Near perfect conditions met Harriers for the weekend’s races. Questions could rightly be asked about 2 of the biggest road races falling on the same day, forcing many to choose between excellent events.
Highest profile events of the weekend was the Tom Scott 10 mile road race, doubling up as the national championships. Marcus D’Agrosa is becoming used to turning in consistently solid performances and he ran a fantastic 10 mile PB of 55.23 for a well deserved top 20 position.
Most of the Harriers had opted to put a 10km marker down at the Grangemouth Round the Houses event. The refinery acts as a rather uninspiring backdrop to a fast course and many were out to put winter training to the test. First home as has become the norm was Darrell Hastie in a time of 33.07, slightly slower than hoped for but still demonstrating his season’s form. Performance of the weekend was very definitely awarded to Jenny Forbes who just gets better and better with a new PB of 37.38. Her new found self belief is really allowing her to reap the rewards of excellent training. Not far behind was Kirstin Maxwell (38.25) running another good time. Anya Campbell (41.32) ran well to finish 1st in her age category. Fiona Shepherd also ran well for 43.11 with good runs from Eileen Maxwell (48.22) and Anne Purves (1.04). As has become the norm, it was another team prize for the ladies vets with Jenny, Anya, and Fiona taking the title.
It’s not unusual for harriers to race over distances from short to long in a weekend and Dave Nightingale swapped short for the ultra distance of 50km at the Kielder Forest event. Enjoying his race, Dave ran 6 hours 20 mins over stunning Northumberland terrain