Cambuslang Harriers were delighted to get stuck in to a real race at the end of last month as they took part in the Stirling Monument Mile Classic.
Nineteen of the club’s athletes took part on Friday, May 21, across different age groups, and the Central Athletics Club organisers put on 27 graded races to accommodate athletes, who were placed according to their personal best or estimated mile times.
Gavin Smith won his race in a personal best (PB) of 4.11.22, which was eight seconds faster than his performance last year.
Under-20 runner Chris McLew recorded 4.27.56 in the same heat.
Fellow under-20 Andrew Carey sliced three seconds off his PB with 4.28.43 and first-year under-20 Aaron Grew’s time of 4.31.42 was an improvement by 1.5 seconds.
Club captain Richie Carr took seven and a half seconds off with 4.37.77.
Stuart Gibson and Laurence Heyes, with respective times of 4.40.94 and 4.41.70, were short of their pbs.
Under-20 runner Ryan Donnelly missed breaking the five-minute barrier by two seconds, and newcomer Ian Hodge clocked in with 5.02.2.
First-year under-15 runner Sam McCarthy took 11.62 seconds off his 1500m pb on the way to 5.24.10 and there was only a .30 seconds time difference between u20 Keir Crawford (5.08.35) and M50 Mark Gallacher (5.08.35).
Club secretary, M60 Dave Thom, ran 5.45.85 while under-13 Olivia McNicol did well to sneak in under six minutes in 5.56.98.
M65 Frank Hurley acquitted himself well in recording 6.03.70, as did under-15 Lucy McGrandle in her debut mile time of 6.06.62.
Coach Iain Crawford, M50, (6.12.67) and his protégée, under-13 Emma Ritchie (6.14.72), were closely matched, with another of his charges in under-15 Emma Kennedy recording a debut time of 6.37.54
Cambuslang runners Iain MacCorquodale and Kieran Cooper ran in St Andrews University colours in the Maddy Moss Hill Ruin at Tillicoultry.
The testing 6.1-mile race involves a very steep ascent of 648 metres up Ben Cleuch, with a near-vertical plummet to the finish.
Cooper took seventh place with 52.52, while MacCorquodale finished 15th in 56.17.
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