2015 Holywood Stroll

This year's race, held on Tuesday May the 12th attracted a superb entry of 177, just short of last year’s record breaking total, for a well organised 5 mile race on rural roads on the outskirts of Dumfries...

Organised expertly as usual by Sandy and Linda Shankland, backed up by a whole host of helpers from Dumfries Running Club the race went without a hitch and allowed many local runners to measure their progress and get an accurate idea of their early season form.

The race was won by David Sloan of Dumfries Tri club in 27.17mins with Ian Liffin of DRC who gave away two decades, putting in a superb run almost a minute behind. The outstanding run of the night came from Mhairi Duff of the host club who was third overall in a new female course record of 28.39 which was one second in front of the third man, Jacob Tangey. The first male vet prize went to Alan Baxter of DRC in 28.49 in 6th place and the supervet winner was Kevin McCaig who was 12th in 30.03. The first over 60 competitor was Danny Queen who was 38th in 32.44 and in a victory for experience over youth, each of these veterans were faster than the first junior man who was Cameron Muir in 33.28. The male team prize went to Ian Liffin, Jacob Tangey and Richard Beck of Dumfries Running Club with Galloway Harriers putting in a very strong performance in second place with four runners in the top fourteen places.

In the womens race, as well as Mhairi’s outstanding run, second place went to Jo Muir in 32.15 and third place and first junior woman was Chloe Simpson of Inverclyde AC in 32.29. The first vet 35 was Claire McNay of DRC in 35.03 with club mate Sian Finlay as first vet 45 in 34.23 and the vet 55 prize went to Liz Dawson of ADAC in 39.13. The trio of Mhairi, Sian and Claire won the female team prize.

As an indication of the large number of good performances throughout the race no less than 21 runners completed the course in 31 minutes or under, and many others had high quality runs throughout the field. A healthy turnout of club runners from Dumfries Harriers, ADAC, Dalbeattie Running Club, Galloway Harriers and the new Kirkcudbright running club enhanced the event and added to the competition. Thanks are due to Dumfries Sports Club for hosting the event and the prize giving and to John McQueen’s engravers of Galloway Street for their sponsorship of the race and to Scottish Water for keeping the runners hydrated on a warm evening.

Stephen Mohan

Full Results: Holywood Stroll 2015 Results