Cyclists vs Harriers 18/12/11

Doof!!!! Fell a stoater 2 days before this one so wasnt sure if i would make it due to sare knees ,ribs etc.Actually felt alright on the day but didnt have as good a run as last week.5th runner to finish....good training if nothing else! If its as icy for the Turkey trot on boxing day as it was today will give it a miss!

West District Cross Country Champs 10/12/11

A good day ,for myself and for the club .Finished 25th in a strong field and ,with David 12th place and Alex 34th ,Irvine AC took 1st Vets prize from a very strong Cambuslang Team.My first race for 2 months so wasnt sure how i'd get on but knew training had been going really well.Got a decent start and felt strong all the way .Got a few races over xmas now to sharpen up, back to Irvine Moor again next week for the Cyclists vs Harriers......

West Districts XC Relay Coatbridge 08/10/11

A decent enough run on a wet miserable day but the sore throat i had was to develope into a full chest infection straight after this .Probably shouldnt have run but hindsights a wonderful thing.......
Meant i missed the Ayrshires the next week...aaaaarghhhhh! Well done to Killie for winning .

George Cummings Relay 24/09/11

The worst i've ever felt going into a race! Came down with something after training at the club tuesday night and didnt run a step til i got to Houston on the Sat. Throw in James also being ill = no sleep for a few nights and an 8 hour warm-up courtesy of Royal Mail pre-race meant i wasnt expecting to be flying.Turns out i ran ok time wise but felt hellish.Jamie got us of to a great start in 4th place,handing over to David who had a stormer taking us up to 2nd.Pat then ran solid for the 3rd leg finishing 4th which i maintained . Never saw results so dont know how Irvines other 2 teams were placed but it was good to see George back racing again for the 1st time since Feb.McAndrews straight from work next week before the XC relays for the following 3 weeks.Luckily i've got time off for the West,Ayrshire and Scottish relays so will get a wee chance to run them fresh

Around Cumbrae 10.25 Mile Race 11/09/11

4th place in 57.20.Miles 5 to 9 in to the wind.Best ive felt in this race for many a year.Ran nearly all of it on my own but got into a good pace early on and didnt find the wind too much of a problem round the far side of the island.Anyway, won the Ayrshire 10 mile championship and was first vet.Irvine also were first Ayshire team .A weekend off next before the relays....

Marymass 10k 21/08/11

Looks like i'm the winner breaking the tape here( but its just a fault in the picture!) A decent enough run considering i've been on hols and not trained that hard since the Arran relay .5th place in 34.54 ........fastest for 5 years! Time to sharpen up for the relays.........

Arran Relay 23/07/11

Another boiling hot day in Arran! Luckily the strong headwind kept the temp down a bit on the 11.5 mile leg i ran (1st north) where i finished 3rd in 67.23 .Last minute call offs meant we had no chance of getting near eventual winners Central but the 6 who ran all had solid runs to finish 3rd team. 2nd race in a week for me and i felt it !

Irvine 5 Mile Race 18/07/11

Finished 7th in this one but didnt get a time as my watch didnt start but Jamie was 27.39 and i reckon i was 3-4 secs behind . Felt strong most of the way and was pretty happy with my Run. David Millar was clear winner and led Jamie ,Myself and Ian to the 1st team prize. Next up the Arran relay.....

Arran Half Marathon 03/07/11

Well that was a tough one ! When we were sitting in the car waiting to board the Arran ferry i was praying for rain ,or at least some cloud for a hour during the race and then a week of glorious sunshine, as we were on staying on the island on holiday after. Didnt work out like that....it was boiling by mid day,the hottest i can remember it being for this race since the first year i ran it in (gulp) 1994.
From that first year i ran (and blew up big time!) in 94, i think i ran this race every year til 2006, with mixed results.So not having ran here for 5 years i was really looking forward to it ,being injury free at last and having done some really decent training in the weeks leading up to it.

I felt pretty good in the first few miles but miles 6 to 8 over the moor were hellish due to the heat and the swarms of flies.Luckily when we turned back on to the string road for the 5 mile run in home there was just enough of a breeze to take the edge of the heat and i felt a lot better. I ended up 4th in 1.19.58. Would have been disappointed with that time before hand but i reckon conditions cost me a few minutes (dont think i've ever ran well when its really warm).Was first vet 40 and didnt realise til after it was also the Ayrshire Half Championship so get that as well.

PS- James Richardson made his competitve debut the following Saturday at the Shiskine Sports day in the under 2s race. A stumble 2 metres into the race (and the fact he cant walk yet)cost him gold but he'll be back next year to avenge this defeat!

Ruby Young 5K 12/06/11

One step forward,two steps back etc etc.....another virus meant losing a weeks training so had only been back running a few days before this race and wasnt feeling 100%. So this was as tough as i expected .Lots of ups and downs made it hard to get into a rythmn and my legs felt heavy and tired.Had Pat from the club not far in front of me most of the way and finished 6th to his 5th ,with a time of 17.50ish. Photo by Kenny Phillips

Land O' Burns 10k 25/05/11

Finished 3rd in 35.21.Went through 5k in 19mins and thought i was having a nightmare.Turned out the kilometer markers were out(phew!) .Wet and windy night so all in all not a bad run considering i ran most of it on my own. Photos by Kenny Phillips

Ormidale10k - Arran 17/04/11

After losing a few weeks with the flu i was just happy to get a race in and feel reasonably strong (if not fast!) Great conditions ,warm with a breeze.Finished 1st in 35.30 .Hopefully take a bit of time off that over the next few races

West District XC Cumnock 1996 Video

More Sky Scottish footage ,this time from Dec 1996 .Brian craig ,Colin Miller and Jim Stevenson shown climbing one of the hellish hills.Think i finished 9th and just scraped into the West team for the Inter-Counties the following month.

Edinburgh to Glasgow 1996 Video

This Footage of the E2G was filmed by ,the short lived ,Sky Scottish Channel back in 1996.Colin Miller ,Myself and Jim Stevenson can be spotted( slo-mo change over between Jim and i on legs 3 and 4!)

Irvine got back into the E2G in 1992 after a 35 year absence and made the 20 team line up from then til the race was scrapped .After a baptism of fire in the 92 race we steadily got better (or did everyone else get worse?)year after year

Scottish Veterans Road Relay 30th Jan 2011

Well what a way to start life in Veterans athletics! 3 weeks after my 40th birthday i ran as part of the relay team at the Scottish vets road relay .After George's fine first leg i ran 2nd and felt better than i thought i would after only 3 weeks proper training .At the end of my leg we were sitting 4th before David blitzed round the 3rd leg in the fastest time of the day.Alex had another great run on the last leg to hold the lead and win us the title.