LAND O BURNS 10K

The Land O’ Burns 10K

Andrew and I headed down from East Kilbride on a beautiful summers night for the Land O’ Burns 10k, and to my surprise Sharon Gregg and Julie Thomson headed down with us to support me and the rest of the Harriers who were out in force.

Having come off the back of a PB at Monkland’s half Marathon I felt great going into this race and was in high hopes to achieve the same success. After a brief warm up the Harriers all headed down to the seafront for the start. There were approx. 280 runners competing and we all set off on a long straight road before turning a bend and heading back parallel to the start line before crossing a foot bridge over the river Doon for the first time, and in to a loop of a housing estate. During this point of the race I was behind Gordon, Sandy and Russell and took the decision to overtake Gordon shortly in to this loop. I then hoped to stay with Sandy and Russell for as long as possible to help me achieve a good time. Towards the end of the loop and crossing the bridge I managed to catch up on Sandy and pass her before we got to the water station. This was a bold move as I was still aware there was a climb to come in the race albeit not a very steep incline and this is were I thought Sandy would over take me and regain her position, however I managed to hold her off for a wee while longer and now I was chasing down Russell who was running well. I managed to catch Russell Just after the bridge, who had the sportsmanship to congratulate me in my manoeuvre and I now had 3 harriers to try and hold off, all more than capable of catching me.

Going in to the incline I was working my wee legs off in the hope that I wouldn’t be caught, especially as this is where I thought I would struggle. At the 7km mark I had the urge to look over my shoulder and low and behold Russell was breathing down my neck which gave me a shock to the system and spurred me on further. Knowing the end was in sight I had to dig deep to ensure that my hard work at the beginning of the race was not in vein. I had managed to get back to the pavilion playing fields knowing that I was on to a PB again, were I was greeted by the shouts and encouragement of Sharon, Julie and Andrew, (who had already finished the race in 9^th place, show Off!) and crossed the line in 51min 44secs which was a massive new PB for me.

Many of the other harriers also had a great race, as mentioned before Andrew finished in 9^th in 38min 30sec which surprisingly for him he was happy with. 2^nd Harrier home was Julie Beveridge who took 2^nd female prize in 41min 24sec. 3^rd Harrier home and 3^rd Female prize went to Joanne McEvoy in 42min 32sec. Martin Howell was 4^th Harrier Home in 43min 21sec who had came off the back of a fast park run at the weekend and hard training session at Chatelherault. Next up making his Harriers Debut was Callum Wright in 44min 54sec.  Thereafter the harriers finished in the following order and time’s Richard Lawton 45min 06sec, France Ferguson 45min 18sec, Geo Ferguson 45min 43sec, Kirsty Wilson 45min 58sec, David Searil 48min 30Sec, Lorraine Buchanan 51min 44sec, Gordon McInally 51min 55sec, Russell Couper 52min 21sec, Sandy Hayden 54min 57sec.

Former Harrier Alumni David Wardrope finished in 47min 22sec and yet to be signed up harrier Marion O’Conner finished in 45 min 49sec.

Thanks to Sharon and Julie for coming and supporting the harriers and thanks to Ayr Seaforth for putting on a well organised and enjoyable race.

Lorraine.