Alloa Half Marathon 22 Mar

Charlie Martin 1:28:17
Natalie Fleming 1:54:09
Hazel McFarlane 1:54:09
Anne Noble 1:54:09

Congratulations to Hazel for managing to break the 2 hours

Having missed out on Inverness a fortnight ago, we were really looking forward to taking part in the Alloa Half. It was great to have Natalie’s company, too.
It’s a superbly organised race and we had no difficulty in finding parking and locating the start. With friendly and helpful stewards it took us no time to get ourselves organised.
We had already decided to take it easy for the first few miles, but we couldn’t have gone much faster with quite a long section of road with speed bumps and then several small hills (who’s idea was this, anyway? ). Interestingly, we were passed quite early on by another VI runner and guide who were aiming for 1:45. The long downhill into Tillicoultry helped, and by this time quite a number of locals were turning out to cheer everyone on their way.
For anyone who has run this race, you will know that there is a long, straight stretch of 4-5 miles at the foot of the Ochills. We had hoped that this would allow us to build up a good, steady rhythm but in reality it meant that we had turned west into the strong wind and were struggling. (Not as powerful as Jedburgh but a pain after having had a week of really calm weather). However, Natalie was determined that we would stay cheery and was singing as she ran (this woman is definitely a great runner )
We cheered as we turned south-east but, of course, then had to deal with a long, steep hill. But Hazel is nothing if not determined and we struggled onwards and upwards. Only one more hill and then everything is downhill or flat. Yipee!
Hazel rose to the occasion and stormed in with a sprint finish well under her target time of less than 2 hours (Jedburgh was 2:02).
Many thanks to Natalie who was an absolute star . Hope this was a good training run for London in a few weeks’ time – good luck!
Well done to Charlie, too.
Also good to see so many other Ayrshire runners with Kilmarnock turning out in numbers and Toni taking 1st female.
Whoever had the idea of having the Club name on the back of our vests has given the Club some good advertising. Quite a few people commented on the name, saying how much they liked it, and with 3 of us running together it had quite an impact.
A tough race but definitely worth trying. Classy medal and a t-shirt, too – superb.