Dalbeattie 10K and Half Marathon 2016

There was an unfortunate clash of races last Sunday with 31 Dumfries Running Club members facing a choice between the two Dalbeattie races and the Mabie Trail event which  kicked off at exactly the same time.

As the Dalbeattie 10k was a counter in the 2016 club grand prix series 15 people lined up for a testing route with hills from the start on the road to the Haugh of Urr. The reward for entrants was a downhill final three kilometres towards the finish at Dalbeattie High School. The race was won by Alan Baxter in a time of 38.09 and he was pushed all the way by Lisa Finlay who fell short by a mere six seconds with Kevin McCaig in third place in 39.10.

Les Hill continued his recent good form in 42.01 ahead of a resurgent David Burns in 44.17 who was a minute in front of Sian Finlay. Club captain Sue Jeffrey ran a good race in 48.55 just over a minute in front of Skye Sarahs who has been showing excellent progress in the past few months. Saty Burns followed up her Glasgow 10k run with a good performance in 55.19 less than 100 metres in front of Fiona Jardine. Club chairman Peter Hutchison was pleased to continue his fitness fightback in 58.14 and on their debut club runs, Craig McCallay in 61.09 was a few strides in front of Robyn Langton with both thoroughly enjoying the race. Chris Wilson ran steadily in 64.39 two minutes in front of Margaret Laurie. 

In the half marathon, a plethora of hills meant that the route was a real challenge for all entrants, especially as the strong sunshine made things difficult in the final stages. In a race won by Jonathan Dale, Simon Mortlock was 7^th in 96.51 out of the 66 finishers two minutes in front of Norman Neilson and a further three minutes in front of Stephen Mohan who faded in the final stages. Neil Moffat had a good run in 105 mins as did Diana Lord who was pleased to cross the line in 145mins.

Steve Mohan