Awards Night Dinner Dance

Dumfries Running Club Awards Night Dinner Dance

The highlight of the social calendar for members of Dumfries Running Club came last Friday (3rd) when 103 members, friends and family squeezed into Dumfries Rugby Club for the annual prize giving dinner dance. After an excellent three course meal prepared by the Green Tea Company of Moniaive, Chairman Peter Hutchison introduced the prize winners in a variety of categories that symbolised the wide variety of achievements of so many runners in 2011.

 

The award for Best Male Performance went to Steven Smith who performed very well in the various events in the Club Grand Prix competition and capped his season with a fine run at the Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile race. The trophy for Male Club Champion was won by Mickey Breen who completed the Carlisle Tri 10k in 33mins in June. With a number of promising runners chasing at the heels of these two it is hoped there will be further success for the men in 2012.

The award for Best Female Performance went to Club Captain Jo Zakrzewski who has had a vintage twelve months. After winning the New Orleans marathon in February in a time of 2 hours 47 minutes, she then lowered this time by a further 6 minutes to 2 hours 41 minutes in Florence in November. In between she gained a silver medal at the Comrades Ultra in South Africa, a performance that drew the attention of the Scottish and English team selectors. As well as a host of domestic race wins she also placed 4^th at the high altitude 79K Swissalpine marathon in Davos and in Assen, at the World Trophy final 50K won the bronze medal in a time of 3:26. However the absolute highlight of her year was when, in her first appearance in a GB vest at the World 100K Championships in Winschoten, Holland, in a brilliantly judged race, she placed 2^nd to win World and European silver medals and also lead the GB team to silver, her time of 7:41 being faster than the Scottish record.

Mhairi Duff was presented with the trophy for Female Club Champion which she won at the Carlisle Tri 10K where she also set a new ladies course record for the race.

Winners of the Best Team Award went to the Ladies Masters Relay team of Jo Zakrzewski, Susan Gallagher and Lisa Finlay who represented DRC at Strathclyde Park finishing in a fantastic 2^nd place. With Jo running the fastest lap of the day, supported by Susan, and with Lisa running a great anchor leg, the DRC ladies 1^st team produced the highest position ever achieved by the club at a national event.

The award for the Most Improved Runner went to Adam Dickie who showed a clean pair of heels to all his rivals by winning the 5k handicap series where the five best monthly performances over the year are counted towards an overall total. As well as this he recorded a number of improvements in personal bests in a range of race distances throughout the year.

The popular recipient of the Monday night award was John Jarvie who despite joining less than 12 months ago completed 5 half marathons for charity in 2011 and shed weight in the process. He is now looking forward to tackling his marathon debut in May. Newcomer Amanda Barnetson was presented with the shield for the first finisher in the Christmas handicap and the award for Contribution to the Club went to Paul Hart for his hard work and dedication in keeping all members supplied with club kit and making sure the website ran smoothly.

Winners of the Club’s other main awards were:

Mens Grand Prix winner, Steven Smith, Female winner, Jo Zakrzewski

Mens Cross Country Champion, David Parrish, Female, Allie Wilson

Mens Hill race Champion, Marcus Scotney, Female, Allie Wilson

In an exceptional year there were 3 special awards presented by the Club for outstanding achievements. These were awarded to Jo Zakrzewski in recognition of her World Silver medal winning run in Winschoten and her fantastic performances in the New Orleans and Florence marathons, Lisa Finlay for winning the British Masters half marathon championship and the Scottish marathon championship and to Frank Skachill for his achievements in the Scottish Ultra Marathon Series where he became the first and only person to date to complete all nine events, which this year included the 95 mile West Highland way race.

A final award was the David McNaught memorial award. The winner of this was former chairman Stephen Mohan in recognition of his valued service to the Club.

Once the formalities were out of the way the ceilidh began and the dancers showed their stamina by keeping the band hard at work till after 1am.