Livingston - Fine Harriers' Performances

Colin Banks to the fore again on Leg 1 (photo courtesy Fife AC)

Although all of our teams were somewhat depleted by injury, there were many fine performances from Harriers at the National Road Relays in Livingston on Sunday 3rd April. In near perfect running conditions, a record men's and lady's field lined up for races of 6 and 4 stages respectively. The race followed the usual format and courses comprising alternate short (3.1 mile) and long (5.8 mile) legs around mainly residential streets and footpaths.

Joanne powers to the finish

Our ladies' team consisted of experience and new comers with Alison Lessells and Joanne McEvoy bringing the experience and Lorraine Buchanan running at Livingston for the first time. Alison continues her return to form and was given the first leg as the pace of the field can be a bit overwhelming for the inexperienced. Alison had a race long battle with George Stewart and Colin Banks in our men's teams and was delighted to triumph in an official time of 22:37 in 23 position. Joanne is in great shape just now and hence was given the long leg of 5.8 miles. A strong run and an even stronger finish saw Joanne make up a handful of places, crossing the line in a fine 39:55 and 18th position. The field becomes somewhat spread out by the third leg which would be fine for Lorraine as she was carrying an injury and was under strict instructions just to run it steady and not to push. Of course that never happens and Lorraine did run her heart out to finish in 29:32 in 22nd position. A fine team effort but with the way the club membership is growing, we will surely have several complete ladies' teams.

Richard Lawton on the home straight

Our men's mixed team consisted of seniors and veterans, with the fast starting Colin Banks on leg 1. Colin is approaching his running with a new enthusiasm these days and had a good, strong run, leading his club mates at various points around the lap. Colin finished in 23:09 in 51st position. Colin handed over to Andrew J Buchanan also making his first appearance here along with wife Lorraine. As Andrew is training towards the Edinburgh marathon in May, the longer leg seemed like a good opportunity for a hard run whilst in the middle of big training miles. Andrew set off fast, chasing our M50 second leg, Martin Duthie but lost sight in the twisty, second half of the leg. Andrew finished in 36:54 in 68th position. Despite suffering from a virus for a few weeks, Richard Lawton felt well enough to run and was pleased that he did as he had a good run, maintaining 68th position in a time of 23:29. This was a good step back to fitness. Jim Holmes has run this course many times over the years and hence was a safe bet on the long leg, finishing in 40:52 and still maintaining 68th position. This team was incomplete so our fifth leg was the last leg and this was given to Russell Couper who was happy not to have the long leg due to a hamstring strain. Russell completed the leg in 27:01, by which time the team was up to 58th position. Russell must have played a tactical blinder.

Jim Holmes starts the long leg

Russell Couper finishing

Our M50 team was our only complete team as this category was contested over only 4 legs. Our depth of ability in this age category and above was highlighted by the fact that despite 3 or 4 of our fastest 50 year old + runners being missing with injury, we still managed to field a strong team. George Stewart made a welcome return to relay duty and had a competitive race, battling with Alison and Colin; just the sort of race that George likes. George finished in a fine 22:55, our fastest male short leg of the day, in 78th position. Martin Duthie was on the long leg and was in absolutely fine form having finished second M50 in the Scottish Triathlon Championships in Stirling the weekend before. Martin finished in 34:52, our fastest long leg of the day, in 61st position. Gordon McInally , was another first timer at Livingston but as a relative newcomer to the Harriers, Gordon knocks lumps out of his previous times every race. On this occasion, his time was 23:53 and 65th position. Eddie Reid made a very welcome return to racing on the last leg after almost a year of injury. As always the last leg is quite lonely but with Eddie's experience, pace judgement was no problem, Eddie finishing in 40:09 and 63rd position. In the M50 competition, our team finished 9th.
Alan

Gordon with the finish in view.

Eddie starts his first race for a while