Cover photo – Gillian, Jim and Jemma at the Scottish 10k in Musselburgh

Parkruns

Congratulations to Karen Richards who set a new PB at St Andrews parkrun. Also well done to Karen’s son Callum who ran his first ever parkrun at Craigtoun Park in the amazing time of 21:30 and came first in his age category. At Carlisle it was a first ever parkrun for Willie Goodfellow in an excellent time of 23:57.

East Neuk 10k

The Anster Haddies annual 10k race is run on a fast flat out-and-back course through the countryside of the East Neuk of Fife with an enticing buffet waiting for the participants when they finish. Representing Leven Las Vegas Running Club were Chris Russell, Bryan McLaren, Bex Oakenfull, Karen Capewell and Gozde Ozakinci, who was making a welcome return to competitive running after a lengthy break.

Jeff Taylor and Peter Rieu-Clarke were running for Falkland Trail Runners on this occasion as it was an FTR championship event.

Race results:

• Chris – 2nd 35:35
• Bryan – 21st 38:49 PB
• Jeff – 82nd 44:23
• Peter -214th and 2nd MV70 56:35
• Bex – 218th 56:52 PB
• Karen – 244th 59:49
• Gozde – 274th 1:08:57

Scottish 10k

This event starts and finishes at Musselburgh Racecourse. Jim Dunstan and daughter Michelle were running together, while Gillian Hewitt and Jemma Guild were hoping to take advantage of the flat course to improve their previous best times for the 10km distance. It was mission accomplished with both ladies setting new personal best times, making it a fantastic four PBs for LLV girls this weekend including Karen at St Andrews parkrun and Bex at East Neuk 10k.

Race results:

• Gillian – 99th 45:11 PB
• Jemma – 362nd 53:54 PB
• Michelle – 1190th 1:14:31
• Jim – 1191st 1:14:32

Upcoming Events

Scottish Long Coastal Relays – Saturday 30 September

This event covers the Fife Coastal Path route from Kincardine to Newburgh, for a total distance of 116.7 miles. There are 6 relay legs along the way and the LLV runners are:

• Leg 1 – Chris – Kincardine to North Queensferry (16.8 miles)
• Leg 2 – Alan – North Queensferry to Dysart (20.8 miles)
• Leg 3 – Robin – Dysart to St. Monans (20.8 miles)
• Leg 4 – Iain – St Monans to St. Andrews (21.8 miles)
• Leg 5 – Mark – St Andrews to Wormit (20.9 miles)
• Leg 6 – John – Wormit to Newburgh (15.6 miles)

Great Scottish Run Half Marathon and 10k – Sunday 1 October

Running in the half marathon are Bex, Gillian, Jemma, Teresa, Tracey, Davie, Robin, Ross, Grant, Terry, Lynda and Stewart.  Douglas and brother Paul are doing the 10k.

Giffordtown 5k – Sunday 1 October 11am

Jim is running this for LLV, Allen for PH Racing Club and Peter for Fife AC.

Tufty Trail Race – Sunday 1 October 2pm

Allen is then changing into LLV colours and Peter is putting on an FTR top for this event in Falkland Estate.

Further ahead:

• Linlithgow 10k – Sunday 8 October
• Kielder Half Marathon – Sunday 8 October
• Couch to 5k Graduation at St Andrews Parkrun – Saturday 14 October
• East District Cross-Country Relays – Saturday 14 October
• Lochore Meadows 10k – Sunday 15 October

If any events or participants have been missed out, please let the editor know. 

Whoever is at any events, please remember to take lots of photographs and post them on the club Facebook page.

Birthdays

Happy birthday wishes go to Gillian and Bryan this week.

Runner of the Week

This week we pay tribute to Willie Goodfellow who is no longer going to be seen around LLV on training nights and social runs as he is moving away from Fife to work elsewhere.

Willie first attended an LLV training night in September 2016, and has become a popular and much loved member of the club since then.

In May 2017 Willie demonstrated the results of his consistent training with LLV by winning the Caley Cup for the most improved runner in the training block.

Willie swore that he would never attempt a half-marathon but has since developed the running bug to the extent that he has entered the Kielder half-marathon on 8 October 2017.  All at LLV wish him well in that event and hope to meet him in the future at many other events.

Cover photo – Robin, Jeff, Peter, Bryan, Bex and Karen at Pitlochry

Couch to 5k

This week our Couch to 5k members were featured in local newspaper the East Fife Mail. Reporter Jamie Callaghan attended the Tuesday evening training session and interviewed several of the group.

The group have now completed 6 weeks of their 10 week programme.

Tuesday Training

Jog leader Allen took the group to Lower Methil for a hills workout. Great to see lots of effort from everyone!

Edinburgh Self Transcendence 2 Mile Race

Allen Marr donned his PH Racing Club vest for the last Self Transcendence race of the season at Edinburgh Meadows. Any thoughts of the rain staying away for the duration of the race were thwarted when a huge downpour started about 15 minutes beforehand. Absolutely nobody bothered to do a warmup, preferring instead to stay under the cover of the park pavilion, and all had to be urged to make their way across the park to start at 7pm. It was not a night for running too fast with large parts of the course covered in water and the sharp corners requiring care to avoid slipping over. Allen stuck to a steady pace, completing the first one mile lap in 6:14 then picked it up slightly for a 6:07 second lap. His official finish time was 12:21, a new course and distance PB by 3 seconds, for 27th position and 2nd MV60.

Parkruns

Allen Marr followed up his midweek 2 mile PB with his best performance so far over the 5km distance at St Andrews parkrun, setting a time of 19:18.

Pitlochry 10k

The Pitlochry 10k is a highly popular event incorporating the jogScotland Pitlochry 5k and attracts hundreds of runners of all abilities.

There was a change to the 10k course this year and someone must have got their measurements wrong as the race distance turned out to be more like 10.25km, causing everyone’s times to be a little bigger than expected.

There was a 5 person LLV contingent in the 10k comprising Bex Oakenfull, Bryan McLaren, Robin Pate, Jeff Taylor and Peter Rieu-Clarke. Also running in the 10k was occasional LLV representative Nigel Donnell while Karen Britten took part in the 5k.

Bryan was first LLV to finish in the 10k, achieving a very creditable top-30 place while super veteran Peter was among the prize-winners with 3rd place in the over-70 age category. In the 5k Karen was first to finish in her age category.

Race results (10k):

• Bryan – 29th 44:30
• Nigel – 66th 48:13
• Jeff – 70th 48:48
• Robin – 82nd 49:26
• Peter – 285th and 3rd MV70 1:02:26
• Bex – 296th 1:03:27

Race results (5k):

• Karen – 48th and 1st FV50 35:09

Auchterarder Half Marathon

Josephine Lenachan took part in this event which started and finished at The Gleneagles Hotel, and made its way through Strathallan Estate passing Strathallan Castle.

Copenhagen Half Marathon

Well done to Lorraine Davie who has been living in Denmark for the last few months and ran the Copenhagen city half marathon amid a spectacular mid-race hailstorm and flooding on Sunday in a personal best time of 2:10:48.

Read here about the incredible weather at Copenhagen Half Marathon.

Upcoming Events

East Neuk 10k – Sunday 24 September

Bryan, Bex, Gozde, Karen and Chris are running in this friendly local event, renowned for the quality of the post-race buffet laid on by the Anster Haddies.  Peter and Jeff are competing for Falkland Trail Runners.

Scottish Half Marathon and 10k – Sunday 24 September

Jim and daughter Michelle are in the 10k along with Gillian and Jemma.

Loch Ness Marathon – Sunday 24 September

Anyone doing this?

Further ahead:

• Scottish Long Coastal Relays – Saturday 30 September
• Giffordtown 5k – Sunday 1 October
• Tufty Trail Race – Sunday 1 October
• Great Scottish Run Half Marathon and 10k – Sunday 1 October
• Linlithgow 10k – Sunday 8 October
• Kielder Half Marathon – Sunday 8 October
• Lochore Meadows 10k – Sunday 15 October

If any events or participants have been missed out, please let the editor know. 

Whoever is at any events, please remember to take lots of photographs and post them on the club Facebook page.

Runner of the Week

The island adventures and participation in the world’s largest half marathon of LLV members last week overshadowed another notable achievement by John Kay who smashed the 20 minute barrier for the first time over the 5km distance at the Stuart Duncan Memorial race. John has had some great performances over a range of distances in 2017, for instance:

• Stirling Scottish Marathon – 21 May – 3:26:41
• Ravenscraig 2*1 Mile Relay – 22 August – 5:47
• Great Aberdeen Run Half Marathon – 27 August – 1:34:37
• Stuart Duncan Memorial 5k – 5 September – 19:35

But perhaps John’s greatest achievement is that he has run at least 5km every single day in 2017, proving that consistency of training is the key to improved performance.

On the subject of running every day, the annual Ronhill #RunEveryDay challenge is now open. This fun competition challenges runners to run every day in October and to post images of their daily run on Ronhill’s social media feeds, with the chance of winning some great prizes.

Sign up here for this year’s Ronhill #RunEveryDay challenge.

 

Cover photo – Robin, Bob, Davie and Jim at Tiree Ultramarathon

Stuart Duncan Memorial 5k

John Kay was running for Leven Las Vegas and Allen Marr was representing PH Racing Club at this event, a memorial race organised by Fife AC on behalf of the family of the late local runner Stuart Duncan with race proceeds going to charity. The race runs from the Lomond Centre in Woodside, Glenrothes, along Boblingen Way to a turning point then retracing the outward route back to the Centre. John and Allen stuck close together in a small group including occasional wearer of LLV colours Dave Morton to the mid-race turning point which John passed in 10:00 and Allen about 5 seconds behind. The run home was a little quicker due to the gradual downhill gradient. Allen edged past John in the closing stages to finish in a new 5k PB of 19:30, with John finishing next in 19:35, also a PB. Dave dropped back a little towards the finish but this may have been due to him running in his working clothes and a pair of trail shoes, not having had time to change before the race!

Race results:

• Allen – 15th and 1st MV60 19:30 PB
• John – 16th and 1st MV50 19:35 PB
• Dave – 19th 20:00 PB

Grangemouth Open Graded 1500m

Allen Marr lined up at this 1500m race on a cool breezy evening under the floodlights at Grangemouth Athletics Stadium aiming to beat his PB of 5:16 which he set on his way to a silver medal at the Scottish Athletics National Masters 1500m in July 2017. His target schedule this time was 60 seconds for the first 300m then 80 seconds for each of the next 3 full laps. It didn’t quite work out that way due to a drop in pace to 90 seconds on lap 2 as he settled in behind other runners, but in the second half of the race Allen started to pick off those ahead of him, speeding up to 85 seconds on lap 3 then 77 seconds on the final lap to finish on 5:12, a new PB and plenty of scope for further improvement next time.

Kingsbarns Fun Run

Peter Rieu-Clarke ran for Fife AC in this charity event run over 4 miles of trails around the Cambo Estate area. Peter finished 2nd MV70 in 37:16.

Tiree Ultramarathon

At the weekend Robin Pate, Davie Hogg, Bob Wylie and Jim Dunstan of Leven Las Vegas Running Club set off for the Hebridean island of Tiree. The intrepid four runners had completed many months of preparations and were travelling to take part in the Tiree Ultramarathon, a 35 mile circuit of the island coastline along roads, beaches and trails.

Tiree is known for its above average hours of sunshine and clear weather. However the day of the race was the exact opposite with rain, hail, powerful winds and low visibility, although that didn’t stop the hardy four from successfully completing their mission. Robin was first to finish, battling through the testing conditions to improve by more than 20 minutes on his time at the same event last year.  Bob, Jim and Davie, who was running his first ever ultramarathon, all crossed the finish line together.

Race results:

• Robin – 85th 7:10:42 PB
• Davie – 157th 8:55:45
• Jim – 158th 8:55:46
• Bob – 159th 8:55:46

Around Cumbrae 10 Mile Road Race

It was another LLV island adventure for Ross Johnston and Lynda and Stewart English who travelled to Millport on the isle of Cumbrae for this event. Apparently ice cream and fish suppers were a major attraction of the trip!

Race results:

• Stewart – 225th 1:29:12 PB
• Ross – 258th 1:32:42
• Lynda – 283rd 1:36:56

Great North Run

The Great North Run with over 50,000 participants annually is the largest half marathon in the world. It is run over a fast course between Newcastle and South Shields in the North East of England. This year’s event saw Bex Oakenfull and Lorna Hughes lining up in the same race as multiple gold medallist Mo Farah. It takes so long for all the participants to cross the start line that by the time the final runners were on their way, Mo was almost finished!

Race results

• Bex – position 21123 time 2:14:35
• Lorna – position 40406 time 3:11:34

Upcoming Events

Self Transcendence 2 mile race – Wednesday 13 September

Allen will be taking part in the last Self Transcendence race of the summer at Edinburgh Meadows

Pitlochry 10k – Sunday 17 September

Bryan, Bex, Peter, Bob, Wendy, Robin and Jeff are representing team LLV at this popular event

Gateway to the Glens 10k – Sunday 17 September

Anyone running in this one?

Further ahead

• East Neuk 10k – Sunday 24 September
• Scottish Half Marathon and 10k – Sunday 24 September
• Loch Ness Marathon – Sunday 24 September
• Scottish Long Coastal Relays – Saturday 30 September
• Giffordtown 5k – Sunday 1 October
• Tufty Trail Race – Sunday 1 October
• Great Scottish Run Half Marathon and 10k – Sunday 1 October
• Linlithgow 10k – Sunday 8 October

If any events or participants have been missed out, please let the editor know. 

Whoever is at any events, please remember to take lots of photographs and post them on the club Facebook page.

Birthdays

Happy birthday wishes go to Angela and Jim this week

Runner(s) of the Week

The ultramarathon men from Tiree are the runners of the week for their fortitude in battling through 35 miles of storms, wind and mud and still managing to smile under those buffs. Well done guys!

 

Cover photo – Ian Shield and Leven Las Vegas members with the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton

The beginning

Ian Shield from Lundin Links in Fife is very well known within the Fife running community. For many years he was a member and office bearer with the Anster Haddies running club. In 2012, around the time of his retirement, Ian decided to form a running group of his own with the ideal of helping beginners to start jogging and setting fitness goals, hoping they would they would enjoy running as much as him. He based the group in Leven, Fife, as part of jogScotland, Scotland’s recreational running network.

The group name was decided after a brain-storming session among the early members, at least one of whom must have recently watched the movie Leaving Las Vegas. And so Leven Las Vegas Running Club (LLV) was formed.

In the 5 years since its formation, LLV has been hugely successful with more than 250 individuals having now passed through the club ranks.

The ethos of the club can be summed up in three words – enjoyment, giving and achievement.

First and foremost LLV is a social group where members come along to join with like-minded friends and have fun.

Half of all LLV training fees are donated to charity, with many local charities having benefited.

Many club members who first attended LLV as beginners have been inspired to take part in competitive running events. Some who were already competitive runners have joined LLV because they enjoy the less formal atmosphere of a jogScotland group rather than being in a fully-constituted athletic club.

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay

To mark his significant and positive contribution to the community in forming Leven Las Vegas Running Club and volunteering in various local activities, Ian Shield was nominated by his fellow LLV members to be one of the select few to carry the Queen’s Baton as it passed through Fife during the celebrations leading up to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Ian described the experience of carrying the baton as a great honour for himself and for LLV and said he was very humbled by being selected on the recommendation of his fellow running club members.

Hartley Cup

The Hartley Cup competition was started in 1985 by a Kinross runner named Eddie Hartley who was trying to create a fun short distance event for local runners. It is a team event contested by a number of running clubs in Fife, Perth, Dundee and Angus, with each club entering a number of teams in various categories. The event is run as a relay with each team member running twice over a one mile distance. There are prizes for the fastest male team, fastest female team, fastest mixed team, fastest male, fastest female and fastest junior team.

Leven Las Vegas first became involved in the competition in 2013 and have done very well so far with two successive male team victories in 2014 and 2015, and narrowly missing out on retaining the male team prize in 2016.

jogScotland Funding Campaign

In early 2017 LLV played a significant part in highlighting the fact that jogScotland were having their funding withdrawn by the Scottish Government.  The group launched a campaign, led by Ian Shield, in political circles and the media to highlight the great success of jogScotland in encouraging thousands of inactive people in Scotland to take steps to improve their fitness and health.

The campaign resulted in LLV being featured on BBC television and radio news.

In interviews with broadcast and print media, Ian stressed the value of jogScotland as an important health initiative in our country where a large percentage of the population suffer from long-term illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes, which can be mitigated by taking regular exercise.

The BBC television cameras and reporter Lisa Summers attended an LLV training session to report on the jogScotland funding issue.

Article on BBC news website

Article in the Courier.

Supporting Local Events

As LLV membership numbers have grown, the bright red colours worn by the club members have become prominent at many local events. Below are some recent examples.

Couch to 5k

During the jogScotland funding campaign Ian Shield met many local representatives of health care and leisure activity organisations, all of whom highlighted the generally low levels of fitness in the local community.  Ian decided to take steps to tackle the issue by starting a “Couch to 5k” initiative, where complete beginners to jogging are taken through a 10 week progressive programme of walking and jogging, with the end result of everyone who has completed the programme being able to run a distance of 5km (3 miles) without stopping.

There was a fantastic response to the initiative with over 40 beginners applying to take part.

The Caley Cup

LLV training takes place in 10-week blocks. On the last week of every block a 1.8 mile pursuit race is organised by Chris Russell, who assigns a handicap to each participant based on their previous best time over the course. The race winner is the runner who achieves the biggest improvement on their handicap time, and that person becomes the holder of the Caley Cup trophy for the next 10 weeks.

Charity Donations

Half of all LLV member contributions are donated to a selected local charity in each 10-week training block. The club also carries out other fund-raising activities including the torch-lit Nightmare series of races organised by long-standing club member Chris Russell. These are some of the charities which have benefited thus far:

• Fife Sensory Impairment Centre
• Arthritis Research UK
• Autism Rocks (Fife)
• Mary’s Meals
• Sport Relief
• Macmillan Cancer Support
• Cancer Research UK
• RSPB
• Fife Young Carers
• Sands
• Disability Sport Fife
• Guide Dogs
• Lee O’Brien Solvent Trust
• Levenmouth Foodbank
• Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS)
• Action on Depression
• Open Door Meals
• Deafblind Scotland
• Colin Marr Memorial Trust

Cover photo – Iain, Chris, Gillian and Allen at Gateside Gallop

Tuesday Night Training and Couch to 5k

On Tuesday evening Tricia put the troops through their paces with a pyramid drill around the Links area of Leven. Meanwhile the Couch to 5k group were introduced to the fun of paarlauf by jog leader Allen when they paired up for loops around the Energy Park at Methil Docks.

On Sunday Ian, assisted by Jeff and Allen, took a smaller group of the Couch to 5k members to Silverburn for an informal session.

Gateside Gallop

On Wednesday evening was the annual Gateside Gallop, a four mile race from Gateside village uphill to the Bannet Stane and back down to finish in the village. Thomas Knox of Anster Haddies and Chris Russell of LLV battled it out all the way up and down before Chris pulled away towards the finish to seal a hard-fought victory.

Also running for LLV were Iain Wallace, Gillian Hewitt and Allen Marr.

Jeff Taylor and Peter Rieu-Clarke also took part, representing Falkland Trail Runners who had included the event in their championship series.

Race results:

• Chris – 1st 24:46
• Iain – 14th 27.48
• Jeff – 43rd 31:09
• Gillian – 67th 33:14
• Allen – 68th 33:17
• Peter – 117th 43:07

Parkruns

Congratulations to Claire Doak who bagged at a new PB at Craigtoun Park in St Andrews.

Fife AC Festival of Trail Running & Scottish Mid Trail Championships

This event hosted by Fife AC also included the Scottish Trail Championships with national medals up for grabs. The event was run over a challenging hilly course of 10km in length through Falkland Estate.

Andy Cargill was the sole LLV representative at this event, although he was accompanied by Allen Marr appearing for PH Racing Club and Peter Rieu-Clark for Fife AC.

Race results

• Andy – 45th 42:45
• Allen – 69th and 5th MV60 46:56
• Peter – 92nd and 2nd MV70 01:05:30

Highland Perthshire Half Marathon

Taking place in the scenic countryside around Aberfeldy and Kenmore, the Highland Perthshire Half Marathon is held in conjunction with a full marathon and a cycle sportive.

Representing Leven Las Vegas in a field of over 250 runners over the 13.1 mile distance was Bryan McLaren who was hoping to post a fast time under the 90 minute mark. This he duly achieved, clocking 01:26:07 and setting a personal best for a half marathon on the challenging course. Bryan finished 11th overall, 10th male and 4th in the Male Senior category.

Glenmore 24

The Glenmore 24 is a 24 hour run around a four mile loop in the setting of Glenmore Forest near Aviemore.  For those who want to experience the event but perhaps feel that 24 hours of running is a bit too much there is also a 12 hour race on the same course and that is what Tricia Wallace of Leven Las Vegas opted for.

Results will be added when available.

Skull Mountain Trail Race

This was the final race of a 4 race series held over the summer months. Representing LLV were Jim Dunstan and Josephine Lenachan.

Mr Gs MND 5k

This charity event is held to raise funds for research into Motor Neurone Disease. Mr G is Mr Grewar a former school teacher at Madras who suffers from the condition. The 5km course is around the playing fields of St Andrews University.  Peter Rieu-Clark ran his second event of the weekend.

Results will be added when available.

Muckletoon Doctors Run

The Muckletoon Doctors Run is an 8 mile run that starts and finishes in Langholm and takes participants across a variety of terrain following the path of the River Esk. LLV’s Willie Goodfellow took part in this race in his home town.

Results will be added when available.

Special Feature – Tiree Ultramarathon

The highlight of the coming week is undoubtedly the Tiree Ultramarathon which takes place on Sunday 10 September.

The four intrepid Leven Las Vegas athletes who will be proudly representing our running club and taking on the 35 mile circuit of the beautiful Hebridean island are Bob Wylie, Robin Pate, Davie Hogg and Jim Dunstan.

The race route runs clockwise around the Tiree coastline. So for Jim, who occasionally has a bit of trouble with navigation, there should be no problem this time as it is simply a case of keeping the sea on his left hand side.

Best wishes to all four from everyone at Leven Las Vegas for a fantastic run in hopefully favourable weather.

Upcoming Events

Stuart Duncan Memorial 5k – Tuesday 5 September

John Kay and Allen Marr (PH Racing Club) go in this one

Grangemouth Open Graded Track Meeting – Wednesday 6 September

Allen Marr is on the track at Grangemouth for a 1500m race.

Fife AC Kingsbarns Fun Run – Wednesday 6 September

An informal trail run hosted by Fife AC. Entries on the night. Free to enter.

Murieston Trail Race – Saturday 9 September

A 6km trail race around the Murieston area in Livingston

Stirling 10k – Sunday 10 September

Incorporates the Scottish 10k championships with a large high-quality field

Great North Run – Sunday 10 September

Bex Oakenfull and Lorna Hughes will be appearing live on tv!

Around Cumbrae 10 Mile Road Race – Sunday 10 September

Angela & Ross Johnston and Lynda & Stewart English will be there.

Further ahead:

• Pitlochry 10k – Sunday 17 September
• Gateway to the Glens 10k Sunday 17 September
• East Neuk 10k – Sunday 24 September
• Scottish Half Marathon and 10k – Sunday 24 September
• Loch Ness Marathon – Sunday 24 September
• Scottish Long Coastal Relays – Saturday 30 September
• Giffordtown 5k – Sunday 1 October
• Tufty Trail Race – Sunday 1 October
• Great Scottish Run Half Marathon and 10k – Sunday 1 October

If any events or participants have been missed out, please let the editor know. 

Whoever is at any events, please remember to take lots of photographs and post them on the club Facebook page.

Birthday

Happy birthday wishes this week go to Becky Oakenfull from everyone at Leven Las Vegas!

Runner of the Week

Possibly the most improved LLV runner of 2017 is Bryan McLaren.  This weekend Bryan achieved a new half marathon PB of 01:26:07, one of a succession of impressive performances over various distances in the last few months. Some of his highlights include:

• Breaking the 90 minute mark at Alloa half marathon in March 2017 with a time of 01:29:26
• Dipping under 18 minutes for the 5km distance at the Scottish 5k Championships at Silverknowes in May 2017 clocking 17:58
• Going below 5 minutes for one mile with 04:58 at the Tour of Fife 1 Mile Time Trial in July 2017
• Beating 18 minutes again at the 5km distance at the Tour of Fife 5km Road Race with a time of 17:57