Four Harriers embarked on the short trip east to take part in the newly named Kirkintilloch Festival of Running, hosted by Kirkintilloch Olympians. After the successful trial of having the Neil McCover Half Marathon and Kirkintilloch 12.5k on the same day last year, both races were once again staged in February as opposed to at opposite ends of the year as it has been previously. Of the three taking part in the McCover only James had done the race before, but neither he, nor Derek or I had tried the new route introduced in 2024. The route for the Kirky was also changed slightly last year, but our only representative in that race, Linda, had ran it last year and was the only returning member from last year’s 3rd placed female team. Unlike the rest of James, had sensibly dipped out of running the Club XC Champs the previous day in order to keep himself fresh in the hopes of continuing the brilliant form he has been showing recently with PBs all over the place.
The half and the 12.5k follow an identical start before a T-junction where the 12.5 go left and the half go right to do a bit of extra distance before then taking that left turn when they come around again. Now, part of me thinks that we should’ve taken that left turn first, purely down to the fact that the mile markers seemed to be vastly out from what they should’ve been which meant we were flying a little blinder than we would’ve maybe been otherwise. That being said, none of us got lost and as always the organisation of the race itself was brilliant, so thank you to Kirkintilloch Olympians for staging the race.
The half set off at 10:45, slightly delayed due to a late Portaloo arrival, with the 12.5k starting just 15 minutes later so it wasn’t long before the four of us were out on the hilly countryside roads around Kirkintilloch, surrounded by farmland most of the way and occasional smatterings of support from local residents. I set off with the intention of keeping at my planned marathon pace for the spring, with the target of a 90 minute half. Not knowing if this was achievable on as tough a course as this on paper, I went out conservative and sensible. All was going well, but then we hit an absolute killer of a hill about 10km in. Akin to Sandbank Street to quote a hills expert, it was energy sapping, we should expected it after winding downhill along a trail section through Kirkintilloch but it still knocked all three of us for six. We powered through though!
As we reappeared on paths we knew more fondly, we headed onto the newly added trail section from last year and began to catch the runners from the later starting race, all offering positive encouragement as we headed along the narrow paths and over the bouncy bridge over the M80. As the 12.5k-ers headed right towards the finish line, the half marathon-ers looped back round to encompass the trail section and the bridge one last time before then following the paths we came out along in the first place towards the finish line.
With 4km to go, I passed Linda and we offered each other some positive encouragement as we took on the final undulating section. Shortly after, James did the same and with the words shouted to him by Linda ‘Go and catch Finn!’ he pout the hammer down and pushed on in hunt of both a PB and me! However, subconsciously knowing that James was not going to be too far away, and not wanting a repeat of Balloch to Clydebank 2020, I picked up the pace for the final few kilometres, feeling strong and comfortable. The marathon training run plan went out the window, and it became a 4km drag race to the finish! Despite some spectators cutting across the finish ne in front of me, I manged to round them and get across the line in a time of 1:27:34, just a handful of seconds off a PB so a very pleasing performance. However, the real incredible performances were just a little further down the road.
I previously mentioned James’ incredible form of late, but on the drive over and at the start we had discussed that this wasn’t really a PB course so none of us really went out expecting anything. James though came absolutely storming towards the finish line, we were proving our past selves wrong, an absolutely incredible time of 1:31:10 and yet another PB to boot! Next across the line was Linda, another strong performance on a race the Harriers have previously represented well due to its inclusion in our Merit League, not as fast a time as previous years but a time of 1:10:39 is not to be sniffed at! Finally across the line was Derek, similar to myself he was taking this as a marathon training run, not necessarily looking for a PB on a hilly course, just looking to keep the mileage ticking over. Similar to the rest of us though, this went out the window on the closing straight. When a race has a flat 600m or so all the way to the finish its hard not to go full gas, which is exactly what Derek did, smashing his PB in a time of 1:36:22 in the process! Brilliant runs from all four of us, even if I do say so! Shoutout also to one-time Harrier James Winward running an incredible 48:36 in the 12.5k, even sported enough blue to get into the team photo!
Great running as always from the Harriers, onto the next race at the National XC Champs!
Kirkintilloch 12.5k
175th – Linda Sinclair, 1:10:39
Neil McCover Memorial Half Marathon
25th – Finn Boyd, 1:27:34
34th – James Prior, 1:31:10 PB
49th – Derek Muirhead, 1:36:22 PB
