Quite a lot of things to catch up with so this’ll be a bit long.  Firstly, a huge (and belated) congratulation to Hazel who completed her first half marathon (with Anne’s help) in Jedburgh in a time of 2:02:35.  Better than my first half marathon by over 10 minutes!  A fantastic achievement.

The week before the Loch Ness marathon Tim had a potter over the hills in the Two Breweries hill race, a tough 18 miler between Traquair House and Broughton brewery.  Happy enough with his time of 4:29:29.  Despite vowing never to do it again at the time, he has a strong suspicion he’ll be back.

Following the Loch Ness marathon the was the October club 5k time trial. Bobby Miller was the first Tortoise home followed by Alex Drain in 21:58 and Kenny Fowler  in 22:06 (a PB).  Hazel and Alistair Kennedy also recorded PBs.

On the 12 of October, Stan Bland ran in the Pentland Skyline hill race (a great race for anyone who has ever wondered “How many hills are too many?”) and finished in a creditable 4:09:55.

On the same day, three ladies from the club braved the chill winds to take part in the Ayrshire XC relay championships in Irvine finishing fourth out of the ladies teams. Anne Noble 18:22, Karen Robertson 21:18 and Mhairi Shaw 22:59.  Well done to the ladies for putting in an a appearance and putting the men to shame!

On the 27th of October Alasdair Skeoch ran the Dublin marathon in a time of 3:42:51 and ran negative splits too so well done Alasdair.

On the 4th of November it was time for another 5K time trial and there several more PBs. Kenneth Fowler was first Tortoise home and improved his time again to 21:11 (PB).  Stephanie, our visitor from Ayr also ran a PB as did Hazel who had an excellent run and knocked over a minute off of her time Well done to all runners.

Lastly, it was the Kilmarnock XC race in Dean Park on Sunday and three tortoises ran in this one.  This time is was the men who turned up.  Alex Drain was first in in a time of 46:43, Tim was second in 47:13 and Owen settled for two laps finishing with Alex.

more photos from today.

A selection of photographs taken before, during and after the race may be viewed here.

The Fergie McDonald Memorial Run

A huge thank you to everyone who braved the elements for the run today. Over 100 people turned out to celebrate Fergie’s life in one way or another and £981 was collected for Yorkhill Children’s Hospital.  The weather could have been a lot kinder but as yesterday’s weather showed, it could have been a lot worse too!  Many people entered the spirit of the event by dressing colourfully as can be seen in the photographs below.

More photographs and details will be uploaded later .

Once again, a huge thank you to all who turned out to run or help with this event.