3 Village 10

The second of the weekends two Grand Prix Races took place on Sunday 9^th April.

The 3 Village 10 is a new race in the calendar organised by the Carlisle based Sport in Action and the course is a two lap route starting in the village of Wetheral and passing through Scotby and Cumwhinton.

As with the previous day at the Screel Hill Race, conditions were dry and clear, however despite the slightly earlier start time it was noticeably warmer.

Dumfries Running Club was represented by 12 runners. With 10 minutes until the start there was some debate as to whether Les Hill would abandon his family on holiday to take part. Les did not disappoint and made the start with a few minutes to spare. A baker’s dozen from the club on the start line.

Undulating is the most used word in a road runner’s vocabulary and again it accurately described the course as it passed from Wetheral through Scotby then Cumwhinton and back round again for the second lap. The roads were not closed to traffic but in an unusual twist, runners were waved through red traffic lights at the expense of drivers. Two hundred runners take a looooong time to pass by.

In 4^th place overall and 1^st Dumfries Running Club runner was Niall Campbell who finished in 61.29. This was quite a bit down on his Tom Scott time the previous week. UNDULATING. First lady and 5^th overall was Jo Zakrzewski in 62.07 less than 24 hours after her Screel run. Rather disappointingly she did not cycle to this race. Alan Baxter who suffered with a hip problem on the 2^nd lap in 65.08 was almost caught by Tosh McCaig in 65.13.

Sandy Shankland achieved a gold time of 69.05 followed by Les Hill, who was suffering from the effects of a tough hill run in previous days, in 74.39.  Anne MacFarlane cruised round in 82.20 having achieved a PB in a parkrun event the previous day. The next runner was Neil Moffat in 83.19 then Fiona Jardine in 90.49, Sean McGleenan in 96.18, John Galloway in 103.41 and Margaret Laurie in 110.58.

David Burns pulled up with a hamstring injury at the end of 1^st lap and was therefore banned from the team photo.

The club won several prizes:

Jo Zakrzewski – 1^st Lady

Anne MacFarlane – 1^st Vet 50

Tosh McCaig – 1^st Vet 50

Sandy Shankland – 1^st Vet 60