Monday 8 October 2007

Happy-ness at the Loch Ness Marathon




Five Harriers took part in this weekend's Loch Ness Marathon. Of these 2, Liz Mestecky and Shelagh Crighton, were running their first ever Marathon while Ian Beattie was running Loch Ness for the 6th time.

The weather was perfect with light winds and cool temperatures and a good covering of cloud. The picturesque course follows the south bank of Loch Ness and can euphemistically described as undulating with some significant climbs in the first 10 miles and then a real heartbreaker at mile 18.

Ian was first Harrier home having gone through half way in 1.29 he slipped a little in the hillier second half of the race to come home in 3.05.54 and 60th position out of field of over 1400. See his blog for more on his run.

Phil Tipping found the going tough but still managed a respectable 3.13.23 and 96th place.

Duncan King's time of 3.26.03 was more than 10 minutes faster than the time he set over the flat Edinburgh course earlier in the year and shows what a week running in the Atacam desert can do for you (see the blog entry for September).

Liz and Shelagh ran together most of the way until Mile 25 when the distance started to tell on Shelagh who had been struggling with a heavy cold for most of the week. Liz pushed on and finished in 4.24.32. Shelagh kept plugging away and completed the 26.2 in just under 4.30.

All in all an excellent effort and a great achievement from Liz and Shelagh who can now call themselves Marathon Runners!

2 comments:

allybea said...

Well done Liz and Shelagh. You should be very proud of your first marathon! Here's to the next one ;)

The Flicker said...

Thanks. It was a very enjoyable weekend but i was very jealous of you and Liz tucking into the wine on Saturday evening just when i needed to calm my nerves! I've since made up for it though.