Marathon effort for Kirkcaldy Wizards and Fife Athletic Club on busy weekend

Clubmate Tony Martin was first male 70 in 1:28:43 and Hilary Ritchie and Jocelyn Scott were first female 60 and first female 70 respectively in 1:37:42 and 2:03:24.

Rory Scott (1:13:25), Russell Hall (1:14:01) and Jamie Lessels (1:14:14) were also in flying form and there were also landmark accomplishments by Kirkcaldy Wizards members.

Ben Kinninmonth achieved a fantastic half marathon sub-78 minutes PB, running a blisteringly quick time of 1:17:09. Thomas Gambino was only four seconds behind with an outstanding 1:17:13.

Kevin Wallace ran 1:18:04, with Gordon Stanford managing 1:19:39.

There were also fantastic speedy times for Halina Rees (1:22:54), Daniel Hale (1:23:01) and James Hall ( 1:23:19).

Bryce Aitken finished the course in 1:28:11, Andy Harley broke the sub-90 barrier with an outstanding PB of 1:29:22, while Sean Brown recorded 1:30:24, Paul Harkins 1:33:34 and Michaela McLean 1:33:43.

There was also a PB for Alison Sutherland, who – locked in a battle with fellow Fife AC lady Eleanor Smith - achieved 1:34:24, with Stephen Dickson running 1:34:55.

Laura Muir and Andrew Neenan ran 1:38:24 and 1:38:25 respectively, while Craig

Stokes improved on his 2022 Inverness half marathon by two-and-a-half minutes in a course PB time of 1:38:51.

Ryan Campbell-Hodge recorded 1:39:08, with other notable performances by Fife AC athletes Keren Macpherson (1:40:36), Hendrik Van Rensburg (1:41:53), Dave

Morton (1:43:13), Simon Fox (1:44:24) and Margaret Martin (1:47:51).

Linzi Shand recorded 1:43:36, and there was a PB for Jimmy Robertson in 1:46:09, while coaches Michelle Johnstone and Karen Richards managed 1:50:41 and 2:08:16 respectively.

Sandra Aitken ran 1:50:50, Dorota Park managed 2:01:46 and equally strong were Eleanor Murray (2:03:28) and Mark Gowans (2:09:56).

At Alloa Half Marathon, this author Rolf Gunnemann achieved a sub-80 half marathon PB time of 1:19:52, a seven minute and five seconds improvement from his previous best effort of 1:26:57 at the Dundee Half Dram in July 2022. Gunnemann is aiming to run under three hours at the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday, May 28, a race he will be running on behalf of The Social Bite.

Fife AC lady Janet Dickson ran 1:27:48 for third female 40 in Alloa, with Graeme Syme managing 1:48:33, Stuart Goodfellow 1:52:18 and Kevin McNab achieving a PB of 1:54:27.

Fife AC’s Leonard Rhone ran 1:55:02 while Lindsey Robertson finished in 1:58:37, Chris Payne produced a PB of 2:12:21, Cheryl Peebles crossed the line in 2:17:15 and Jim O'Neill ran 2:19:06.

On Friday, March 24, there will be a Wizards open meeting/social night at Kirkcaldy Golf Club between 7pm and 10pm, discussing all aspects of club training.

All are welcome, with new members getting the chance to ask questions.