Brydon, who jumped over 3m for the first time. Her distance of 3.05m meant she just missed out on a medal.

The track events were clearly the strength of the under-13 girls and boys, who had a clean sweep in the 800m event. The girls won all gold medals in the 200m, whereas the boys secured second and third place.

In the under-15s, there was a first and second place in the 800m event and a gold medal in the long jump.

There were gold medals in the 200m and 800m track events for the under-17s, and more good results in the shot putt event.

The full results are as follows: U11 girls/boys: Track: 80m: 3. H Bartl 12.5 (PB); 3. L Reeves 13.1; 5. A Brydon 14.3; / 3. A Kerr 12.4; 4. M Smith 13.6; 5. E Kerr 14.1; 6. C Findlay 14.1; 7. C Sharp 15.2; D Bell 15.1; 8. S Hamilton 15.6. - 600m 4. H Bartl 2.06 (PB); 8. C Slinger 2.15; 9. L Johnstone 2.18; A Brydon. 2.20/ 3. A Kerr 2.03; 8. C Findlay 2.18; 9. M Smith 2.28; 10. E Kerr 2.35; 11. D Bell 2.55

Field: Long Jump 4. A Brydon 3.05 (PB); 6. L Reeves 2.91; 7. L Johnstone 2.80; 9. C Slinger 2.32 / 8. M Smith 3.11; 10. C Findlay 2.97; 11. E Kerr 2.59; 13. D Bell 2.50; 14. S Hamilton 2.01 – Shot Putt: 2. H Bartl 4.99 (PB); 5. C Slinger 3.42 / 1. A Kerr 5.49 (PB); 2. C Sharp 4.45; 3. S Hamilton 2.93.

U13 girls/boys: Track: 200m 1. F Wales 29.8; 1. L Kerr 30.0; G McCutcheon 29.2 29.2; 6. R Taylor 38.2 / 2. D Steele 31.4; 3. C Shankland 32.3; 5. J Birkett 38.9.

800m: 1. B Wallace 2.39; 2. F Wales 2.44; L Kerr 2.57 / 8. J Birkett 3.21;

Field: 7. F Wales 3.53; 9. B Wallace 4.46 / 2. C Shankland 3.98; 3. D Steele 3.93; High Jump: 2. L Kerr 1.20; Shot Putt: 3. G McCutcheon 6.41; 5. A Cowan 5.94; 8. C Cowan 5.21; 10. T Ross 5.08 / 1. C Shankland 6.10; 4. D Steele 4.42.

U15 girls/boys: Track: 200m 1. A Humes 28.4; 3. N Cassidy 29.9 / 3. C McDere 27.6; 5 C. O’Hara 28.8 – 800m 2. C Mackie 2.25; 5. R White 2.54.

Field: long jump: 1. C. O’Hara 4.31; High Jump: 4. A Humes 1.20/ 5. C. O’Hara 1.30; Shot Putt: 4. N Cassidy 5.01.

U17 girls/boys: Track: 200m 1 Hamilton 29.9; 800m 1. S McNish 2.26 / 1. R Connelly 2.06; 7. G Beattie 2.17; 8. G Devoy 2.28; M Duncan 2.35; 10. M McDonald 2.38.

Field: Shot Putt 2. N Hamilton 7.28; 1. Beattie 7.09/ Discuss 1. G Beattie 12.57

U20 senior: 200m 1. H Hall 28.0 / 800m 4. A Milliken 3.11.

Hannah Bartl, U11, was the only representative from Kilmarnock Harriers at the third Open Graded Meeting in Linwood where she had an excellent shot putt. Hannah was able to improve on her latest PB (4.99), which she had only achieved the previous week. Four of her six throws went beyond the five metre mark, achieving a new PB of 5.20m.

The Harriers meet at Scott Ellis on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm.