Senior/U20 Event Report 9th June 2025

We are now in June, and it is safe to say that a LOT has happened since the last report – we have had athletes competing at all manner of events, including the small matter of Roon the Toon which was the biggest and best yet!

We start this week’s report with an omission from the last report – whilst EMF was top of the agenda for a lot of our athletes, the MOK runs were also happening in Campbeltown on the 25th of May.  In the 10k, Gordon Sandler was 48th overall (5th V50) in 47:27, and David Barbour was 108th overall (11th V50) in 52:23 – great running guys.

Friday the 30th of May saw the return of the ever-popular 3k on the Green – announced as the last race on the current course before changes are made that should make it even better!  Mark Alexander was our sole representative on this occasion, making it a good one by breaking the elusive 10 minute barrier with a 9:59 run in 9th place.  Also in Glasgow on the 30th, Crownpoint was the venue for the GAA Miler meet (incorporating the Scottish U17/U20 3000m champs), and a number of Harriers took advantage of fairly decent conditions and paced races on the evening.  Jennifer Beattie was first up in one of the early 800m races, posting 2:36.97.  Next up in the A race 800m of the evening was Jordan Phillips, who put in a strong effort for 4th place in a very close race in a season’s best of 1:52.93.  Moving onto the 3000m races Jamie Work was first up in blue and white, posting a 9:27.30 for 8th place.   In the next race, Laura Haggarty opened her track season the right way with a PB, posting 10:08.82 for 8th place.  Rounding up the evening back to the 800m distance, Matthew Monachello was 2nd in heat 4 with a time of 1:58.71 – well done all.

Sunday the 1st of June saw two of our top throwers travel to Loughborough to represent Scotland at the Pickering Memorial International throws meet in the shot put.  U20 athlete Logan Mitchell returned a fantastic PB of 16.19m to finish 4th U20 overall, and younger brother Rhian was not to be outdone – also recording a PB of 15.98m to finish 3rd U18.  Absolutely phenomenal throwing from these talented athletes and great to see them on the big stage.  Also on the 1st, Richard Beattie was in action in the Queen’s Park 5k in Glasgow where he finished 38th overall and 1st V70 in 27:12 – well done Richard!

Moving back to track, we had a number of athletes taking part in the second CSSAL league meet held at the AAA.  Although it was a breezy day to say the least, the rain held off for the best part and our team had some great results.  Final results have not been published yet, but a big well done to all of our senior squad – especially those picking up extra events!

Finally on the 1st, we head out to the hills where Roddie Pugh was running the Yetholm Hill Race where he completed the course in 121st overall and 1st V65 athlete – well done Roddie.

Moving on to the weekend just gone, it is safe to say it was a busy one!  We start off in the middle of Friday night, where we had 3 Harriers take part in the inaugural Ayrshire Coast Sunset Ultra marathon (50km).  It was an outright win for Graeme Quinn in 4:12:59, with Amanda Bryden taking 2nd lady (10th overall) in 5:23:09, and Ken Monaghan rounding up the results with a 28th place finish in 5:58:56.  Amazingly, all three of these athletes also went on to complete Roon the Toon on Sunday – you’re all nuts!  Speaking of Roon the Toon, WHAT A DAY!!!! Huge thank you to Gebbie and the team who pulled off the best one yet, as well as all the volunteers including our amazing junior section who did such a good job of bag packing and goodie bag/medal distribution on the day.  By my calculations, a total of 103 registered Harriers/KH Jog Squad athletes took on the course with PBs aplenty.  We obviously cannot mention everyone here, but full results can be found HERE.  However, there were some real highlights with 7 athletes making the top 3 of their respective age categories – Eve Starritt was 1st U17 and Charlotte Gebbie was 3rd U17, Matthew Monachello was 2nd U20 and Jamie Work was 3rd U20, Laura Haggarty was 3rd FV40, Izzy Caufield was 3rd U20 and Ronnie McCormick was 3rd V80.  A further 11 athletes all made top 10 in their categories also.  From a team perspective, the standard was exceptional this year with it being a Scottish Championship but we more than held our own with our first 3 ladies home Laura Haggarty (37:30), Lorna Baird (38:37) and Katrine Kelly (38:51) taking the Scottish silver medal and our first 3 men Martin Brown (31:48), Jonathon Downey (32:45) and Craig Ferguson (33:58) taking Scottish bronze – absolutely outstanding effort from all!  

Whilst our road runners were burning it up around Kilmarnock, we also had athletes at Grangemouth for match 3 of the SNAL.  Brooke Dunlop was 3rd in the sprint hurdles with 15.63s and in high jump action for 2nd in her category with 1.40m, following this up with a 9.56m in the shot for 3rd in her category – great day Brooke with loads of points scored!  We generally do not report on our U17s but a big well done to all of the younger athletes who scored loads of points on the day also.

In the summer league tables, there has been a little bit of movement – Kat Kelly retains her spot at the top for the ladies with 56 points, Kirsty Girvan is in 2nd with 37 points and Laura Haggarty moves into 3rd with 30.  There are 4 other athletes within 5 points though so lots still to play for!  For the men, Matthew Monachello stays on top with 57, with Owen Walpole in 2nd with 39 and Mark Alexander hot on his heels with 38.  The next races are the Kilmaurs 5k and the Dundonald 10k – get your entries in if you haven’t done so already!  Remember that your best Parkrun will also count, this little gap in races could be the ideal time to get a run in! See the full tables here summer 2025 (3)