I was looking forward to this because of its unique length. It’s extremely hilly and as I’ve only ran it once before, as the second race in my comeback from injury, a PB was guaranteed. However after chatting with Kerry and the Killie Harriers I warmed up from the Sports Centre to the race start at the Castle to be informed that the route had been adjusted and would now be an accurately measured 10k road race. Instead of starting in the grassy playing field and running down on to the Main Road the race would start from the Main Road itself. None of the uphill sections of the route had been deleted and as we made our way along the street before turning right and then a sharp left, I kept my eye on Killie’s Paula Wilson and Brian Darroch. We made our way over the rolling hills on the country road to Symington and I noticed Paula pull away, whilst I jostled for position with Brian. Sunday’s race was taking it’s toll and I had to let Brian go as he overtook me, whilst I concentrated on keeping running up the hills.
Once in Symington the course levelled off and the major hurdle was running past the alluring odours of fresh cooking from the village’s famous Wheatsheaf Inn. As it happens my ancestor, surname Walker. had been a blacksmith in the village and diversified his activities into inn keeper and spirit salesman, he could have been the first or at least one of the first to establish the inn. Likewise his son had run the same businesses in Dundonald and the family must have travelled on what passed as roads between the two villages on a regular basis.
The race continued back towards Dundonald on the less undulating B730 road. I knew that the return leg was easier and as I held off the repeated challenges from another runner, I found myself closing in on Brian and we both passed him together after about four miles. My challenger had narrowly overtaken me and as he stopped at the water station I decided to join him on taking a little water to drench my thirst on the warm Ayrshire night. After we recommenced our race he continued to pull away from me along the flatter part of the course and as I chased after him we managed to catch up with a number of other competitors. I felt someone on my shoulder and as I looked to see who it was I saw the white sleeves of Brian Darroch just behind him. I pushed in hard to get away from both of them and as we climbed up the brae into the village I pushed even harder, running flat out along the Main Street back towards the Castle. A sharp left onto Winehouse Yett and then we were directed first right and then left along the outside of the Castle Visitor Centre. I could hear the Harriers shouting my and Brian’s names as we sprinted along the heavy grass to the finish line and a welcome bottle of water.
I had finished in 33rd position with a time of 44:15, with Brian finishing 34th in 44:22, Mike Flinn was 38th in 44:44 and Alan Fitzsimmons was 49th in 46:29.
Paula had finished 29th and 1st FV in a great time of 42:59. Whilst Kate Todd was 40th and 1st FV55 in 44:59. A total of 97 runners completed the race, with pride of place going to Kerry-Liam Wilson in 32:37, young Sarah Munn did well against Toni McIntosh and she finished in 40:10 just eight seconds behind her. Sarah told me “I really enjoyed the race. It was a difficult course but the hills weren’t quite as bad as I remembered them being. I saw Toni struggling ahead of me and I just ran as fast as I could to get as close to her as possible.”
After the race I and Katy made our way to the Wheatsheaf only to discover that we were too late to dine, we settled for Fish and Chips at Brassie beach instead, not too bad a fall back position.
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