Round the Houses 2018

A very impressive turn out from the Harriers added to an already very large field for the annual Round the Houses 10k on Sunday. I had sold this event as a course for fast times if the weather was right and, thankfully, the weather behaved itself for the second Sunday in a row, so no excuses there.

I wasn't racing but my plan was to attempt to combine the role of roving spectator with a longish progression run as part of my training for the impending Stirling marathon. However, a cold that started on Saturday, a stomach upset and general bad synchronisation of my route with the race route meant that I didn't run as far as planned (only four outer laps of the 10k route) and only spotted two of the sixteen Harriers running during the race (Martin Howell and Stephen Phimister)!

Due to road closure restrictions, the route was the same as last year, starting on the track in the stadium before heading out into the industrial estate for about 1k, a further kilometre or so on the main road (closed to traffic) and then turning into a nice wide avenue through a park from where the route was largely on footpaths and cycle tracks before re-entering the stadium for a final blast to the finish on the track. With a field of near enough 600, things were a little crowded on the track at the start to say the least.

Fastest Harrier of the day was Andrew Buchanan in a time of 39:42. Julie Beveridge was second Harrier home in an excellent time of 40:52. Thereafter there were some close battles. The aforementioned Martin Howell and Stephen Phimister were just as close on the line as they were when I saw them just after half way, Martin finishing in 41:27 with Stephen in 41:33. Frances Ferguson was almost a minute faster than last year, crossing the line in 44:08 and second F50. Another close tussle followed with Jim Holmes and Richard Lawton. Rather uniquely, Jim had paid a visit to the physio's bench before the race rather than after to attend to a touch of tendonitis behind his knee and this did the trick, Jim crossing the line pain free in 44:37. Not far behind, Richard Lawton was flying to a new 10k pb of 44:59. Making her first appearance as a professional athlete, Sharon Gregg picked up a fiver for her efforts (she really did pick it up, stopping during the race on spotting a fiver on the ground!) and crossed the line in 47:10. How many seconds did that fiver cost her though! New member Robin Ramsay was next across the line improving his 10k PB by a massive 16 minutes to finish in 47:27. Another few weeks at the Harriers and he will be winning races outright. Paul Rooney has missed a bit of training recently due to an injury incurred shovelling snow. However, his time of 48:06 was a good benchmark to work on for the next race. David Searil slotted this one in as a loosener after his recent ultra, showing good pace to finish in 50:00. Sandy Hayden had been chasing Davie initially but after another late night and fast start, faded a little to finish in 52:02 which was almost 3 minutes faster than last year. Gordon McInally continues to run in pain and this was reflected in his time of 53:04. Hopefully Gordon can get a solution to his leg pains soon and get back to the form of recent years. Julie Thomson kept a good pace going to finish in 53:22. Unfortunately Russell Couper injured himself before he had even left the track, straining a muscle. As this was a grand prix race, that injury was not going to stop Russell but it did slow him down, as he finished a bit down on where he should be right now, crossing the line in 56:49. Lorraine Buchanan must have had Russell in her sights in the final few km, crossing the line in 57:34.

Well done to all 16 Harriers racing. Hopefully I have not missed anyone. If you have recorded a PB or reached a performance standard, then do please use the "Self-Service" on-line system to register your times. See the PB and Performance Award Self Service Form links in the Blog sidebar menu.
The PB data stored already is here and the performance standard data are here.
Let me know if you have any problems.
Alan