Senior/U20 event report 8th January 2026

Happy new year to all of our athletes, coaches, volunteers and parents – let’s hope we can make 2026 the best one yet for Kilmarnock Harriers!  Our athletes certainly ended 2025 and entered 2026 on a high, and we have a lot of good news to share in our first report of the new year.

We start this week with a trip down to Manchester for Jennifer Beattie, who made the journey for her first indoor race this season a worthwhile one by securing a new 600m PB of 1:46.59.

Next up over the festive period was the SBF Boxing Day Boomerang.  Unfortunately I have not been able to track down the results for this event so apologies if I have missed anyone but from social media posts I am aware that Jonathon Downey took the win (breaking the course record in the process), Graeme Quinn was 3rd, and David McLure was 4th (1st V40).  Well done to anyone else who took part!

The 27th saw the return of the Ayrodynamic Turkey Trot which saw better weather than last year, and some slightly frosty conditions did not deter our athletes.  The morning started with the 5k race where we had 3 senior/U20s taking part.  Gregor Samson was 10th overall and 1st U20 in 21:06, Sophie Hepburn was 39th overall (7th senior lady) in 25:15 and Andrew Davie was 60th (2nd V50) in 30:27.  Well done also to our U11 athlete Mya Moore who was 3rd in her age category!

Meanwhile in the 10k race, a total of 25 Harriers put a toe on the line to compete for league points.  First back in 4th overall and 1st U20 was Jamie Work in a cracking 33:52. He was followed by John Speirs in 18th overall (1st V50) in 37:15.  Sasha I’Anson smashed her PB and was 1st lady overall in 39:10, followed by David Anderson in 27th (5th V50) in 39:46.  Our next lady home was Lynsey O’Connor who was 2nd lady overall and 1st V40 in 41:19, and rounding up our top 3 ladies on the day was Kirsty Girvan in 43:12.  Other age group top 3 athletes were Charlotte Gebbie (2nd U20), Susan Beattie (2nd V60), Alison Mair (3rd V60) and Hannah Connell (2nd V70).  All results can be found HERE – well done to everyone who took part.

The next day saw Connell Drummond compete in the Tillicoultry 10k where he finished 245th overall (15th V50) in 41:59 – well done Connell!

The 2nd of January was another cold one, but this did not deter 18 hardy Harriers from standing on the line at Beith for the Beith Harriers 10k.  First home and in 1st place was Jonathon Downey (31:52), followed by Graeme Quinn in 7th (36:27) and Josh McClymont in 19th (39:02).  For the ladies, first home was Morgan McBurnie in 3rd place lady overall (43:31), followed by Lauren Carter (50:24) and Emma Bain who was making her 10k debut in 50:44 and finished 1st U17.  Special mentions also to Charlotte Gebbie who was 2nd U17 and Hannah Connell who was 2nd V70, full results available  HERE– please note the results only have gun time so your times on this report may not reflect your chip!

The 4th of January was the first opportunity for national indoor medals at the GAA Indoor Miler Meet (inc the Scottish 3000m Championships) at the Emirates.  First out (this week wearing her Uni vest) was Eilidh Ballantyne who ran a huge PB of 11:20.81 to take 4th place in heat 1.  In heat 3, Laura Haggarty also delivered a PB, getting agonisingly close to that magic sub 10 mins in 10:01.43.  This was also fast enough to take the senior bronze medal – huge congratulations Laura!  Rounding up a clean sweep of PBs on the day, Jamie Work ran a fantastic 9:00.74 to finish 5th in heat 7 – what a great day for our Harriers athletes! 

Also on the 4th, Jennifer Beattie was back on the road – this time to Sheffield to open the 800m campaign for the season.  A time of 2:28.54 was good enough for 2nd in her race.

With another 2 league races completed, there is no change at the top of the men’s league with Jonathon Downey still in top spot with 89 points.  Greig Glendinning in now 2nd with 61, and John Speirs is 3rd with 55.  For the U20 men and women we still only have Jamie Work and Eve Starritt so no changes here.  In the women’s league Morgan McBurnie holds the lead with 57. Followed by Amanda Bryden in 45 and Jennifer Beattie in 44 – still plenty to play for!  You can see the full tables here – winter 25.6 tables (1)

The next events will be West League (1) at Strathaven on the 17th of this month, then West League (2) at Balloch on the 7th of February (this is still to be added back into the tables!), followed by the big one at Falkirk on the 21st of February.  The final league race (the Allan Scally relays) we are now taking names, please see the Harriers Facebook for more details or speak to Jennifer.