The sun was shining for todays Baxters Festival of Running and many club athletes took advantage of the warm dry conditions to post some impressive PBs.  Even Charlie Bannerman was seen smiling at one point, but only momentarily!

In the marathon athletes enjoyed glorious conditions with the Loch looking impressive (not that many were enjoying the scenery). Harley Davidson, Andy Shepherd, Liz Forbes, Liz Gray and club president Keith Geddes all had great runs with Andy Shepherd(4.20.06) and Keith (3.53.49) posting excellent times in their first marathon.  Top running everyone.  All marathon finishers get free entry into next weeks Thurso cross country as a bonus for their efforts.  Nice work.

In the 10k Sarah Liebnitz had a storming run finishing 3rd in the female category with a PB performance of 37.45.  Interviewed after the race Sarah said “I’ve been struggling to break 38 minutes but Monday afternoon sessions of British Bulldogs at Lochardil School have proved to be the key, i’d recommend them to everyone”.  Well said Sarah.

Alison Wilson (41.28) and Jodie Lynch (38.24) also posted PBs coming home well under their previous best.  Fiona MacRitchie also impressed with a 41.05 and Margaret Woodhouse had a great run for a 56.14. Roma Shepherd (41.08) ran well but looked exhausted from the constant Marathon chat she has had to endure since husband Andy entered the race back in May.

Donnie “The Don” Macdonald finished 5th overall  in a tremedous 32.43 which took almost a minute off his PB.  From memory this is the fastest 10k time by a club athlete in over 10 years although club oracle and newly appointed membership secretary Charlie Bannerman will have to be consulted for clarification. Jonny Macleod put the disappointment of Dyke behind him with a PB of 36.24 to finish 29th. Newcomer Andy Hall also PB’d going under 40 mins for the first time. Evergreen Alex Sutherland won the V60 category with an impressive 40 mins dead beating hundreds of runners more than half his age.  In the battle of the V40s Ross Nixon narrowly edged out Tom McWilliam who had recently destroyed Nixon around the track in the Club Championships.  Tom was unavailable for comment after the race but sobbing was heard from the back of a black VW van close to the finish line.

There were many gold and maroon vests on show and it was great to see so many runners out representing the club.  Well done everyone.

Some photos of todays races are available HERE

Full Results of all races are HERE