Athletics: Irvine Moor races

Dec 12 2008 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

Hundreds turn out for Irvine Moor races

IRVINE Athletic Club hosted one of the biggest events on the sporting calendar on Saturday when more than 500 runners competed in the Scottish Cross Country West District Championship over Irvine Moor.

The course was laid by the local Ayrshire Harriers team lead by Jim Young and Bob Reid, and this year the venue was switched from the Beach Park because it is more sheltered.

Irvine AC Seniors had a strong turn out for this years event with 16 runners from the club competing in the Men's and Women's event.

Conditions at the moor were cold with the going slightly hard over the fast six-mile course and once again Shettleston Harriers were the favourites with Kilbarchan hoping for an upset.

Irvine's Alex Allardyce got off to a flyer and ran a brilliant race finishing in 27th place overall and taking third Vet in 33 minutes 50 seconds, and also producing a great run was Pat Cullinane, just ten places behind in 37th in 34.46.

The best head to head came from Douglas Connery and Billy Richardson who were neck and neck on the last leg before Douglas just edged out Billy at the finish as the pair came home 40th and 41st respectively, clocking 35.21 and 35.22.

Colin Miller ran consistently well to pick off runners and come 54th in 35.55 and George Irving, trying to shake off the effects of a head cold, managed to fight off the fast-finishing Brian Craig for 64th place in 36.29 with Brian one place behind in 36.33 mins.

Ian Berryman came in 76th in 36.53 after a solid run, also running well on the day were John Moore 121st in 39.42, Alastair McFarlane 133rd in 41.15, Jim Sneddon 137th in 41.24, Mike Flinn 174th in 45.12 and Bob Nicol 180th in 46.29.

Irvine finished a credible fifth team with their first six finishers counting.

As expected the winners were a very strong Shettleston Harriers outfit which fielded a cosmopolitan line-up consisting of three Eritreans, two Sots and a Russian, with Kilbarchan in second spot.

Irvine women tasted success, finishing fourth Vet team and 12th overall, with Helen Morton in 42nd place,Liz McGarry 55th and Mary Miller 66th.

There were some excellent displays from the Irvine youngsters too with Kian Douglas and Gordon Wilson running in the U13 boys, race over the 3000m course.

Kian finished an impressive 15th in 12.16 and with more consistent training could do well at the Nationals in February while Gordon finished 46th in 13.48 and can only improve as he catches up on his training after recovering from injury and illness.

U17 woman Sarah Munn had a terrific run finishing eighth in 17.33 and is also looking forward to improving her performances over the coming months.

Finally U17 man Lee Wilson finished 15th in 22.20 over the 6400m course.

For information on club activities contact Bill Simpson on 01292 270317 or e-mail billsimpson@uku.co.uk

Irvine AC have the annual Cyclists v Harriers and the Christmas Handicap races coming up later this month.