On Sunday 27th March Paul Hart ran for Scotland in the annual Anglo Celtic Plate 100K race against teams from England, Wales and Ireland.

This year the race was hosted in Scotland, at North Inch Park in Perth requiring each runner to complete 42 laps of the park circuit. Paul made a steady start, passing 50K in 3hr44mins and maintained his pace to gradually move up the field to 9th place at the 65K mark. However, he was very disappointed to fade badly in the late stages of the race eventually finishing in 20th place in a time of 8hrs19mins, his slowest ever time for this distance. There were some positives, however, as despite not firing on all cylinders Paul stuck to his task to finish the race and he was part of the gold medal winning men's team as Scotland won the Anglo Celtic Plate for the first time ever thanks to some great performances from his team mates.

In perfect running conditions on Saturday 26th March- cool sunny day with no wind and dry underfoot conditions on good surfaced tracks that meant road shoes were suitable - Les Hill and Liz Smart were Dumfries Running Club's sole representatives.

Les had a steady run despite being surprised at the severity of the hills to finish 34th in 67.09 and picking up a prize for 3rd V50. The course had been described by the organisers as undulating but Les recorded his fastest mile as 5.58 and his slowest, mile 4, at 8.57, showing just how much variation there was around the route. Liz had another fine performance, in one of her favourite races, to finish in a time of 88.16 and 185th place with many runners still behind her.

This race has been a regular on the local running circuit for many years now and on Sunday 20th March six Dumfries Running Club members joined the small but dedicated group of hardy athletes ready to test themselves on a tough 11.5km event with a lung bursting climb from New Abbey up Knockendoch to the summit of Criffel at 567m and instead of allowing themselves a chance to admire the view they were straight back down as fast as possible on a steep descent which had mud, rocks and hazardous hollows that could easily trap the unwary. With rainy, cloudy conditions a tough race was made much more difficult. However, the hill runners are a breed apart who enjoy the challenges of the terrain and relish pitting themselves against the environment.

The best club performance came from David Parrish who was 6th overall in 65.45 despite losing his way on the descent and having to take an unscheduled short cut to get back on to the main route. Alastair Bloxham in 10th was 3 minutes behind David in his second club race of the week. Adam Dickie,16th in 72.28, enjoyed a pressure free race on unfamiliar ground and finished 4 minutes ahead of hill running specialist Simon Mortlock who wisely realised that completing the race safely was a higher priority than chasing other runners. Chris Woods on his debut on the hills in 84.27 learned the hard way that smooth soled trainers are not suitable footwear as he slipped and slithered on the downhill path back to New Abbey. Welcome returnee Gill Pearcey thoroughly enjoyed her first club race in a while in an encouraging 86.08 minutes.

On the 19th March 6 members of DRC travelled to Aberdeen to take part in the D33 ultra. A race along the Deeside Way which starts and finishes in Duthie Park. The ground conditions on the paths and trail were good and although fresh at the start, the sun soon came out to provide almost ideal conditions for running, albeit a little warm at times.

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On Saturday 13th March a great turnout of 25 DRC runners started the 2011 Dentdale race supported by Peter Hill, Doug and Audrey Brown out on course.

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In her first ever race for DRC, Martha Halbert chose to race the very popular Ballycotton 10 mile race in Ireland which is always sold out long before the closing date. With a field approaching 2,500 Martha was using the race as a guide to the future and was delighted to finish in 89.12.

A last minute decision on Sunday 6th March took some DRC runners to the Annan River Races to defend the D&G Cross-Country Championships. Due to some of the riverside paths slipping into the river, the 6K course was changed to consist of 3 laps, each including a short steep hill, some nasty corners and some boggy mud patches.
Mickey Breen was returning from injury so took it steadily, pulling further and further ahead of the field to win in a time of 23:26, about a minute and half ahead of the next man.
Jo Zakrzewski was unsure about racing so soon after the marathon but managed to finish just behind the second man in 24.57.
Alasdair Stapleton was the 2nd U17 man (racing with the seniors) to finish in 27.25, one position in front of his father Nick, in 28.33.
Liz Smart rounded off the DRC contingent as first LV50 in 34.48.
This meant that Mickey and Jo are the current D&G senior cross-country champions, with Alasdair the U17 champion and a very surprised Liz as the ladies masters champion.

Les Hill was the sole representative from Dumfries Running Club when he ran in the Trimpell 20 on Sunday 6th March. He was using the race as a hard training run as he prepares for a 24 hours race at the end of April in France. Even though he started at a sensible pace he struggled after just 5 miles due to the increased training he has been doing in the last few weeks and so eased back. However, after 15 miles he noticed his pace had dropped outside 7 minute miles so increased his effort to race the last five miles and finished with a satisfying 2.17.48 and over 2 minutes inside sevens pace.

On Sunday 6th March Simon Mortlock and Peter Hill travelled down to Bampton at the edge of lake district to take part in the popular Haweswater half marathon. On an ideal day the out and back course along the side of Haweswater was at it's scenic best but still contained a long gradual climb both ways. Simon finished in 1:30:12 for 67th place despite taking over 1 minute to cross the start line and Peter finished in 1:42:32 for 183rd place.

On Sunday 6th March Doug Brown ran in the Barcelona marathon with the objective of obtaining a qualifying time for the Comrades Marathon in South Africa later this year. Doug had an excellent run to finish in 3:06:22 which will ensure a good starting position in the Comrades race. Full report to follow.

Lisa Finlay ran in this ladies only race on Sunday 6th March and in a repeat performance of 2010 won the race for the 2nd year in a row. Lisa was 1st in a time of 64:18 out of 292 finishers.

On Saturday 5th March Mark Johnston and Gemma Leadbetter took part in the Blackpool 10k. With a field of 342 runners conditions were perfect for the two lap course around Stanley Park. Mark completed the course in 46.04 in 99th position, his quickest time for many years and a big improvement on his previous performances. Gemma finished in 49.53 pushing hard to cross the line in 161st position for a new personal best taking over 5 mins!! off her previous best 10k time and she was delighted.

The third of the new format 5K handicap races was held on Thursday 3rd March at the Crichton in the best conditions so far of 2011 for these handicaps.

The maximum 50 points available were jointly awarded to Rab Wilson (25:40) and Martha Halbert (26:43). The fastest time on the night was 18:54 by Mhairi Duff. After three races Adam Dickie is still in the lead but has been joined on 130 points by Gerry Edgar. Adam and Gerry are the only runners to have completed all three races so far. There are a number of runners with good points totals from two races close behind hoping to make up the gap in their next race.

Remember that you need to complete 5 handicap races throughout the whole of 2011.

The updated results are available here.