Fife Athletic Club/Kirkcaldy Wizards: Miller’s time of 31:16 is enough to head Fife AC contingent at Tilli 10k race

Hot on his heels and earning a top 10 ranking in a high calibre field, was Michael Sanderson, who achieved a time of 31:46.

There was also an excellent run by Ben Kinninmonth, who achieved a dazzling

time of 34:05, to better his course PB by over a minute. Earning a distance PB and hot on Kinninmonth's

heels was French maestro Thomas Gambino, who achieved an excellent distance PB of 34:26.

Fife AC's Mike MacDonald produced a powerful run of 36:17. This author achieved a 29 second 10k

distance PB, with a time of 36:38. There were also stellar runs for Fife AC duo James Hall ( 37:09) and

Daniel Hale (37:11). Fife AC lady Kerry Gibson achieved an excellent distance PB, with a time of 38:21.

There was also a well earned course PB by Andy Harley, who ran a time of 41:41. Tony Martin once

again achieved a well deserved podium position, running a superb 42:29, which earned first place in the

male 70-74.

Andrew Neenan achieved a 10k distance PB, with a superb 43:42 time. Ruan Van Rensburg was also in

fine form, to achieve a time of 44:47. Club mate Christian Harding finished in close proximity in 44:45.

Ruan technically crossed the finish line first in a faster gun time but Christian's chip time was faster by a

nose but both still produced superb runs.

Cara Murdoch, hot off the heels of a 5k distance PB of 23:25 at St.Andrews Parkrun on Christmas Day,

achieved a stellar sub 48 10k distance PB of 47:58. This was the perfect birthday present for Murdoch,

who was wished a happy birthday by the PH Racing Club announcer.

Margaret Martin was another Fife AC runner who earned a place on the podium, finishing in first place in

the 65-69 female category, with a time of 50:27. Keith Bonthrone produced a strong run, to cross the line

in 51:55.

There was also several stand out performances by Wizards. Shirley Bremner ( 52:04), Diane Selkirk (

53:17) and Jillian Stevenson ( 53:26) all had strong runs. It was a fantastic family day out for the

Stevenson team, with husband Craig (53:11) and daughter Lucy (59:16) also running the Tilli 10k, to give

them their first running family day out together. Kerry McGregor (54:34) rounded off an excellent

graduation year of running in style. Susan Young ( 55:59) and Chris Payne (59:55) finished the year in

fine fettle.

Team Turner was out in force with daughter Mollie ( 1:00:56) and dad Nickie ( 1:03:29) achieving PBs,

with son Charlie ( 56:38) and Mum Shona ( 1:01:20) also in action. All the more impressive when you

consider the Turners also completed the run 5k or run for 25 minutes every day of December Marcothon

challenge. There was also a superb run for Carol Budd ( 1:01:25), who also achieved a 10k PB. There

were also strong runs produced by Jill Watson ( 1:02:31) and Laura Roy ( 1:04:03). Pamela Dobson was

another lady graduating summa cum laude from Couch to 5k in the summer of 2023, producing a gusty

and determined performance to cross the finsh line in 1:09:14.

Other standout performances in perfect conditions on the route alongside the stunning River Devon between Tillicoultry and Dollar, (Fife AC members unless stated) were: 5. Owen Miller 31:16, 8. Michael Sanderson 31:46, 29. Ben Kinninmonth 34:05, 32. Thomas Gambino 34:26, 61. Mike MacDonald 36:17, 68. Rolf Gunnemann (Kirkcaldy Wizards) 36:38, 76. James Hall 37:09, 77. Daniel Hale 37:11.

Three days earlier, at the traditional Boxing Day Handicap contested over a 1.33-mile lap of the Beveridge Park, 57 runners of all ages competed for the Sandilands trophy and Presidents steak pie.

The race winner was Lucas Lafferty in 9.03, with other results being: 2. Finn Harley 13.12, 3. Jacob Tasker 13.53, 4. Allen Tasker 13.56, 5. Marcus McFarlane 7.44, 6. Paul Harkins Jun 8.33, 7. Paul Harkins Sen 8.14, 8. Harris Piotrowicz 8.38, 9. Kevin Wallace 6.49, 10. Ben Kininmonth 6.41, 11. Reiss Marshal 6.42, 12. Holly Ovens 7.23, 13. Fraser Lees 7.24, 14. Katie Sandilands 7.25, 15. Stephanie Pennycook 7.08, 16. Jeff Waters 8.29, 17. Nieve Hannell 8.31, 18. Millie Ovens 8.32, 19. Erin Robertson 10.16, 20. Gabriel McEwen 8.07, 21. Ben Sandilands 6.11, 22. Isla Gourlay 7.57, 23. Daniel Szafarz 11.20, 24. Kasia Szafarz 11.21, 25. Graeme Barker 9.52, 26. Stephen Dickson 8.26, 27. John Kininmonth 9.57, 28. Callum Husband 7.33, 29. Felix Watters 10.06, 30. Vicki Laing 10.06, 31. Michelle Johnstone 9.38, 32. Lee Cessford 10.09, 33. Joe Kininmonth 8.36, 34. Ariane Baillie 8.29, 35. Greg Wilson 8.56, 36. Mitchell Tasker 10.54, 37. Violet Tasker 11.46, 38. Jamie Husband 11.01, 39. Jessica Husband 11.02, 40. Stephen McEwen 9.20, 41. Caroline Parkinson 11.55, 42. James Pennycook 9.05, 43. Scott Hutson 11.40, 44. Liam Hutson 11.41, 45. Dominic Szafarz 12.13, 46. Sean Halliday 10.45, 47. George Hughes 11.33, 48. Sandy Bell 13.01, 49. Heather Kinninmonth 13.32, 50. Erin Kinninmonth 13.33, 51. Connor McGill 13.34, 52. Amanda Jarvis 12.45, 53. George MacDonald 12.30, 54. Christine Jureki 12.57, 55. Katie Russell 14.38, 56. David Russell 14.39, 57. Sarah McEwen 14.02.

It was then a fantastic weekend for Liam Hutson as he finished first at Saturday’s home Kirkcaldy Parkrun, running 16:55, before also coming first at the same venue on New Year’s Day in an even quicker time of 16:24.

Youngster Austin Lalande, son of Fife AC runners Hilary and Eric, ran a parkrun PB of 35:58.

On New Year's Day at the same venue, yours truly Rolf Gunnemann finished third in 18:05.

Three Wizards got their 2024 off to a flyer by running Kirkcaldy Parkrun PBs. Shirley Bremner ran 28:04, Kirsty Jurecki 32:04 and Maxine Lee 32:11.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Wizards Chris Payne (29:54), Claire Jurecki (32:40), Sandra Pirie (34:28), Pamela Dobson (35:06) and Michaela Sullivan (54:45) ran Loch Leven Parkrun. Andy Harley (22:05) and Graham Keddie (29:22) made the trip to Dunbar for Lochend Woods Parkrun, while Derek Adamson (40:07) ran West Links Parkrun in Arbroath. Jennifer Hodgson (40:16) ran at Holyrood Parkrun.

The Sandilands family turned out in force at the Aviemore Parkrun. Ben Sandilands finished in first place in a blistering 16:06, with Katie Sandilands taking first female in a speedy 19:21.

Claire Sandilands ran a superb time of 28:08, paced expertly by husband Rory.

Venturing South of Hadrian's Wall, Lynn Godsell ( 34:09) completed Town Moor Parkrun in Newcastle.

Claire Doak (30:44) ran the Princes Parkrun in Liverpool. Calum Reid ( 21:57) and Niamh Gibbons (27:55) took advantage of a city break to Rome, to run the Roma Pineto Parkrun.

By far the furthest travelling Wizard though was Heather Finlayson, who ran Airlie Beach Parkrun, which is located near the stunning Great Barrier Reed, in a time of 28:40.

On New Year's Day, Fife AC's Alistair Gudgin finished in first place at Dunfermline Parkrun in 16:45.

Derek Adamson (40:06) also opted for Pittencrieff as his Ne'er Day Parkrun of choice. Sam Fernando of Fife AC finished first at Loch Leven Parkrun in 18:13. There was a course PB of 19:36 for Stephen Horrocks-Birss.

Jennifer (29:27) and Ken (37:52) Morris also ran at Loch Leven, as did Wizard Nick Brian (29:44).

On New Year's Day, Paul Harkins took on the challenge of the New Year's Day Triathlon at Holyrood.

Paul completed the 55-yard swim in 10:23, completed a 10 mile cycle in 47:54 and finished with a 6km run around Holyrood Park, which he completed in 27:12.

These times when combined with transition times gave Paul a superb overall finishing time of 1:33:41.