Kilmarnock Harriers and AC have been holding monthly 5K Time Trials, since 29th June, these have been staged on a flat and accurately measured ‘out and back’ route on the cycle path from the town’s Western Road towards Knockentiber. There have been some decent times recorded by club members, so I thought I’d join them for the fourth and final one of the summer series. Western Road is one of the longest roads in Kilmarnock and I didn’t know where the cycle path was until I noticed a few runners turning off the road and followed them down beside a freight railway line. There was a record turnout of some 28 runners plus another four officials. I had a chat with a few of the Harriers, including new Glasgow parkrun convert John Parker who had run a fantastic 20:07 at the event on Saturday..
After a short warm up and stretches I joined the throng of runners and was informed of the race format. Runners would be set off two at a time, at ten second intervals, with the fastest runners leaving first. I was assigned number 15 and Brian Darroch, who has become something of a Nemesis to me, number 16.
Keith Haining and Ross Connelly were first to set off and then Scott Martin and Connell Drummond. Graham Cairns and Laura Haggarty set off just before Brian and I, I’ve been beaten in a few races by Laura in the past but don’t think I’ve raced against Graham before. It was then our turn and I shot off leaving Brian behind right from the off. I was a bit surprised at that and although it would have been good for us to push each other around the course, I decided instead to concentrate on the two in front and try to narrow the gap. This wasn’t going to be easy as they had been placed in front of me because they are faster than me and on top of that they had been given a ten second lead. Although the course was mainly flat there were a few twists and turns along the way, which meant that you couldn’t always see those in front of you. I was delighted with my time of 3:57 for the first kilometre but knew from past experiences that I was unlikely to maintain such a pace. I kept to the task and was making up steady progress on Graham and Laura but my time for the second kilometre had slipped to 4:05. Paula Wilson gave me some encouragement as I rounded her at the half way point and started the journey back. I noticed that both Tom Wyper and David Lowden had overtaken Brian, as I pursued the two in front of me. The third kilometre had also taken 4:05 but I had caught up with Graham and Laura and I sped past the two of them as they ran shoulder to shoulder. However Graham, in particular, wasn’t for giving in easy and he chased after me running on my heels, the fourth kilometre had taken us 3:58 and we had made ground on those in front of us. I was feeling sick as I continued to work hard in the last kilometre but held on until a few hundred metres from the finish, where Graham overtook me and left me in his trail. Every second counted through and I pushed myself on with Graham and now John Parker in sight. I managed to find a wee bit extra when I saw the finish approaching and crossed the line with a final kilometre of 4:01. A total time of 20:06, some 13 seconds than my best ever time, recorded at the Edinburgh parkrun on 17th October 2009, and 36 seconds faster than my official PB of 20:42.
The conditions had been ideal for running and there were some great performances on the night, with many runners improving on their times from previous months.
Thanks to timekeepers Jim Young, Hugh Rankin and Ian Gebbie and to Paula Wilson, who marshalled the halfway point, and to Al Murray who quickly compiled the results.
Full Results
Keith Haining 17.05, Ross Connelly 17.37, Scott Martin 17.45, Connell Drummond 18.09, David McLeod 18.29, Les McDerment 18.39, Kara Tait 18.52, Alan Brydon 18.56, Mike Corson 19.24, Richard Skillen 19.37, Alasdair Murray 19.42, Ian Goudie 20.06, Graham Cairns 20.11, John Parker 20.13, Laura Haggarty 20.21, Scott McKee 20.29, Tommy Wyper 20.33, David Lowdon 20.37, Brian Darroch 21.32, Liz McDerment 22.10, Roddie Pugh 22.39, Adam Law 22.54, Scott Withers 23.25, Reed Wyper 23.48, Karen Quinn 23.50, Ian McAughtrie 23.57, Derek Middleton 25.07, Ian Sloan 32.10.
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