Red Wine, Red Face, Red Shoes, Red Arrows and .....Green Shirt



Red Face

I booked a couple of days annual leave to coincide with the gorgeous sunny weather. I knew it wouldn’t last. However as well as being in holiday mode and drinking too much red wine, I also had a Kilmarnock Harriers Club Championship Race to run in Kilmaurs on Wednesday night. I checked my records to discover that I had run the 5k Ayrshire event in 21:10 last year and 21:14 the year previous. There’s no way I was on for a time anything like these in this heat I thought to myself, as I prepared to take my sun burnt face down the M77. 

The Glasgow traffic was a bit heavy but I still managed to get to the East Ayrshire village by about 6:30pm. I was expecting to see a number of Kilmarnock Harriers; the Killie Striders; the Jog Scotland Stewarton Team – including Brian McGaw, who I used to race against at school- and others with a connection to the locality but I was a bit surprised to see a decent turnout from Bellahouston Harriers; Sarah Whalen and Gerry Gallacher from SPSA and Cambuslang’s Robert Gilroy. He must run as many races as me!

After paying my £4 registration fee, I changed into my racing gear. This would be my 101st 5k race and my 43rd race of 2011 but the 1st race for my new, bright red, Nike Lunar Swifts. (Only £35 at John Lewis). 


Red  Shoes

As the kids participated in their events, I participated in the pre race chatting.  After a decent warm up and stretch, I lined up on the track for the 7:30pm Start.  David Mitchell did his usual excellent Race Director job, even giving runners one last chance to have a drink of water before sending us out in the evening sun.  In order to keep the impact of the sun to a minimum, I had chosen to wear my cap and sun glasses.  The race starts with two laps of the track and I decided to discard my cap after the first one. The route then took us through a gate, where we turned left down a narrow path.  I recognised the sound of Alan Dempster breathing behind me but I wasn’t for racing against him this evening.  Instead, my task was to place as far up the Killie Harriers field as possible.   Alan overtook me a little after the 1k marker.  I had been a bit wary of starting too quick on the track, so I was fairly happy with my time of 4:14.  I also knew that the second kilometre would be a lot tougher, as we climbed our way out of the park and headed along to the Kilmarnock Road. 

 

There was no shade at all and my pace slipped to 4:37.  We continued along the A735 and I appreciated the mark indicating that we had reached the mid way point, which had taken me 11:11.  I could see Alan about five places ahead of me, as well as Alistair and Emily Munn and I think Bekkie.  I continued to lose ground on them as we tuned left onto Grindwell Road/Old Kilmarnock Road and the 3k mark, my pace hadn’t changed much as Garmin revealed 4:34.  A marshal, with his Stewarton Bonnet on, directed us leftwards onto a local farm road. 

I could see a young lass ahead (Coleen Tait) and thought that I would catch her on the climb.  I did but just as I was about to pull out to my right and overtake her she put her foot on the gas and raced to the highest point on the course.  Her inexperience showed then, as she visibly rested after reaching the peak, I immediately overtook her and quickly built up a lead by continuing to work hard on the downhill section.  That said, my 4^th k had still averaged 4:36 pace.  There was no-one else within range but I knew that the course was all downhill or flat and that I could make up some time.  There were a couple of tricky turns to negotiate before entering the park but back on the track I increased the pace and, to cheers from the faster runners - who had already finished - and the local supporters, I managed to cross the line in a time of 21:59, a 5^th k of 3:55.




Concentrating in the Final Strait!

 I then joined in the cheering to support the other runners completing their races. I received my runner’s medal, Goody Bag and soft drinks and enjoyed much post race chatting with runners and locals alike. I was brought up just along the road in Stewarton and we had loads to talk about.


Prize Giving
Just as the prize giving was getting underway, someone in a powered hang glider appeared over head and flew over the park, obviously, Kilmaurs’s version of the Red Arrows.


Robert Gilroy placed first with a new course record; Killie Harriers Cammy Wilson and Ian Connell were second and third, with John Gilhooley winning the Veterans prize and Bella Harrier Tom MacDonald the Junior prize


Local lass and Kilmarnock Harrier, Kara Tait won the women’s race and also set a new course record. Ruth Joss of Glasgow University placed second and Stewarton’s Rachel Peters earned third.  Killie Strider Barbara Stewart won the women’s Veteran race.

I placed 25th out of 75 finishers and 3rd MV50+.

Me in my new green vest

Team Prize
Rachel also led Stewarton to the joggers’ team prize, beating their friendly rivals from Kilmarnock in doing so.



Prize Guy

There were a number of other prizes, including ones for the fastest local runners and a spot prize of a green t-shirt for yours truly. Not bad for £4.

Conclusion

Another great event in Burns Country, huge congratulations to all connected with the, fast growing in popularity, Kilmaurs Gala 5k.

Only joking,  this is me with my green t-shirt on with Ian Logan, Gerry Gallacher, Jane Moore and Rachel Peters.

Photos by Fiona Crawford, Kenneth Philips and Sarah Whallen.


Great Scot Photos here.


Full Results