Kinnoull Hill race, May 16

Another bumper turnout of Harriers at the latest Championship race. It looks like this year is going to go down as a record for the numbers of club members participating in the Championship – so far we’ve had double figures for all the races and Thursday’s turnout of 18 Harriers has to be some kind of record at Kinnoull – we certainly got the attention of the organisers in the post-race announcements.

So, Kinnoull Hill was the latest race. It’s short, just 4 miles, and doesn’t have the very steep ascents of many other hill races, but it’s steep enough to get you working hard. We were lucky to get a glorious evening for it, and I’m sure the views from the top would have been splendid if we’d stopped to look. But, there was racing to be done ...

Up at the front, Will was leading the way and eventually came in in 7th position and was first Male Vet. Patrick wasn’t far behind and was first Male Super Vet. Phil T took a break from his Munro-bagging May to come in next, despite complaining beforehand that his legs felt like they’d been filled with concrete. Following his uncle closely was Daniel M, running well, to finish a wee bit ahead of Kerry, who certainly seems to have got her racing head back. Daniel and Kerry had come past me after the first mile or so, when I’d blown it trying to stick to Phil T. After that, Em and I swapped places a few times, up and down slopes, but I just managed to hold her off.

Gordon and Rhian were having their own wee tussle, with Gordon just winning out with a final sprint over the finishing stretch – the published time difference of 10 seconds is wrong, since they were within a few strides of each other at the finish.  Maddy was running her first Kinnoull race and did very well to finish so close to hardened hill runners like Gordon and Rhian.

Al, Nicola and Fi were racing each other for a large part of the race, with Fi pulling strongly on the ascents, but losing out to Al and Nic’s superior downhill technique. Peter G was making a welcome return to racing action and held off a slight under-the-weather Cathy, who in turn held off an injured Allan and a heavily-blistered Sav, and finally Liz came in jauntily, to round out a very successful event for the Harriers. Also running with was Amy Jones, who might be a member of HBT, but she’s been working locally and joining us for Thursday evening sessions and is a very welcome addition to the scene. Needless to say, we were also the noisiest club, out-shouting even HBT as our finishers were sprinting to the finish.

Full Harriers results:

7              Will Manners                  28:19

15            Patrick O'Kane              29:17

48            Philip Tipping                 33:19

53            Daniel Mestecky            33:45

57            Kerry Sweeney              34:13

59            Tony Wayte                   34:16

62            Emily Grieves                34:33

65            Gordon Morrison           35:07

66            Rhian Evans                  35:17

69            Maddy Watson              35:31

100          Alastair Nicholl               38:42

103          Nicola Watson               38:58

108          Fiona McDonald            39:55

112          Peter Gaylor                  40:12

113          Cathy Tilbrook               40:40

115          Allan MacInnes              40:54

116          Savannah Sweeney      41:06

119          Liz Mestecky                 41:58