Senior/U20 event round up 9th January 2025

First of all, a big Happy New Year to all of our athletes, coaches and supporters – here’s
hoping that we can make 2025 an even bigger and better year than 2024 (is that even
possible???). Your captains have been taking a well-earned break from race reporting over
the holidays, and the good news is that there is a LOT to catch up on to end 2024 on a high
and start 2025 with a bang!

We start off all the way back to the 14 th of December, where a select squad of our U20 and
senior athletes travelled to Linn Park in Glasgow for the first of two West League XC
matches, kindly hosted by Giffnock North who definitely have a sense of humour when it
comes to setting out XC courses… At West League men and women in both the U20 and
senior divisions run together, and a total of 157 athletes completed the somewhat undulating
(!) course on the day. First Harrier home in 2 nd place overall was Jonathon Downey who
finished just 6s behind the senior athlete who won the race – great running Jonathon! Next
back in 28 th was Tom Flood, followed by Ross McNaught in 51 st , Mark Alexander in 69 th , and
Nick Carter in 82 nd . For the ladies, Bethany Ross was first back in 117 th overall, followed by
Izzy Caufield (U20) in 120 th . The men’s team overall (U20/Seniors/Masters combined)
currently sit in 6 th place – unfortunately the ladies team gets penalised for having less than 4
runners but due to great runs from Bethany and Izzy are still 11 th in the table – it would be
great to see more ladies next time!

Also on the 14 th , the GAA Yuletide Open Graded took place at the Emirates. Alongside our
younger athletes, senior athlete Brooke Dunlop ran in the 60m Hurdles and posted a 10.07
run, and Adam Todd ran 8.02 in the flat 60m and followed this with a 25.69 in the 200m.
Matthew Monachello was in action on the round track, posting a solid 2:04.45 in the 800m –
great to see our seniors/U20s getting their indoor campaigns started.

Less than 24 hours later, a number of our seniors/U20s were out competing again, this time
at the Hugh Rankin Tribute Run incorporating our senior/U20 Christmas handicap. This was
held as a closed handicap in a slight departure from our usual format at the Dean Park on
Sunday the 15 th and a great number of members turned out to race, marshall or support! A
total of 35 runners competed the course, full results are available on the Harriers Facebook
page but our winners on the day were as follows: Fastest man – Jonathon Downey (16:54),
Fastest lady – Laura Haggarty (18:37) – points for the winter league will be allocated based
on overall times. From a handicap perspective, our overall winner was Matt Dodds who was
a whole 1:50 ahead of our esteemed handicapper, followed by Graeme Quinn who
squeezed 1:47 out of Mr Gebbie and finally Roddy Pugh who showed he’s just as effective
on the relative flat by being 1:21 ahead of the handicap. There were also some spot prizes
on the day, and the coffee and cake at the visitor centre definitely went down a treat!
Also on the 15 th but a little further afield and certainly enjoying better weather, John Speirs
and Eilidh Ballantyne were out in Malaga for the marathon and half marathon. Both athletes
delivered the goods, with a PB for John in the full marathon in 2:44:29, and a PB for Eilidh in
the half in 1:36:33 – great running from both!

Tuesday the 17 th saw two of our senior athletes head through to Edinburgh for the Blast at
the Meadows 5k. Mark Alexander was pleased with 13 th overall in 18:18 with a very
consistently paced race, and it was great to see Amy Mitchell back racing too, finishing 98 th
overall (27 th lady) in 27:17 – well worth the trip, with mulled wine and a mince pie an added
bonus.

Sunday the 22 nd of December was the next of the Falkirk Vics Open Graded at
Grangemouth, and Adam Todd was back in action in the 60m sprint finishing 2 nd in 7.99 in his

heat. Also in action indoors, Jennifer Beattie was at Manchester for the Sale Harriers Open,
running a 600 PB (1:47.29) making it a worthwhile trip.

Sadly Ayrodynamic were unable to host the traditional Boxing Day Turkey trot due to the
renovations at the Citadel, but we had some Harriers at the SBF Boxing Day Boomerang at
Dundonald. Unfortunately I am never able to find any results for these events so apologies if
you ran and I have missed you but going from socials I am aware that Jonathon Downey
took the win and a new course record, and I believe Graeme Quinn was 3 rd – well done guys
and big apologies to anyone I might have missed.

Sunday the 29 th saw John Speirs and Connell Drummond take part in the Tillicoultry 10k, a
race which is really gaining popularity for the fast out and back route. John was 95 th overall
and 5 th V45 in 36:29 and Connell was 202 nd and 11 th V50 in 41:27 – well done to both. Also
on the 29 th , Jennifer Beattie was on her travels again – this time to Sheffield to open up the
indoor 800m account, finishing 2 nd in her race in 2:31.89.

The 2 nd of January saw the next of our winter league events – the Beith Harriers 10k. This
was well supported by the club, with a total of 22 Harriers completing the slightly slippy
course. Once again, top honours went to Jonathon Downey who won the race in 32:53 – it
really has been some season for this talented young man! Next back for the men was Craig
Ferguson finishing in 3 rd overall in 35:28. Rounding up our top 3 men was Graeme Quinn
who was 5 th overall in 35:28. For the ladies, Kat Kelly was 1 st Masters lady and 2 nd female
overall in 40:43, followed by Amanda Bryden in 65 th overall (10 th lady) in 48:17 and Eilidh
Ballantyne in 72 nd overall (13 th lady) in 48:57. John Speirs took top V40 spot in 11 th overall
(36:44). Although we don’t usually report on our younger athletes, special mentions must go
to Jamie Work (U17) who was 1 st U17 athlete and 7 th overall in a cracking 35:50 and
Charlotte Gebbie (U17) who was 1 st U17 lady in 49:50.

Moving back indoors (what a relief in this freezing weather!) we had a number of athletes
competing in the Scottish 3000m championships at the GAA Miler Meet at the Emirates.
First up was Mark Alexander who finished 2 nd in his heat in 10:23.67. In the 2 nd race, we had
two harriers on the start line with U17 athlete Gregor Samson finishing 6 th in 9:53.64 and
Stephanie Hewitt 12 th in 10:07.12. Rounding up the Harriers presence at this very popular
event was Laura Haggarty who finished 2 nd in her race in a shiny new PB of 10:10.35. Whilst
the track events were taking place, the GAA New Year Bash for the field athletes was also
taking place, and making sure that the younger athletes didn’t get all the fun, Logan Mitchell
(U20) threw 14.01m in the shot. It was great to see our U15 and U17 athletes also
performing so well on the day.

From a league table perspective, we have had 3 scoring races since the last report and
things are hotting up! For the U20 ladies, Izzy Caufield retains her lead at the top of the
table with 61 points, with Mhairi Ballantyne still able to catch her with 46 currently. In third is
Jennie Munro with 14. For the senior ladies, Kat Kelly takes the lead with 73 points, with
Eilidh Ballantyne hot on her heels with 67. In third currently is Laura Haggarty with 37. For
the U20 men, Jonathon Downey holds an unassailable lead with 64 points, with Matthew
Monachello and Connor Scobie still tying for 2 nd with 23 apiece. The men’s table has seen
some movement, with Tom Flood currently in top spot with 51 points, and Nick Carter with 37
and Graeme Quinn on 34 not so far behind. There are also a couple in the high 20s who
could still make a bid for a podium finish at the end of the season – remember there are 3
races left to count! Full tables can be seen here – Winter points 24.5 (2)

Admin wise a few important points – ALL marathon and HM times must be submitted by
Monday the 13 th of January for inclusion in the summer tables, there will be no exceptions
made, you have all had plenty of reminders! After this we can FINALLY announce our
summer winners.

The next West League XC is on the 25 th of January at Strathaven – whilst this is not pre-
entry, it would be helpful if you could indicate attendance on TeamApp.
We will shortly be looking for names for the big one – National XC in Falkirk. Entries close
early for this so pay attention to the club social media!

Finally, we are starting to think about getting organised for the Allan Scally relays at the start
of March – watch out for details on how to get involved in the coming weeks.

Please let us know if there are any errors or omissions – we can’t fix them if you don’t speak
up!