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| Ayr parkrun |
My first race of 2015 was the Ayr
parkrun on Saturday 3rd January. We arrived in Prestwick
very late on Friday night from Spain to be welcomed by the wind and
the rain. We had left our car at friends in Ayr who also kindly
picked us up and gave us a bed for the night. Whilst the wind and
the rain had abated by Saturday morning it was still very chilly and
the race director pointed out that the course, which is entirely run
on trail paths and grass, was heavy going, with a number of puddles
and lots of lovely mud.
A decent turnout of 59 runners had made
their way to Rozelle Park for the 17th Ayr parkrun,
including Ayrshire based Bellahouston Harrier, Ruairidh Macdonald,
and Ayr Seaforth's Toni McIntosh.
Both Maggie and I had particpipated in
the inaugural Ayr parkrun, when our race preperation and conditions on
the day had been more favourable, neither of us would be chasing a
PB today.
As the race started, I found myself in
sixth position until the first kilometre when Toni passed me. I
could feel myself tiring and wasn't surprised when another couple of
runners overtook me. I tried to keep at least one runner in sight
over the next 3k and was pleased, when we returned to the pond to see
the two runners close to each other ahead. I injected a bit of pace
and managed to catch both of them at once. I could spy Toni in front
and my task was to try to finish as close to her as possible, whilst
ensuring that no-one overtook me. The final kilometre seemed to go
on for ages but I was pleased to sprint along the grass and over the
line to place 7th with a time of 23:38. Whilst this was
39 seconds over my previous Ayr outing, I was happy enough with my
parformance. One I recovered my breath, I shared mutual
congratulations with those around me befor cheering Maggie along the
final strait.
First in my Age Category
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| The winner - Alasdair Marshall |
As it happens, the two guys that I
caught were both in my age group and, possibly for the first time
ever, after 155 parkruns, I placed first in my age grade category.
Al Maclachlan and/or John Gilhooly normally depriving me. I was also
second in the overall Age Grade score, only being beaten by the event
winner, Southampton based, Alasdair Marshall, who crossed the line in
a time of 20:13.
Toni placed first in the Women's Race,
sixth overall,with a time of 23:25 and Maggie also placed first in
her age category, 5th female and 25th overall,
with a time of 28:37
How hard?
The difficult conditions on the day
were relected in Runbritain awarding the event an SSS of 5.0! My vSSS
being 0.6. Explanation of this here
Many Thanks to the volunteers
We
are very grateful to the volunteers who made this event happen: James
Andrew, Stewart Bailey, Jason Bell, Euan Bell, Eilidh Cotter, Jenny
Ellis, Nicola Fraser, Gayle Glandinning, Gillian Hornby, Kirstie
MacKenzie, Faye Murfet, Katherine Paisley, Elaine Sykes and Deborah
Telfer.
Thanks also to the staff at the Rozelle
Tea Room for the lovely warm fruit scones.
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