SVHC Road Relays Race Report

Sunday 28th January was the SVHC vets relay (for runners of age 35 or over). It was a different route from normal as North Lanarkshire Council had not given the go ahead to race organisers to allow the full loop of the loch. This meant that the course was out and back similar to the parkrun route but with the start/finish point at the side path close to the Watersport Centre, giving a distance of approximately 6.3k. It was dry and relatively mild at least but as is quite often the case at Strathclyde Park it was windy, meaning the last couple of km were tough going into a strong head wind.

We had a total of 3 complete teams today. The men's V50 team comprised Davy Watt, Martin Howell, Stephen Phimister and Geo Ferguson. Davy led off on the first leg and had a strong run despite the fact his achilles had been bothering him in the weeks leading up to the race, finishing in 23:44 and handing the team over in 5th place, Martin Howell then took over and finished well in a time of 27:27, despite work getting in the way of training lately. Stephen Phimister took over, running strongly and making up a few places to bring the team back up from 8th to 6th place finishing in 26:40. Geo Ferguson was on the lonely last leg and brought the team home in 8th place in a time of 30:40 (pleased to beat Frances' time!)  

Kevin McPhilips led the men's V35 team off and had a strong run, chasing Alison all the way finishing in 28:50, Kenny Leinster was next up and just getting back from injury was happy enough with his time of 31:20, I'm sure he'll be getting faster with a block of consistent training. Robert Gibson was next and his race fitness paid off with him finishing in a time of 29:32, Russell Couper was last leg and ran steadily to finish in a time of 36:56. 

The ladies' team had Alison Lessells starting off on first leg, running steadily and making sure she
finished in front of Kevin to hand over in 12th place in a time of 28:30, Claire McSorley was next up and ran well, making up a place to hand over in 11th in a time of 30:34, Frances Ferguson was last leg for the ladies and maintained the 11th place position finishing in a time of 32:17.

Well done everyone who ran and thanks to Gordon, Marion, Jim Holmes and Julia Whittle who all came down to support and take photos. All the photos are here.

Full results are here: here.

Alison