3rd July - Updated Summer 4mile handicap results
The 4th race in the summer handicap series was held on Thursday 2nd July in hot conditions on the 4 mile Holywood Stroll route. The run away winner was Chris Neill with an excellent run well below the handicappers estimate! There are now only two races remaining and things are very tight with Adam Dickie currently holding onto top spot by only one point from Vicky Little followed by Dougie Brown, Rab Wilson, Kerry Willacy and Alan Baxter. All to play for!!!! Updated results are here.
1st July - Les Hill runs in Toad Hall 10K nr Reading
On 28th June, Les Hill took part in the Toad Hall 10K, based in the village of Witchurch Hill, near Reading. It was a mixture of road and trail, 50/50 and had some very serious climbs. Les showed he is fast recovering from injury to finish in a time of 43mins58secs for 17th place overall and first V50 from over 400 entrants. Only the race winner broke six minute mile pace which gives an idea of the severity of the route.
1st July - Monday night 2 mile run results and times
Following the completion of 4 Monday night timed 2 mile runs over the last 4 months the times recorded for everyone taking part have now been updated to include the run on the 22nd June.
The finishing times are available here.
24th June - Club Hill Race Championship at Lotus Hill nr. Beeswing
Congratulations to Marcus Scotney and Jo Zakrzewski who are the new men and women's hill race champions!
On a hot summer evening on Tuesday 23rd June Marcus retained his title in a time of 26mins2secs followed by Dougie Brown in 27mins19secs and Alan Baxter in 29mins10secs for third place.
In the women's race Jo reached the summit of Lotus Hill in third place overall and went on to cross the line in 29mins56secs. Mhairi Duff took second place in 30mins54secs followed by a fast finishing Vicky Little who knocked over 3mins off her PB for the course to finish 3rd in 34mins13secs. Well done to all 25 runners who took part.
The full results are available here.
Read Steve Mohan race report including report on Womens race for health 5K at the Crichton Campus report here.
24th June - West Highland Way Race 2009
Starting at 01:00a.m. on
Saturday 20th June three members of Dumfries Running Club - Paul Hart, Sebastian
Pflanz and Norman Neilson - took part in the West Highland Way race. This
involved covering 95 miles along the West Highland Way route starting at
Milngavie and finishing at Fort William within a 35 hour time limit.
As if this wasn’t challenging enough, there is over 4400 meters (14,600ft) of
ascent to be negotiated. The trail itself is very uneven underfoot and runners
can find themselves scrambling over rocks and tree roots as well as climbing up
a hill section known as the Devil’s Staircase!
Paul, Sebastian and Norman were among the 122 who were successful in finishing
the race. Paul finished 5th in 17 hours
and 12 minutes (a time that in other years would have won the race and puts him
12th fastest on the all time list), Sebastian finished 17th in 20 hours and 40
minutes and Norman finished in 44th in 23 hours and 38 minutes.
Read their
full
report on the race here.
24th June - East Kilbride half marathon and Bellahouston Park 10K, Glasgow
On Sunday 21st June Jonathan Dale, Stephen Mohan, Paula Neill and Val Vince took part in the East Kilbride half marathon and Ross and Danny Queen ran in the Bellahouston Park 10K.
Read Steve Mohan race report here.
14th June - Mabie Forest 10K Trail Race - Steven Smith race winner
On Sunday 14th June Steven Smith produced an excellent run to win the 2nd Mabie Forest 10K trail race in fast time of 37mins50secs. Other notable performances came from Dougie Brown who once again proved his off-road credentials to finish in 3rd place and claim the male Vets prize, Jo Zakrzewski who finished as 2nd female and Gill Pearcey who claimed the female Vets prize.
Some great photographs of DRC members in running action (88 photos in total) are available at the Dumfries Running Club Flickr webpage. If you do not have access to this page and would like to please email the Membership Secretary.
A small selection of photographs are available here on the photographs page of the website.
Read Steve Mohan race report for Dumfries Standard 19th June here.
14th June - Lotus Hill Race and training run
A reminder that the Hill Race club championship for 2009 will take place on Lotus Hill near Beeswing and has been arranged for Tuesday 23rd June. Arrive in plenty of time for a 7:00pm race start.
The course will be marked and is approximately 4miles in length. All club members (and guests) are invited to attend.
In preparation for this race, a training run at Lotus Hill has been organised for Tuesday 16th June at 6:45pm. Club members also departing from Nunholm at 6:30pm if you are unsure of the venue.
6th June - Stranraer Half Marathon Results - 1st Ladies Team!
On Saturday 6th June 10 members of Dumfries Running Club travelled to the Stranraer half marathon. The stand-out performance came from Jo Zakrzewski who absolutely smashed her half marathon PB to finish in 1hr27mins2secs, the first time she has run under the 90minute barrier, and continuing her tremendous run of form! This time gave Jo 3rd place lady which, together with Lisa Finlay taking first place by 26seconds in 1hr25mins30secs and Maureen Dickson finishing in 1hr46mins26secs (and 1st LV50), gave Jo, Lisa and Maureen 1st ladies team prize. Vicky Little returned to the half marathon distance for the 1st time in 8 months and was satisfied to cross the line in 1hr53mins1sec.
The club also claimed several prizes on the men's side with Sandy Shankland running steadily to finish in 1hr24mins11secs, 16th place overall and 1st MV50. Alan Baxter then finished in 1hr31mins36secs for 31st place followed by Steve Mohan in 1hr36mins1sec for 44th place and David Breen in 1hr37mins32secs for 49th place and 2nd MV55. Frank Skachill was next in 1hr39mins28secs just ahead of Jim Grierson who finished in 1hr39mins46secs.
Read Steve Mohan race report for Dumfries Standard 12th June here.
6th June - Summer Handicap Series June results
The June handicap series was won by Vicky Little who grabbed the 25 points with a clear lead at the finish.With only three races so far Adam Dickie and Rab Wilson are to the fore but a good few people who have only done two races will climb up the chart once they have done a third race with Kerry Willacy best placed of those runners.
Results are here.
1st June - Edinburgh Marathon results
On a very hot day, and with reports of water stations running out of water, a number of Dumfries Running Club runners achieved some personal milestones at the Edinburgh marathon on Sunday 31st May. In particular, well done to Jo Needham for completing her first marathon in a time of 4hrs36mins in such tough conditions. Other results were Steve Mohan in 3hr36mins showing a return to form after injury, Sian Finlay in 3hr40mins and Dawn McDonald in 3hr50mins all breaking the 4hour barrier. Mike Trant finished next in 4hrs13mins and close behind Jo was Margaret Gray who produced an excellent run to cross the line in 4hrs38mins. Bill Love was agonisingly close to the 5hour barrier finishing in 5hrs and 6seconds! Maurice Gilligan ran the early stages with his brother Brendan but found the conditions tough going but wisely settled on getting to the end in one piece in 3 hours 54 with Brendan beating the 4 hour benchmark by a few seconds.
Well done also to Danny Queen (supported by Beatrice and Sarah) who ran a superb 3hrs28mins for a new PB!
Read Steve Mohan
race report
for Dumfries Standard 5th June here.
1st June - Monday night 2 mile run results and times
Following the completion of 3 Monday night timed 2 mile runs over the last 3 months the times recorded for everyone taking part are now available.
The finishing times are available here.
31st May - Club Hill Race Championship details announced
The hill race championship will again this year take place on Lotus Hill near Beeswing and has been arranged for Tuesday 23rd June. Arrive in plenty of time for a 7:00pm race start.
The course will be marked and is approximately 4miles in length. All club members (and guests) are invited to attend.
31st May - 5K Viaduct fun run
Following the successful 5K viaduct run to celebrate the opening of the new cycle path over the viaduct to Nunholm in 2008, we will again be holding this 5K fun run in 2009.
The planned date is Saturday 22nd August at 11:00a.m. Further details to follow.
25th May - Kirkcudbright half marathon results and new club champions
On Saturday 23rd May the Kirkcudbright half marathon took place in mainly dry and breezy conditions. This race was also the club championship for 2009.
Congratulations to Marcus
Scotney and Jo Zakrzewski who are the new club champions for 2009.
Marcus finished 2nd overall in a time of 1hr12mins13secs with Jo running yet another huge PB to cross the line in 1hr30mins58secs. There were many impressive performances from DRC members throughout the field with Steven Smith finishing in 1hr15mins38secs, Norman Neilson in 1hr24mins27secs, Simon Mortlock in 1hr26mins50secs, Alan Baxter in 1hr27mins32secs, Stephen Mohan in 1hr32mins30secs, Chris Neill in 1hr36mins42secs, Frank Skachill in 1hr36mins53secs, Jim Grierson in 1hr39mins47secs, Rab Wilson in 1hr42mins5secs, Maureen Dickson in 1hr45mins41secs holding off Dawn McDonald who finished in 1hr45mins43secs by 2secs!, Donald Anson in 1hr50mins30secs, Bob Quin in 1hr53mins28secs, Marian McPhail in 1hr53mins56sec, Susan Callander in 2hr11secs, Gerry Edgar in 2hr2mins23secs, Alan McKean in 2hr5mins50secs, Christine Clemie in 2hr11mins4secs and Jo Pennington in 2hr27mins24secs.
Congratulations also to Norman Neilson who won the Arden House Trophy for 1st local, and to Marcus, Steven and Norman who won the 1st men' team prize.
Read Steve Mohan race report for Dumfries Standard 29th May here.
25th May - Changes to Grand Prix race calendar for 2009
There are two changes to the grand prix race calendar for 2009:
(1) The Steve Unwin 10K in Carlisle scheduled for 28th June has been moved to another as yet unspecified date. This race will be replaced with another race in the grand prix, to be confirmed shortly.
(2) The date of the Brampton to Carlisle 10mile race was shown as the 14th November. This date is INCORRECT, the confirmed date is the 21st November.
25th May - Summer Handicap series May results
The results of the summer handicap series have now been updated to include the May results. Results are here.
13th May - Holywood Stroll 5mile road race
A magnificent turnout of 87 runners took part in the annual 5mile Holywood Stroll Race on Tuesday 12th May. Although it was a fine sunny evening there was a testing headwind for the last mile of the race. Despite this some fine times and personal bests were recorded throughout the field.
The overall race winner was Marcus Scotney (DRC) in a time of 26mins53secs proving that his legs have recovered from his recent Anglo Celtic Plate 100K exploits, followed by Steven Smith (DRC) in a time of 27mins45secs who continues to get faster with every race. The winner of the women's race was Jo Zakrzewski (DRC) in an excellent time of 31mins13secs giving her yet another PB performance.
Many thanks to race organiser Sandy Shankland and all those other members and friends of Dumfries Running Club who organised this race.
For results see results here and list of prize winners here.
Read Steve Mohan race report for Dumfries Standard here.
13th May - Dumfries Running Club Yorkshire training weekend
As in previous years, a party of 10 club members travelled to Haworth in Yorkshire to take part in a training weekend of off road running in preparation for races later in the season. Expertly organised by Dawn McDonald, the Saturday involved the 20 mile route of the Burley Bridge Hike starting and finishing on Ilkley Moor. The key was to break each days running into small steady manageable chunks as food and drink was available on a regular basis and those who wished to opt out on more difficult stretches could do so. On Sunday, tired limbs were coaxed into doing the Yorkshire man off road route and the party split into 2 groups. The faster group of Sandy Shankland, Doug Brown, Jo Zakrzewski and Frank Skachill attempted the full marathon route supported by mountain biking Stephen Mohan who popped up several times with food and refreshments. Marian McPhail, Paula Neill, Jo Needham and Dawn McDonald, along with superfit Ben and Socks tackled the half marathon backed by Richard McDougall. On Bank Holiday Monday the Wharfedale half marathon was tackled by Sandy, Doug and Jo with Stephen, Frank and Marian completing an 8 mile section. With a simple regime of running, resting, eating and socialising a thoroughly enjoyable training weekend will particularly help Paula and Jo Needham as they aim for their debut in the Edinburgh marathon at the end of the month.
13th April - Glasgow Womens 10K
Joining thousands of others on Sunday 10th May on the streets of Glasgow for the womens 10k, Beatrice Queen belied the tough conditions to gain a PB in 56mins47secs with Suzanne Broatch running very well in 58mins56secs minutes.
11th May - Race updates from end of April and start of May for DRC members
Sunday 10th May - Muckletoon Doctor's run - Langholm
Lisa Finlay finished as 1st DRC member and Jo Zakrzewski as 2nd DRC member showing this really is a Doctor's run!
Both Lisa and Jo produced excellent runs to leave the DRC men trailing behind, although David Breen was delighted to gain revenge on Frank Skachill after Dentdale!
Well done to all 11 members of DRC who took part in this race.
| Position | 
|
First Name | Surname | Category | Male/Female | Town | Finish Time | |
| Muckletoon Doctors Run 2009 - Race Results | ||||||||
| 1 | 62 | Wull | Hynd | Vet | M | Walkerburn | 46.14 | |
| 2 |
|
James | Ferguson | Vet | M | Dumfries | 47.08 | |
| 3 | 18 | Greig | Glendinning | Male | M | Renfrewshire | 47.22 | |
| 11 |
|
Lisa | Finlay | Vet | F | Dalbeattie | 51.31 | |
| 17 | 41 | Jo | Zakrzewski | Female | F | Dumfries | 53.39 | |
| 27 | 75 | Stephen | Mohan | Vet | M | Dumfries | 57.08 | |
| 29 | 78 | David | Breen | Supervet | M | Dumfries | 57.28 | |
| 38 |
|
Frank | Skachill | Supervet | M | Dumfries | 59.41 | |
| 40 | 55 | Robert | Wilson | Supervet | M | Dumfries | 60.14 | |
| 54 | 77 | Joanna | Needham | Female | F | Thornhill | 64.50 | |
| 58 | 82 | Donald | Anson | Supervet | M | Dumfries | 67.00 | |
| 74 | 12 | Susan | Callander | Supervet | F | Dumfries | 74.14 | |
| 75 | 52 | Margaret | Gray | Vet | F | Dumfries | 74.15 | |
| 78 | 1 | Bill | Love | Supervet | M | Dumfries | 76.04 | |
Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th May - Basel 24hr race
Les Hill travelled to Switzerland to run in this international 24hr race. Despite very hot temperatures (and a thunderstorm!) Les improved on his Hull 24hr distance from 2008 to set a new PB of 180.54km (or 112.2 miles). Many congratulations in the tough conditions! This performance gave Les 2nd Vet 50 place and 10th place finish overall. Les was supported during this race by fellow DRC member Dougie Brown. Read full report from Les Hill report here.
Wednesday 6th May - Troon 10K
On a filthy night Jo Zakrzewski and Mark Johnston joined 800 others at the Troon 10k which doubled as the West District championships for the distance. In the first of her three PB’s in a week, Jo was 3rd woman in 40.36mins and Mark completed his first 10k in three years in 48.49.
Monday 4th May - Belfast marathon
Lisa Finlay tackled the Belfast marathon on Bank holiday Monday following on from her recent excellent form over the shorter distances. Despite a steady start Lisa found the headwind tough going after 19miles but she dug in and gained an excellent PB in 3hrs 12mins to finish as 4th woman in 106th place out of 2,200 finishers.
Sunday 3rd May - Edinburgh 10K
In their first ever race for Dumfries Running Club, DRC members Andrea Stewart and Julia McKie were thoroughly delighted to finish in 67mins17secs. Well done!
Sunday 3rd May - Keswick half marathon
Four DRC members took part in this hilly but scenic race. The outstanding performance came from Steven Smith he finished 4th out of 492 runners in a new PB of 79mins 12secs. Simon Mortlock was delighted to achieve a sub-90 minute time on this course finishing in 40th place in 89mins 26secs. Jim Grierson and Mike Trant also ran strongly with Jim crossing the line in 101mins58secs holding off Mike by 30seconds.
Saturday 25th April - Copenhagen 100K
Paul Hart took part in the Copenhagen 100K race in Denmark on a very hot day. Trying to make up for the disappointment of not finishing in the Anglo Celtic Plate 100K in Galway earlier in April Paul was determined to finish despite the conditions. He finished in 5th place in a time of 8hr17mins.
Saturday 25th April - Highland Fling
A great turn out from the club for this major event in the UK trail running calender. The race route is 53miles long and follows the West Highland Way from Milngavie to Tyndrum.
Four individuals completed the entire distance. Normal Neilson was delighted to finish his first ultra race in a respectable 60th place in 10hr11mins closely followed by Sebastian Pflanz in 10hr28mins for 74th place. Further down the field Marian McPhail produced a typically solid performance to finish in 13hrs43mins for 227th place followed by Susan Gallagher in 14hr22mins for 234th place.
Well done to these four club members for completing this ultra distance!
In the team relay event (consisting of 4 runners each running part of the route) the outstanding performance came from the 'Crocks and chicks' team of Jo Zakrzewski, Dougie Brown, Mhairi Duff and Sandy Shankland. Not only did they finish as the 1st mixed team in 7hr14mins they also came 3rd overall in the team relay event.
Two other teams also comprised DRC members of Frank Skachill, Peter Hutchinson, Theresa Defazio, Dawn McDonald, David Breen also produced excellent performances.
For photos from the event see photos here.
Read Steve Mohan Race race report from Dumfries Standard here.
Sunday 19th April - Lochaber marathon
At the Lochaber marathon at Fort William on Sunday, Mike Trant, Les Hill and Jim Grierson ran the Lochaber marathon on the warmest day of the year so far with the Highlands bathed in glorious sunshine. With temperatures in the upper teens this added a degree of difficulty on a flat 26.2 mile course. Les Hill, who has experienced all variations of weather in his running career, was a few minutes down on his usual performances in 3hrs 5mins in 27th place. Mike Trant found the heat an added difficulty and ran conservatively in 3hrs 54mins for 195th place. Jim Grierson also found the conditions challenging in 4hrs 13mins and was forced to slow down in the later stages. Jim was also involved in an accidental collision where another runner fell and hurt himself and he lost quite a bit of time while he made sure that this competitor was looked after by the Red Cross.
Sunday 19th April - Great Langdale 10K race, Lake District
Jonathan Dale had an outstanding run in the St Georges Day 10k at Great Langdale finishing 4th overall and first vet in 37mins16secs.
Saturday 18th April - Screel hill race
The Hill running specialists in the club had the Screel hill race in their sights in April. With a deceptively short distance of 4 miles it has very steep climbs totalling over 400 metres. This year the field was swelled because it was a counting race in the Scottish Hill Race championship and the Dalbeattie members of Dumfries Running Club was well to the fore. Best performance came from Norman Neilson in 36mins, 60seconds in front of Craig Malcolmson with Sebastian Pflanz a further minute adrift. Simon Mortlock challenged well in his run of 39mins30secs followed by Roz Plant.
15th April - DRC members in running action over the Easter Weekend
Showing no sign of tiredness from the Blackpool marathon a week earlier, on Saturday 11th April Simon Mortlock was again in action running in the Anniversary Waltz fell race in the Lake District. Simon finished in a time of 2hrs16mins for 167th place out of 469 competitors over the tough 11.5mile course with 3600ft of climbing.
On Sunday 12th April the Tom Scott 10mile road race was held finishing in Strathclyde Park. On a sunny day 5 DRC members ran in this race with David Breen proving the fastest in 1hr13mins closely followed by Mike Trant in 1hr14mins and Jim Grierson in 1hr17mins. Donald Anson then crossed the line in 1hr23mins with Bill Love finishing in 1hr31mins.
8th April - 2 DRC members run in Blackpool marathon and half marathon
On Sunday 5th April Simon Mortlock tackled the Blackpool marathon. On a dry and sometimes warm day he was very satisfied to finish strongly in 3hrs 21mins. Completing the half marathon Dave Breen crossed the line in 1hr38mins.
6th April - 4 DRC members run in Sir Chris Hoy Edinburgh half marathon
On Sunday 5th April 4 members of DRC took part in the Edinburgh half marathon. Peter Hutchison produced a pb performance to run under 1hr 50mins finishing in 1hr49mins followed by Bob Quin in 1hr56mins. Joyce Hamilton and Alison Hall crossed the line together in 2hr31mins.
6th April - Dumfries Running Club Women's team finish 8th in Scottish National road relay championships
The team of Sian Finlay, Lisa Finlay, Jo Zakrzewski and Mhairi Duff produced a fine performance to finish as 8th team against tough competition at the women's four stage Scottish road relay championships at Livingston on Saturday 4th April.
6th April - Summer handicap series April results
The first of the 2009 summer handicap series was held on the 2nd April on the Holywood route. In truly summer conditions Gerry Edgar just pipped Kerry Willacy and a held off a fast finishing Chas Mellor to take maximum points. April results are here.
6th April - March Monday night beginners section race
The Monday night beginners section of Dumfries Running Club showed that effort and enthusiasm can go a long way. On March 30th thirty newcomers lined up on the Queen of the South viaduct bridge to take part in the first of the monthly 2 mile race aimed at giving newer runners a target to aim for and giving improvers a chance to measure the progress that they have made over the year. For many this was their first race of any description and many opted to run in groups out on the cycle path. The first runners back were Chris Neill, Tom McCaulay and Gerry Edgar closely followed by Kerry Walker and everyone enjoyed the chance to test themselves over a measured route. Many thanks are due to coaches Margaret Gray and Susan Graham who devised this very popular debut race.
6th April - Marcus Scotney produces outstanding debut performance at Anglo Celtic Plate 100K in Galway
In his debut run at the Anglo Celtic plate race in Galway last weekend Marcus Scotney completed an outstanding hat trick by finishing in 3rd place in the UK 100 kilometre championship as an individual, winning the Gold medal as first Scottish championship runner and helping England to retain the overall team title. Marcus crossed the line in a magnificent 7hrs 16mins to confirm his potential at this event. 2006 Scottish Champion Les Hill finished in a very gutsy 8hrs 36mins and was the third counter helping Scotland to second place overall in the team competition. 2007 Scottish Champion Paul Hart started confidently and was well up with the leaders in the first half of the race but he suffered from severe stomach problems. He struggled on but was forced to drop out at 72 km.
Read S Mohan report for Dumfries Standard 3rd April here.
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25th March - Three members of Dumfries Running Club ready for international honours in Celtic 100K
In a unique and very prestigious achievement, 3 members of Dumfries Running Club, Les Hill, Paul Hart and Marcus Scotney have been awarded international caps to run in the Anglo Celtic Plate 100 kilometre race in Galway in the Republic of Ireland. Les has been selected to run for Scotland for the 7th time and Paul for the 3rd time, but this will be the 1st time Marcus has been selected to run for England. For those who still think in pounds, shillings and pence this means the three of them will cover over 62 miles non stop. Starting at 8am on Saturday 28th March, competitors will cover a 2 kilometre flat route on the seafront 50 times fuelled by regular energy drinks and gels. The Dumfries runners will be cheered on and supported by Margaret and Julie Hill and by Jean Rennie who will provide pre and post race massages for the Scottish team. The secret to success in this most gruelling of events is preparation and pace judgement.
Paul has been running a minimum of 70 miles a week for the past 12 weeks and is aiming to beat his PB of 7 hours 44 which averages out at 7:30 minutes a mile all the way. Les has done less mileage than usual with an average of 50 miles a week for the last 14 weeks and he has been experimenting to see whether this will help him in his target of beating his PB of 8 hours 18, an average of 8.02 minutes a mile. His objective will be a 24 hour race in Switzerland in May where he hopes to gain selection for the Commonwealth championships in September. Marcus has done particularly well to gain selection for a very competitive England men's team and he will be supported by Dumfries Running Club’s Carolyn Hunter Rowe who is the England women's team manager for this race. Hopefully all three of them do themselves and their countries proud and produce very good runs on Saturday.
25th March - David Breen jnr and Chris Holmes ready for ultimate marathon challenge!
David Breen jnr and Chris Holmes are set to take on a unique challenge - the ‘Marathon des Sables’ starting this weekend. This 254km run across the Sahara desert in Morocco, which takes place between 29th March and 4th April, has been dubbed “the toughest footrace on earth”. Competitors from all over the world compete in the blistering humidity and heat (often over 40 degrees), where the priority tends to be finishing rather than setting a speedy time. All carry their own food, clothing, cooking and sleeping equipment, and even anti-venom kit! They have enjoyed returning to Dumfries since entering the race to take advantage of the training routes at Mabie Forest and Southerness. Over the years, they have been members of Dumfries Running Club, which has become a hotbed for ultra-distance running activity in recent years. David and Chris are raising money for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a non-governmental organisation which provides medical aid in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic disease. Both of them are doctors themselves (neurology and anaesthetic trainees respectively) and have friends who currently work for MSF and make a positive difference to people’s lives every day. Any donations would be hugely appreciated and can be given via their website (www.justgiving.com/teamnails).
25th March - Results from Cartmel trail race, Alloa half marathon and Criffel hill race weekend 21st & 22nd March
With 3 races on last weekend, the Criffel Hill race on Sunday 22nd March was a priority event for the mountain goats of Dumfries Running Club. This is a particularly challenging race starting from New Abbey, climbing 567 metres to the summit and back down. On a clear and breezy day with dry underfoot conditions, the Dalbeattie group of the running club was well to the fore. Best performance came from Norman Neilson who was 10th out of 60 in 64minutes and he edged out training partner Sebastian Pflanz by 2 minutes and five places. Simon Mortlock was delighted to get to the summit with dry feet for the first time and finished well in 68mins. In his debut at this event Graeme Cross quickly realised that off road shoes are vital and, wearing an ordinary pair of running shoes was reminded of this as he slipped and slithered his way to a time of 92mins just ahead of Adam Anderson senior and Roz Plant who were both taking part in their debut races of 2009 and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
On the same morning Gareth McIntyre and Lisa Findlay travelled to take part in the Alloa half marathon. Both had excellent runs, given that miles 6 to 9 were into a strong headwind, and finished well up the field with Gareth producing one of this fastest times in 81mins21secs for 29th place overall, and Lisa finishing as 4th female and 3rd FV35 in 84mins44secs.
On Saturday 21st March three club members travelled to Cartmel in South Lakeland to take part in the Inaugural Sticky Toffee pudding 16 kilometre off road race. The reward for tackling a scenic yet very hilly and muddy route was an individual toffee pudding that would be more than enough incentive for anyone. Best performance came from Peter Hill in 1hr39mins followed by Liz Smart in 1hr51mins and debutant Kerry Willacy in her longest ever race in an excellent 2hrs40mins.
22nd March - New Dumfries Running Club hats (just in time for summer!!!)
Dumfries Running Club hats are now available in the club colours. Costing just £4 each they represent excellent value for money and may still be needed in the coming weeks during cold weather and will certainly be a wise investment for next winter.
Initially ten hats have been made and are available from Kirsten Holt while stocks last.
22nd March - Launch of new Dumfries Running Club photo sharing webpage
As more and more Dumfries RC members are attending running races and events a photo sharing webpage has been created to allow all members to share photos taken.
DRC members - download and upload photos from our photo sharing group page and account page on Flickr at http://flickr.com/groups/dumfriesrc/
(note: you have to be signed into Flickr to access this group page via this link)
This site can only be viewed by DRC members with valid email addresses supplied to the Membership Secretary.
Today all
members who have supplied email addresses on their membership forms will have
received two invitations to join Flickr (if not members already).
Invitation (1):
(1) Become a contact of Dumfries Running Club account - which is where we will
put all the photos used on the DRC website + more. As a contact you will access
to all these photos.
Invitation (2):
(2) Join the 'Dumfries Running Club' private group which is where we can all
share running photos.
Joining is straightforward (and free) and will allow you to:
(1) Upload your photos to your own Flickr page.
(2) Select and copy your photos into the 'Dumfries Running Club' group page.
(3) View all the photos placed in the 'Dumfries Running Club' group page by DRC members.
(4) View all the photos placed in the 'Dumfries Running Club' account by the website co-ordinator.
(5) Download and copy photos from the 'Dumfries Running Club' group page and account page that you want.
Photos should be uploaded with a tag that clearly identifies where the photo was taken starting with the calendar year e.g., '2009 Dentdale'.
The
Dumfries Running Club account and the group page are NOT setup for general
public viewing. Photos can only be viewed, downloaded and uploaded by DRC
members invited to join by the membership secretary. This has been setup in
response to suggestions at the March committee meeting that lots of us take
photos of races and it would be great if we could share these so club members
could select the photos they want.
19th March - Dentdale and Trimpell race reports
There are few things that show the strength in depth of Dumfries Running Club more than the fact that 28 members turned out at the weekend for two of the more difficult races on the circuit, namely the Dentdale 14.1 mile race on Saturday and the Trimpell 20 mile race in Lancaster on Sunday. Read Steve Mohan full race report for Dumfries Standard 20th March here
11th March - Les Hill runs in Little Strickland 10mile race, nr. Penrith
Les Hill was the only Dumfries Running Club member to brave the wintry conditions at the Little Strickland 10 miles race near on Sunday 8th March. Little describes the size of the village well but is not an adjective to be used for describing the surrounding hills. Ominously, while driving south on the M6 to get to the race there were several electronic warnings to motorists to slow down because of the strong winds and on the high ground where the route runs close to Shap there was no shelter from this during the race. To make matters worse for the duration of event the wind battered hail and snow against the competitors. Adding the combination of the weather and the hills meant that no one expected fast times to be recorded on the day. Despite being close to full fitness again Les was not surprised that this was his second worst 10 miles race time in his 25 years of running at 67 minutes and 5 seconds. However with the winner’s time being only 62 minutes and with him being 10th overall and first V50 it puts a true perspective on the achievement
11th March - Susan Gallagher runs in Meon Valley Plod
Susan Gallagher took part in the 21 mile Meon Valley plod, a 21 mile multi terrain race over the South Downs organised by Portsmouth running club. With 1,500 metres of ascent, twice over Butser Hill this event would provide Susan with excellent training for her real objective which is The Highland Fling ultra race in late April. On a beautiful sunny day Susan thoroughly enjoyed this scenic, well organised event and attracted a lot of attention wearing her Dumfries Running Club vest as one of the few non locals in the race. Covering the first half in just over 100 minutes, the hilly second half was slower even though the rewards for several difficult climbs were thrilling fast descents. With a sensible race plan and a comfortable finishing time of 3 hours 56 minutes, Susan was delighted with the entire event.
8th March - Winter handicap series final results
Congratulations to Suzanne Broatch who is the series winner!!!! Well done Suzanne.
In a closely fought contest Suzanne triumphed by only one point from Laura Fairbairn (March handicap race winner) and two points from both Sandy Shankland and Peter Hill.
Attention will now turn to the start of the Summer handicap race series beginning in April and also held of the first Thursday of every month.
Final results are here.
8th March - Annan Cross Country and club championship results
On Sunday 1st March the Annan River Races took place and was used as the club cross country championship race.
In an excellent double, the club claimed the men’s and women’s team titles with Marcus Scotney winning the race by a clear margin and the club cross country championship for 2009. Maureen Dickson becomes the club women's cross country champion for 2009. The winning men's team was Marcus, newcomer Alan Baxter and Sandy Shankland ahead of Dougie Brown and Peter Hutchison. Claiming the women’s team title were Maureen alongside double debutantes Kerry Willacy and Laura Fairbairn.
Read Steve Mohan report for Dumfries Standard 6th March incorporating reports on Annan Cross Country, Haweswater and Lasswade 10 mile race report here.
3rd March - 100K National Team selection for Paul, Les and Marcus
The growing strength of ultra running within Dumfries Running Club has been demonstrated this week with three members being selected to represent their national teams in the Anglo Celtic Plate 100K race in Galway on Saturday 28th March. Paul Hart and Les Hill have both been selected for the Scotland team and Marcus Scotney has been selected for the England team. Congratulations and good luck!
1st March - Haweswater 1/2 marathon - Lisa Finlay 1st lady
On Sunday 1st March ten members of Dumfries Running Club ran in the Haweswater half marathon in Cumbria. The out and back course requires a large hill climb both ways before the last few miles provide a steady downhill finish into the village of Bampton. Lisa Finlay continued her exceptional form winning the ladies race in a superb time of 1hr24mins21mins, a winning margin of over 2 minutes. Next to finish was Simon Mortlock in 1hr31mins 21secs finishing clear of new club member Adam Dickie in 1hr33mins 57secs. David Breen's determined training in recent weeks paid off as he finished ahead of Jim Grierson and Mike Trant. David crossed the line in 1hr44mins 28secs followed by Jim in 1hr46mins 56secs and Mike in 1hr47mins 27secs. Next to finish was Liz Smart in 1hr52mins 52secs closely followed by Paula Neill in 1hr54mins 50secs and Jo Needham in 2hr00mins 43secs. Well done to all on some great times on this tough course!
1st March - Craig Malcolmson runs in Hong Kong marathon February 8th
Craig Malcolmson took part in the most exotic event recently by completing the Hong Kong marathon on Sunday February 8th. On a whim he foolishly entered the race at two days notice while on holiday and spent a long time wondering how he was going to manage to complete the event in 65% humidity, despite not running a step for the previous month. At 5am on the day of the race however, he was up, Dumfries running club vest on, raring to go. After taking a ferry and a taxi to the 8am start he spent the next 3 hours 54minutes on the hardest road race he has ever done, negotiating an undulating course with at least 4 kilometre long tunnels trapping heat and sapping energy from his legs. In all he finished 1123rd out of 10,000 marathon starters and with a very well organised 10k and half marathon as well, 55,000 in total took part on the day.
1st March - Draycote Water 35mile race
As a carefully chosen event for athletes for upcoming ultra distance races Paul Hart, Marcus Scotney and Les Hill, all members of Dumfries Running Club, travelled to Draycote near Rugby in the English midlands last Sunday February 22nd to take part in the Draycote 35mile ultra race. The weather was overcast with a strong wind blowing across the reservoir providing testing conditions for the 100 entrants on the 5mile loop around Draycote reservoir which the runners had to circle 7 times.
Paul Hart and Marcus Scotney were in the leading group right from the start and after 15 miles were in 1st and 2nd positions with Paul leading as other runners were unable to keep up with the unrelenting pace. As they passed the 26mile mark Marcus then eased into the lead and maintained his form to win the race in an excellent time of 3hr46mins 55secs followed by Paul finishing close behind in 3hr 48mins 44secs for 2nd place, with the 3rd place runner a full 10mins behind. To put that into some kind of perspective, this meant that both Paul and Marcus were running at 6 and a half minute mile pace for the entire 35 mile distance. Completing the excellent performances by Dumfries Running Club, Les Hill showed a welcome return to form after injury running with steady pace judgement to finish in 6th place for a time of 4hr17mins 40secs winning the first vet 50 prize. These performances would not have been possible without the help of fellow club member Sandy Shankland who braved the cold wind to provide Marcus, Paul and Les with energy drinks and food on every lap.
1st March - Maryport 10mile race 22nd February
Nine members of Dumfries running club travelled to Maryport to join 103 others taking part in the hilly Malcolm McDougall memorial 10 mile race. With a testing yet scenic route on a clear and almost warm February morning this would provide a good benchmark to measure progress for races later on in the season. Best performance came from Steven Smith who underlined his promise with an excellent 3rd place overall in 59.52mins and there is every chance he can improve on this very fast time. Gareth McIntyre also ran well in 11th place in 65.07 and Stephen Mohan was delighted with a time of 69.48.Frustratingly, if there had been a team prize available, these three would have been in first place overall. Donald Anson, who has been quietly increasing his training was pleased to finish in 85.10 as was Paula Neill in 86.12mins, virtually the same time she achieved at the Brampton race in November. Jo Needham, in serious training for the Edinburgh Marathon in May, knocked 5 minutes off her personal best in 88.33 and Alex Grant ran very well in 91.05.The Star of the show however was the modest Bill Love who knocked a phenomenal 11 minutes off his time from last year in 93mins.As Bill himself commented, ”the older I get, the better I used to be….” Susan Graham, in heavy training for the London marathon used the race for pace judgement and finished very smoothly in 104minutes, looking so comfortable that she could have completed the course twice with ease.
21st February - May Bank Holiday Weekend running trip
The running club are organising a running weekend for the May Bank holiday weekend Sat 2nd - Mon 4th May. These weekends have proved very popular in previous years with the emphasis on friendly, social running in scenic locations (distances and routes to suit a range of abilities) followed by good food and the odd drink. For 2009 the proposed destination is the Yorkshire Dales area. Accommodation will be in a youth hostel at an approximate cost of £30 - £40pp for the two nights.
Anyone interested please contact Dawn McDonald and put your name on the list on the club noticeboard at Nunholm Sports Club.
21st February - 2009 Grand Prix Series Races announced
The Dumfries Running Club races for the 2009 Grand Prix series have been announced. The series starts with the Dentdale 14mile race on 14th March and this year has been extended to include a total of 10 races as well as your best marathon time (from any marathon in 2009) scoring points. The club championship race will be the Kircudbright half marathon on 23rd May.
21st February - Winter handicap series update after February handicap
The winter handicap results have been updated following the February handicap. Continuing his excellent form Peter Hill has now moved one point ahead of long time series leader Sandy Shankland. With one race left to go 8 runners are still in contention to win the overall series. Updated results are here.
15th February - Cross Country Championships
The mens and ladies cross country championships will again be held at the Annan River Races on Sunday 1st March. The race is over approx 6k, with a start time not before noon. Details are available here or on the ADAC website
15th February - Annual Dinner Dance 2009
Thankyou to Margaret Gray and everyone who helped make this event a very enjoyable night with over 90 Dumfries Running Club members, friends and family attending.
Congratulations to all prize winners and to Peter Hill who was awarded the club captains prize for his consistent performances as a V55 and completing the Round Rotherham 50 mile race in 2009 after his plans to run in the race in 2008 were thwarted by illness a few days before the race.
A selection of photographs from the annual dinner dance are now on the website see photographs here.
8th February - Scottish National Masters Cross Country, Irvine
On Saturday 7th February several members of Dumfries Running Club competed in cold and muddy conditions at the Scottish National Masters cross country championships over distances of 6.4K (ladies) and 10K (men).
In the ladies race Lisa Finlay ran strongly in 4th place for much of the race but was unable to hold off some fast finishers eventually settling for a fine 7th place overall in 25:18. In a close finish she was only 19seconds behind 3rd place. Eleni Barbetsea produced a good performance to finish in 55th place in a time of 31:58.
In the mens race highest placed DRC finisher was Johnathan Dale in 50th place with a time of 36:22 (21st V40). Les Hill finished in 73rd place in 38:00 and was delighted to make the top ten V50 finishers (10th V50). Next to finish was Peter Hill in 116th place and a time of 42:01 also making the top ten V55 finishers (10th V55), followed by Jim Grierson in 134th place in a time of 43:53 holding off training partner Mike Trant in 151st place and a time of 46:11. With the first four counters scoring the mens team finished in 20th place.
30th January - That's Lyth 23.5mile trail race in Kendal
The all round versatility of Dumfries Running Club was shown last weekend as 13 members of DRC took part in the That’s Lyth off road 23.5 mile trail race in the Southern Lake District, centred on Kendal. Organised by the Long distance walkers association, this very popular event combines runners and walkers on a very scenic and challenging route in the Lyth valley. With 3,200 feet of climbs up Whitbarrow, Witherslack and Scout’s Scar plus the added challenge of navigation round the three checkpoints, there were plenty of opportunities for tired or unwary runners to go off route or get lost.
It was a clean sweep for Dumfries Running Club with Paul Hart the overall race winner in 2hr57mins and Jo Zakrzewski the 1st lady in 3hrs47mins.
Read Steve Mohan report for Dumfries Standard 30th Jan report here.
See photos taken by Richard McDougal photographs here.
21st January - Mike Trant and Beatrice Queen run in the Santa Pola half marathon in the Costa del Sol
On Sunday 18th January Mike Trant and Beatrice Queen (together with husband Danny and daughter Sarah) escaped the freezing and wet conditions of Scotland by flying for a weekend break on the Costa del Sol and joining 5000 others in the Santa Pola half marathon on a flat course in 20 degree heat. Best performance came from Danny Queen opening his season in an excellent 90mins followed by Mike Trant who ran well in 101mins and Sarah Queen in 107mins. Beatrice ran her first ever half marathon, thoroughly enjoyed the event and will be hoping to get close to breaking the 2 hour barrier very soon. .
18th January - DRC members race update from weekend 17th/18th January
It is good to see large numbers of DRC members again taking part in a number of races early in 2009.
Jack Crawford 10K - On Saturday 17th Mhairi Duff, Jo Zakrzewski and Sian Finlay headed just North of Glasgow for this race and finished as follows in cold and blustery conditions: Mhairi - 40:38, Jo - 42:16 (another new PB!) and Sian - 43:08. These performances were good enough to finish as 2nd female team competing against several strong Glasgow teams.
Brass Monkey 1/2 marathon - On Sunday 18th Johnathan Dale was in York to take part in one of the first half marathons in the UK in 2009. Jonathan produced an excellent run to finish in 1:19:09 for 34th place overall in a very competitive field.
Scottish Vet Harriers annual road relay race - On Sunday 18th a total of 14 DRC members took part in the Vet Harriers road relay around Strathclyde Park. The relay consisted of 4 x 3.8 miles for men and 3 x 3.8 miles for women. DRC entered a total of 4 teams as follows:
Men 1 - Paul Hart, Les Hill, Sandy Shankland, Dougie Brown.
Men 2 - Steve Mohan, Peter Hutchinson, Steve McQueen, Peter Hill
Women 1 - Lisa Finlay, Maureen Dickson, Eleni Barbetsea
Women 2 - Dawn McDonald, Paul Neill, Alison Hall
The highlight was another superb run by Lisa Finlay who took the prize for fastest female on stage 1 and 2nd fastest female stage time overall.
Everyone enjoyed the relay experience and lots of positive comments about our running club jackets. We may not have been the fastest but at least we looked the part! Photo of Vets relay teams below:
Read Steve Mohan report for Dumfries Standard 23rd Jan report here.
16th January - Winter handicap series update after January handicap
The icy conditions which forced the cancellation of the January 4mile winter handicap finally relented allowing this race to take place on 15th January. This time runners had to cope with a blustery wind which meant that only a few club members performed better than their expected handicap. Peter Hill produced an excellent run to claim the full 25points and catapult himself into contention for the overall series win. With two races left to go Sandy Shankland still leads the way closely followed by Steve Mohan, Peter Hill, Liz Smart and Dave Breen. Also in contention, with good points but only having completed two races so far, are Paula Neill, Carolyn Hunter-Rowe, Mhairi Duff and Adam Dickie. Updated results are here.
7th January - Steven Smith 2nd at Grange Over Sands 6mile race
Steven Smith continued his excellent form from the end of 2008 into 2009 by finishing in 2nd place at the Grange Over Sands 6mile race in Cumbria on the 2nd January. Steven finished in a time of 36:30, 28seconds behind the race winner on a very hilly course in the inaugural running of this race.
4th January - DRC members racing early in 2009 across Scotland
Portabello Promathon - Well done to Susan Gallagher who takes the club honours as the first DRC member to race in 2009!
Susan ran in the 4mile Portabello Promathon in Edinburgh on the 1st January finishing in a time of 31:06.
Greenmantle Dash - On the 2nd January Craig Malcolmson and Sebastian Pflanz ran in the Greenmantle Dash hill race near Broughton.
Craig and Sebastian finished in equal 35th place from 119 finishers in a very respectable time of 20:44
Lumphanan Detox 10K - On the 2nd January Peter Hutchinson ran in the aptly named Lumphanan Detox 10K in Banchory, Aberdeenshire.
Overcoming icy underfoot conditions Peter finished in 52:27 to place 185th out of 343 finishers.
3rd January - Nigel Barge 10K Ladies 1st Team Prize!
2009 is only a few days old but DRC members have already been racing at the Nigel Barge 10K in Glasgow on Saturday 3rd January.
The results were as follows:
Johnathan Dale 36:16 19th
Lisa Finlay 38:15 37th 4th lady and 1st Vet and a new PB
Mhairi Duff 41:36 73rd 8th lady
Sian Finlay 42:29 79th 10th lady and 5th Vet and a new PB
Jo Zakrzewski 42:48 83rd 11th lady and a new PB
Well done to Lisa, Mhairi, Sian and Jo for a great team performance winning the Ladies team prize with plenty of PB performances!
Read Steve Mohan report for Dumfries Standard 9th Jan report here.
3rd January - Dumfries Running Club Annual Dinner Dance
TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE FOR THE ANNUAL DINNER DANCE!
Following the very positive feedback from this years event, the dinner dance will again take place at Dumfries Rugby Club, Park Farm on Friday 6th February, 2009.
Arrive 7pm for 7:30pm start including meal, presentation of club prizes and awards, live music by Pentland Celidh band and full supporting disco.
Tickets only £17 per person available from David McNaught at Nunholm on club nights. Numbers limited!
3rd January - Club Awards Scheme
Any club member who still wants to claim a standards certificate for 2008 please send details to Les Hill as soon as possible.
(NOTE: Not all links to photos, reports, etc in archive material may still be active)