Harriers kick off the road season in style
Gala Harriers partied hard on Friday night and rightly so after the Female Masters team scooped the Team of the Year award at the Borders Sport and Leisure 2016 Celebration of Sport. It was fantastic recognition (even more so as it was voted for by the public) for a quite astounding year but any thoughts of nursing hangovers were quickly put to one side as the road running season got underway at various locations.
Darrell Hastie has been in sparkling form recently and he was full of confidence as he ran in a strong field at the Edinburgh University KB 5 mile road race. His 6th place finish might not have placed him in the medals but the time (26.14) will give him a real boost as he prepares to make his half marathon debut at Alloa later in the month.
The start of the road season is synonymous with the Lasswade 10 Mile Road Race and there was a large contingent who took to the tough hilly course. First Harrier home was Jamie McGowan who ran a really good race to finish in 63.49. Rory Campbell and Fergus Johnston finished close together with Rory just edging it in 64.31 and Fergus in 65.18. Jenny Forbes continued her recent good form with a third place in the overall female race in a time of 65.25. Kate Jenkins ran 69.46 with Dawn Grant running a PB of 74.04. Garry Fraser of former Borders football notoriety has been training hard over the last few months as he builds towards the Edinburgh Marathon and he ran a solid 77.38. Final harrier home was Jakki Stewart who also ran a PB of 84.38. After all of the results were totalled up, it was another team win for the Gala ladies.
Colin “Coco” McCall is always up for a challenge and he took on the mental torture of the Edinburgh Meadows Half marathon. Run over 9 short laps, he was pleased to run back into a bit of form with a 1.28:50 clocking which acts as a good marker for the season to come.”