Falkirk Victoria Harriers

Falkirk Victoria Harrier Kenny Collins competed in the Tartan 10K race in Central Park, New York on 30th March.

The race, part of the Scotland Week Celebrations, is organised by the New York Road Runners club.

Kenny ran in a time of 47:09 mins, being placed a creditable 1700^th in a huge field of 11,000 runners.

As part of the recent World Cross Country Championships held in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park, a sole team from FVH entered the Welcome the World multi terrain Relay event on the Saturday before the main event. The girls Catherine Mitchell, Amy Manson and Caitlin Thomson were competing in a combined road, hill and cross country run.

Amy led the girls off on the road leg and passed on to Catherine, who had to run the famous Haggis Knowe hill before, passing on to Caitlin for the cross country section.

The girls finished a creditable 11th place just behind Team Raven, a specially selected squad of the 3 fastest girls in the age group.

Afterwards the girls were rewarded with a few words from RAVEN himself.

Diane Manson,Club Welfare Officer, Janette and Andrew Stevenson are now qualified to submit completed disclosure certification forms.

All coaches and helpers of the club must complete the forms which are available from Diane, Janette or Andrew. At least one of whom will be in attendance at Grangemouth Stadium on Tuesday and Thursday nights. We want all disclosures to be completed by the end of August.

On an unseasonably cold and windy day, four harriers Fiona Matheson, Lorna Dewar, Grant Matheson and Charlie Lyons took part in the Edinburgh Marathon. The race route had been changed from previous years with fewer inclines but along the coast most of the way against a strong wind.

After the early heavy rain in the capital the race started on Princess Street with Fiona right up front from the start. On leaving the city centre the route headed east along a blustery front at Portobello continuing along the coast past Musselburgh with many spectators along the route. The race order at that point was Fiona, Grant, Charlie and Lorna with all of the runners being close to their schedule despite the unhelpful conditions. The race continued onto its furthest point at Gosford House to turnaround and head back to Musselburgh and finish at the racecourse.

Fiona was the first woman home to finish in a time of 2hrs 54mins 43secs, 30secs ahead of her nearest rival Angela Hibbs a fantastic achievement given her recent fitness problems. Grant maintained his record-breaking form from previous races by setting a personal best of 3hrs 06mins 58secs a whopping reduction of 14minutes. First time marathon runners Charlie Lyons and Lorna Dewar posted times of 3hrs 31mins 55secs and 3hrs 36mins 35secs respectively, well in line with their expectations and a tremendous achievement considering the conditions.

Two master athletes, David Bunyan and John Denholm competed in the Auld Toon 10K race on what was a very cold and blustery night for the time of year. The course consisted of three laps round Pittencrief Park, one of the most difficult of the Scottish events, on an undulating course containing a long steep hill.

John recorded a time of 42:38 being the fourth male over 50 to finish whilst David gained 98th place with a run time of 43:32, which knocked a whole minute of his personal best, a fantastic achievement considering the venue.

Callendar Park in Falkirk provided a challenging course as the Scottish Cross Country Championships returned last Saturday for the second year of a three year sponsorship arrangement with Falkirk Council. Local club Falkirk Victoria Harriers were once again praised for the design and marking of the course, with special thanks going to the members who braved the elements to steward the races as well as assemble and dismantle the course.

At mid day the action started in very difficult windy conditions with the under 13 girl’s race over 3,200 metres. Sarah Hamilton led the young Vic’s home in 43rd place closely followed by Hollie Lister in 57th. Lucy Mitchell battled hard for 83rd place and Jane Ainslie completed the team finishing 106th in the large field, as the girls finished 16th in the team competition. The under 13 boys were next in action over the same distance. Ben Stevenson continued his good winter form to finish 20th, Scott Stirling ran well in 50th place whilst Gavin Ferguson 79th and Gavin Weir 81st had a ding dong battle throughout the race as the boys team finished in 9th place in the team competition.

Megan McLeish, the clubs sole competitor in the under 15 girl’s race, produced a typically determined effort to finish an excellent 11th over the 4km lap.

The highlight of the day for the Vic’s came in the next race for under 15 boys over the same one lap of 4,000 metres as six young Vic’s, three of whom had recently run for the East of Scotland team, lined up in the large field with an outside chance of a team medal. Each one played his part as Jamie Stevenson led the team home in a magnificent 8th place, just two seconds in front of the fast finishing Darren Weir who was 10th with Graeme MacGregor only a few seconds further back in 18th place. Euan Martin was the crucial fourth counter producing a strong run to finish 47th as Ewan Murray chased hard in 57th just piping Andrew Crone 59th by a few seconds. The boys were rewarded for this magnificent team with the bronze team medals.

Gary Smith started fast in the under 20 men’s race, which consisted of two laps of the 4,000 metre course, before settling into 21st position which he held until the end. Colin McCluskie, in his first year at this age group ran well to finish 29th as the under foot conditions deteriorated further as more races covered the same ground.

Three of the Vic’s Master athletes lined up in the large senior women’s field to tackle the two laps which made up the 8,000 metre course. Fiona Matheson returned from illness with a strong run in 23rd place, just holding off Janette Stevenson who finished a couple of strides back in 24th. Both magnificent efforts by masters’ athletes. Fellow master athlete Caroline Lawless also ran well to finish 60th as the team finished 8th.

Ten Vic’s were amongst the large field of over 400 athletes who observed a silence in memory of Vic’s coach and event commentator Bob Gray prior to the start of the senior men’s race over 12,000 metres. Masters athlete Mike McQuaid led the Vic’s home continuing his excellent recent form with a strong run in 46th place. After fast starts by both, Alasdair Stewart’s finish held off Andy Ronald as both ran well to finish 63rd and 65th. Stephen Moore continued his return to form with an impressive run in 86th whilst Alex Davidson also ran well to make the top 100 finishing 97th. Keith Boardman, 173rd, had a good run chasing John Stevenson who finished 168th. John Martin battled hard in 189th closely followed by an all too rare Neil Roberton outing in 203rd. David Bunyan continued his improvement to finish 384th as under foot conditions continued to deteriorate with each passing lap. This improved team performance, the first time in many years the Vic’s had finished five athletes in the top hundred finishers saw the men finish 7th in the team competition.

Athletes from Falkirk Victoria Harriers have also been busy on the indoor scene in the last few weeks. Richard Hurren, following his Scottish Indoor Championship success was selected for the Scottish Team which travelled to Cardiff for the Celtic Cup indoor international. Richard finished second in the pole vault competition clearing 4 metres 70 cm to help the Scottish Team win the match. The Kelvin Hall in Glasgow was a much more inviting proposition than windy Callendar Park for masters Alex Bryce and Hugh McGinlay and under 13 boy Brian McKie. Brian was competing in the under 13 boys pentathlon championships and after a 3m99cm long jump, 11.84 sec 60 metre hurdles, 4m 76cm Shot Putt, 1m 27cm high jump finished with a 2 min 56.28sec 800metres to complete the com[petition with 940 points in 5th place. Alex and Hugh were both in medal winning form over 800 metres in the Scottish Masters indoor championships. Alex won bronze in the over 45 age group with a time of 2 min 08.60 secs, whilst Hugh successfully defended his title in the over 80 age group winning gold in a time of 3 min 53.27 secs. Alex also contested the 1500 metres where he finished 5th in 4 min 25.12 secs.