Grangemouth 10k Race Report

The conditions looked great for today's Grangemouth "Round the Houses" 10k but on stepping out of the car it was clear that a very strong wind was going to wipe out any chance of fast times on this flat course. Eight men and one lady from Calderglen Harriers joined the field of around 500 for this long standing fixture on the Scottish road running calendar. As this race was the 13th of 16 in the Harriers' Grand Prix all the main contenders were there.

First home for the Harriers was club championship leader Alan Cullie, finishing in a time of 37:47, not his fastest 10k of the season but still achieving a club Bronze M40 performance standard. Eddie Reid is in great form just now courtesy of his marathon training and was one of the few Harriers to run a season's best time, finishing in 38:20, a club Bronze M45 standard. Jim Holmes nipped a second off his EK 10k time to record 41:24 after a race long battle with Stuart Waugh. Stuart has been out of action with an injury for a week or so and was feeling a little heavy legged but still had the best age-graded performance of the day with a time of 41:30 equating to a club M60 silver performance standard. David Herbertson demonstrated another improvement for the season recording 42:04. David Wardrope is also heavily into his marathon training programme but was a little disappointed to record 43:49, slightly down on his early season form. However David still hangs on to the lead in the club Grand Prix. Frances Maxwell was our only lady (in a field full of women; come on Calderglen ladies, where are you all?). In her first race "apres skiing" holiday, Frances was perhaps a little rusty and suffering more with the wind (nothing to do with the apres-ski, just the weather conditions) and was not too happy with her time of 44:18, a bronze performance standard none the less. Next home was Ian McKenzie in around 47 minutes; Ian continues to move in the right direction. Another big improver was Russell Couper, over a minute faster than at the EK 10k finishing in 51:57.

More photos from the event are available here. Well done to all in quite tough conditions.

Alan