A great weekend for our runners, with club representation at distances ranging from the 1 mile Ravenscraig Park race all the way up to the 53 mile Highland Fling Ultramarathon.
Now in its 13th running, this year's Highland Fling was host to the 2018 Scottish Ultra Trail Running Championships, and as such there was a host of talent and recognisable names lined up amongst the 800-strong starting list. With 11 Carnegie Harriers making the start line in Milngavie, it was excellent to see 10 of them successfully negotiate the tough and technical route and safely cross the finish line in Tyndrum 53 miles later.
First Carnegie to finish was Egle Laurinaiyte, (literally) flying over the line in a time of 9:02:26. Not only was this a ridiculous 70 minute improvement on her 2017 time, but was also excellent to see Egle secure 4th Female in a such a high profile championship event, a result which is sure to put her name in the spotlight for future Ultra Marathons.
Next Carnegie over the line was Derek Fish, running this event for the 3rd time. Great running to secure his first sub-10 time of 9:40:11, and an excellent 30min pb over his previous 2016 race. Also recording a significant pb was 3rd Carnegie to finish Iona Mackay, also knocking 30mins off her 2016 race with a time of 10:07:09.
Meanwhile, after cutting his ultra teeth at the Glen Ogle 33, Alan McGowan successfully upped the distance to complete in 10:57:04, an awesome time for his first attempt at this tough event. Also having her first attempt at this race was Lesley Halstead, who had a good day to cross the line in 12:55:13, closely followed by Jennifer Smith also running her first Fling in a time of 13:02:27.
As no strangers to the Highland Fling, it was great to see Fiona Rennie and Pauline Walker continue to represent the club at this event, running their 7th and 6th Flings respectively. Both ran the route together, crossing the line in 13:35:54 (Fiona) and 13:35:55 (Pauline). Also running together were Paul Foster and Avril O'Donnell, Paul using his extensive experience of this event to pace first-timer Avril to a time of 13:53:15, a great step up for Avril after her successful D33 in 2017.
Excellent perfomances from our Ultra-Running contingent, and certainly plenty to be optimistic about as we move further into 2018.
Photos courtesy of Fiona Rennie and Graeme Hewitson at Monument Photos (used with permission).
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