Haddies' hot day at home and abroad

Applying the sun cream and continuing his recent good form was C. McKie, the first Haddie home, earning himself a distance personal best in 40.33.

Other Haddies competing were J. Baillie 42.40, G. Halliday 43.14, G. Findlay 43.55, E. Anderson 45.08, J. Galloway 57.12 and the amazing Sandy Chalmers, 1st MV 80 in 1.09.44.

Last weekend had a European theme for a group of Haddies enjoying a long weekend in the town of Sameons in the French Alps. Tackling the Trail Decouverte, 18K/1100m of climbing were A. Cruickshanks 2hrs 13min, L. Knox 2.30, Y. Dehn 2.36, T. Knox 2.37, F. Cruickshanks 2.42, A Hall 2.46, P. Cruickshanks 2.47, R. Knox 3.03, G. Hay 3.37.

On the Tour Du Giffre, 33K, 2250m were Thomas Knox 4.21, J. Knox 4.23, E. Anderson 5.17, J. Hay & D. Hay 7.18.

Verticale du Criou, 2.88K/1450m a vertical hill race, all climbing with no downhill – T. Knox 1hr 20min and E. Anderson 1hr 37min.

Much closer to home, Jennifer Gallagher headed to Glenrothes last Tuesday to compete in the Chilly Willy Trail Race, covering the 4 mile route in 39.16.

On Thursday evening, the popular Sandy Slither race took place. Starting in Lower Largo and following the coastline to Elie, it involves a burn crossing and a hair-raising descent around the cliffs at Shell Bay before a beach finish.

Another Grand Prix race resulted in a great turnout of 23 Haddies. A few performances to mention among the results were N. Smith 37.56 and 1st MV40. Once again, having a great run was C. McKie 42.14, 1st MJ. Three Haddie ladies completing a hat-trick in the FV50 category were P. Cruickshanks 55.40, T. Knox 55.42 and A. Hall 56.19.

A sell-out race every year with approximately 1000 runners is the Black Rock 5, a tough out and back race starting in Kinghorn and heading on to the beach. The runners aim for the Black Rock, the turning point of the race. N. Smith 39.53 and T. Chalmers 43.50.

Saturday saw the local Falkland Hill Race, which starts in Falkland and has runners negotiate East Lomond a short but steep race.

A Knox family day out saw Thomas 2nd overall in 23.12, Jonny 3rd overall in 23.25, Lizzie 28.55 and Tracy 33.18 .

Further afield, Duncan Hall who now lives in Australia took part in the Surf Coast Trail Half Marathon near Melbourne in 1hr 46min.

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In a busy week of racing, Mike Reilly took on Lairig Ghru, a mountain marathon run over 43km following the route of an old drovers’ road between the police stations of Braemar and Aviemore. Mike completed this challenging race in an impressive 4hrs 49mins.

Training this week is a recce of the Largo Law Race route, meeting at the Cruickshanks for 6.30pm.