Senior/U20 event report 25th April 2025

It feels like no time at all since our last report, but a lot has been going in in the last few
weeks! The outdoor track and field season has well and truly kicked off, and we have
already had the first of our summer road league races. As usual there is a LOT of good
news to report – however please let us know if we’ve missed anything!

We start this week’s report on the track at the first CSSAL match of the year, held on a
glorious spring day at Crownpoint on Sunday the 6 th of April. As reigning champions this is
one we would hope to have big numbers at – unfortunately we were a little light on
U20/seniors on the day but there were still some amazing performances. On the track, our
ladies started the day well in the 3000m race with Morgan McBurnie 3 rd in the A race in
11:35.06, Eilidh Ballantyne 2 nd in the B race in 11:58.30 and Kat Kelly taking top points in the
Masters race in 11:08.25. In the 400m, Eve Starritt ran her first ever race over this distance
in a scorching 61.96s in the A race for 6 th , which was backed up in the B race by Orla Duff
taking 7 th in 70.18s. For the men, Robert Lindsay was 8 th in the A race in 58.69s. In the
100m, Orla Duff stepped up to the plate to run as a late replacement, finishing in 7 th in
15.47s. Unfortunately we had no masters ladies able to compete. For the men, Robert
Lindsay once again lines up in the senior ranks to finish 8 th in 13.28s, whilst in the masters
section Ally Craig was 3 rd in the A race in 13.55s and Douglas Dickson was 3 rd in the B race
in 14.10s. In the 800m, Eve Starritt was 4 th in 2:32.95 in the A race, and Izzy Caufield was
2 nd in the B race in 2:43.26, and for the senior men Adam Todd took on his first 800m
finishing 6 th in 2:17.62. In the masters section, Mark Alexander was 4 th in the A race running
2:24.26 and David Anderson was 2 nd in the B race running 2:33.78. Out on the field, for the
senior men Ally Craig was joint 6 th in the high jump with 1.35m, then following this up with 4 th
in the B section of the javelin (19.6m). In the A section, Robert Lindsay was 5 th with a throw
of 23.56m. For the ladies it was a clean sweep in the high jump, with Brooke Dunlop
winning the A category with 1.51m and Laura Mitchell clearing 1.41 in the B category.
Brooke then also took the maximum points in the A section javelin with 36.62m, and Laura
was 3 rd in the B section with 13.88m. As a club taking all age groups into account we are
currently lying 4 th in the league – hopefully we can claw this back over the next two meetings.

The following weekend (13 th April) saw the first event of the season at the AAA – the opening
match of the SNAL. The weather was a bit up and down throughout the day, but our athletes
returned some really solid performances both in track and field events. On the track,
Matthew Monachello was 3 rd in the men’s 800m A race with 1:59.26s. Now moving up to
U20 events, Eve Starritt set a superb PB in the women’s B race 800m for 2 nd place in 2:23.97
– well done on the PB Eve! In the women’s 100m, U20 athlete Molly Hunter was 8 th in the A
race with 13.64s, and Brooke Dunlop was 6 th in the B race also in 13.64s! Next up on the
track was the mile for the men, where we had a strong showing from U20 Jamie Work
finishing 2 nd in 4:41.69, Connor Scobie (U20) 5 th in 4:57.54 and senior Ross Granger 8 th in
5:03.93. For the ladies, senior Morgan McBurnie earned valuable points for 11 th in 5:50.44.
In the 400m events Eve Starritt earned her 2 nd PB of the day, running 61.73s for 5 th in the A
race. For the men, Matthew Monachello was back in action running 53.84s for 6 th in the B
race. Moving to the field events, there was even more success! In the long jump Brooke
Dunlop was 3 rd with 5.20m, and in the discus Kirstie Donovan was 7 th with 24.13m. Moving
onto the men’s shot, Logan Mitchell dominated with a 14.39m effort. In the women’s shot
Brooke Dunlop was back in action, with a 9.22m effort good enough for 3 rd overall. Finally, in
the men’s hammer, Logan Mitchell took maximum points with 53.19m. As a result of all of
these performances (as well as those of our outstanding U17 athletes) we currently sit in 3 rd
place overall – a great achievement given that we are competing against the biggest and
best clubs in Scotland!

Also on the 13 th , we had three athletes travel through to Clydebank for the DAAA 10 mile
road race (incorporating the West District 10 mile champs). First home and with 2 west
district medals to show for her efforts (3 rd senior lady and 2 nd V40 lady) was Kat Kelly
(1:03:53), followed by Eilidh Ballantyne (1:12:52) and Izzy Caufield (1:14:58) – great running
from all three ladies, well done!

Tuesday the 15 th saw the first of the Linwood Open Graded meetings, where our sole
representative Mark Alexander had his second attempt at the 800m distance for a PB
(2:21.73) and 5 th in heat 6 on the night – well done Mark, sub 2:20 in the post…

On Wednesday the 16 th , 4 intrepid Harriers headed to the hills for the first of the Bog and
Burns series 2025 – the Kaim Hill race at Fairlie. Conditions were somewhat challenging,
but our team put on a great show. Mike Corson was first back in 41:33 in 47 th overall and 3 rd
V60. Roddie Pugh was next back in 44:52 in 69 th overall (7 th V60). Susan Ballantyne was
80 th overall in 48:28 (2 nd FV50) and Mhairi Ballantyne rounded up the results in 91 st overall in
53:09 and the prize for 1 st U20 – well done all, hope you enjoyed your Easter egg Mhairi!

Saturday the 19 th saw the return of the Flat n Fast 5k at Linlithgow – an event which is
getting ever more popular due to the PB potential course and seeded races. We had a total
of three athletes taking on this challenge, with two of our U20 men out first in race 3. Jordan
Phillips ran a PB of 15:47.1 to take 41 st place, and Jamie Work was 70 th with 16:18.4. In race
6 Eilidh Ballantyne scored her first ever and very well deserved sub 20 5k to finish 8 th overall
and 2 nd lady in race 6 with a cracking 19:37.8. Great racing from all, we love to see PBs!

Wednesday just gone saw the first of our summer league races, with 30 registered
Kilmarnock Harriers participating for points. Full results are available here as unfortunately
we just do not have the space to report on everyone, but we took no fewer than 6 category
wins and 11 top 3 category places in total, as well as both team prizes – we think it’s safe to
say we dominated the first of the Ayrshire championship events of the season! Our category
winners and top 3 athletes were as follows: Matthew Monachello 1 st overall and 1 st U20,
Laura Haggarty 1 st lady (6 th overall) and first V40, Owen Walpole 2 nd overall and 1 st senior
man, Mark Alexander 8 th overall and 1 st V40, Lorna Baird 2 nd lady (13 th overall) and 1 st senior
lady, Izzy Caufield 1 st U20, Mark Lynch 2 nd V40, Kat Kelly 2 nd V40 and 3 rd lady, David
Anderson 3 rd V50, Mike Corson 2 nd V60, and Richard Beattie 2 nd V70. Huge well done
though to absolutely everyone who took part – it was great to see a sea of blue and white
(and lilac!). League tables have now been set up and are attached here summer 2025 – if you spot any
errors please let us know!

Attention now turns to the track for the Scottish Open and Ayrshire Open Graded this
weekend, as well as the small matter of a few slightly longer races happening this weekend
– good luck to everyone competing at London, Manchester, Blackpool or in the Highlands!