Cover photo – Leven Las Vegas at the Hartley Cup (photo by Wullie Law)

Tuesday Night Training

Jog leader Allen led the group through a Hartley Cup preparation session, including a set of dynamic warmup drills and a variable speed session at the Energy Park in Methil.

Blacker Than Black Rock Nightmare

Everyone’s favourite Nightmare race was back last Friday for the second time in 2017. Apparently the event in February during the last Nightmare series wasn’t wet enough behind the Black Rock to satisfy the participants so this one was specially scheduled to allow the runners to splash through knee-deep freezing cold water in complete darkness half a mile out into the Firth of Forth. The outward half of the race was directly into a powerful wind which then provided assistance on the way back to shore. Proceeds from the race were donated to the Kinghorn RNLI who braved the freezing conditions behind the rock to make sure that all the runners passed around safely.

Race results:

• Chris Russell – 2nd and 1st MV40 18:55
• Bryan McLaren – 3rd and 2nd MS 19:17
• Allen Marr – 28th and 2nd MV60 22:45
• Kenny Ritchie 30th 22:55
• Gordon Christie – 31st 23:10
• Robin Pate – 33rd 23:35
• Willie Goodfellow – 36th 24:05
• Terry Cullen – 43rd 24:32
• Tam Cullen – 46th 26:10
• Davie Hogg – 54th 27:23
• Grant Stevenson – 63rd 28:15
• Bex Oakenfull – 65th 28:23
• Karen Richards – 68th 29:22
• Claire Doak – 73rd 31:45

Parkruns

More PBs this week! At St Andrews there were new personal bests for Susan Kerr, Kirsty Barclay and Matt Holden while at Kirkcaldy Neil Beard continued his PB streak.

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 at U13 and U15.

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

For the 2017 competition, Leven Las Vegas and Falkland Trail Runners were joint hosts and organisers. The venue was Elie Holiday Park at Shell Bay on the shores of the Firth of Forth in the East Neuk of Fife. There was a pirate theme for the event based on the presence of the distinctive pirate ship at the entrance to the holiday park.

On a cold, crisp and still day under clear blue skies, over 250 runners from 12 clubs took part, assisted by a small army of marshals and caterers from the two host clubs.

Overall Results

Men

1st	Perth Road Runners	A	56m25
2nd	Leven Las Vegas	Viva Las Vegas	58m09
3rd	Kinross Road Runners	A	59m13
4th	Dundee Road Runners	1	60m39
5th	Falkland Trail Runners	Nutty Nutters	61m24
6th	Forfar Road Runners	1	64m10
7th	Kinross Road Runners	B	65m18
8th	Forfar road Runners	2	68m29
9th	Falkland Trail Runners	Falkland Trail Bummers	72m07
10th	Beacon Runners	Bad Boyz	73m59
11th	Falkland Trail Runners	Crusty Nuts	76m51

Ladies

1st	Dundee Road Runners	Female Team	68m03
2nd	Kinross Road Runners	Ladies	71m04
3rd	Strathearn Harriers	Ladies	78m44
4th	Forfar Road Runners	Ladies	79m17
5th	Arbroath Footers	Young Chicks	79m52
6th	Anster Allsorts	The Pony Club	80m24
7th	Beacon Runners	Beacon Belles	82m59
8th	Leven Las Vegas	The Teddy Bears	84m38
9th	Arbroath Footers	Go Go Girls	84m55
10th	Arbroath Footers	Hopeful	93m21

Mixed

1st	Dundee Road Runners	Mixed 1	57m42
2nd	Anster Haddies	Bikini Bottoms	62m08
3rd	Strathearn Harriers	Mixed 1	63m21
4th	Perth Road Runners	Mixed A	63m39
5th	Dundee Road Runners	Mixed 2	64m35
6th	Leven Las Vegas	Devils In Disguise	64m58
7th	Falkland Trail Runners	Brian’s Babes	66m15
8th	Beacon Runners	Beacon Bru Beasts	67m02
9th	Arbroath Footers	Mo Run	68m26
10th	Anster Haddies	Haddie Neds	72m13
11th	Perth Road Runners	Mixed B	72m30
12th	Leven Las Vegas	Jailhouse Rockers	73m01
13th	Forfar Road Runners	Mixed	73m58
14th	Falkland Trail Runners	Team Sair Legge	74m40
15th	Dundee Road Runners	Mixed 4	75m22
16th	Dundee Road Runners	Mixed 3	76m09
17th	Falkland Trail Runners	Mixed Nuts	77m59
18th	Leven Las Vegas	Heartbreak Hoteliers	79m18
19th	Anster Allsorts	Berties Sports Mixtures	79m18
20th	Dundee Road Runners	Mixed 5	79m55
21st	Anster Haddies	Captain Sharron’s Speedies	80m04
22nd	Wee County Harriers	WHC1 51	80m36
23rd	Wee County Harriers	WHC 3	81m39
24th	Wee County Harriers	WHC 2	81m39
25th	Kinross Road Runners	Mixed A	82m33
26th	Wee County Harriers	WHC 4	85m00
27th	Leven Las Vegas	Blue Suede Shoes	86m59
28th	Kinross Road Runners	S Club 5	89m44
29th	Perth Road Runners	PRR Dream Team	96m52

U13

1st	Wee County Harriers		40m13
2nd	Kinross Road Runners		43m07

U15

1st

Perth Road Runners

68m21

Leven Las Vegas Team Results

Viva Las Vegas – 2nd place men’s team 58:09

• Andy – 5:53 and 6:02
• Iain – 6:13 and 6:05
• Bryan – 5:23 (3rd fastest lap of the day) and 5:30
• Alan – 5:49 and 6:00
• Chris – 5:40 and 5:34 (7th fastest lap of the day)

Devils in Disguise – 6th place mixed team 64:58

• James – 5:50 and 6:07
• Elaine – 7:06 and 7:02
• John – 6:23 and 6:20
• Gillian – 6:46 and 7:04
• Mark – 6:09 and 6:09

Jailhouse Rockers – 12th place mixed team 73:01

• Terry – 7:00 and 7:06
• Jemma – 7:25 and 7:50
• Douglas – 6:57 and 7:08
• Bex – 8:23 and 8:32
• Allen – 6:17 and 6:23

Heartbreak Hoteliers 18th place mixed team 79:18

• Gordon – 7:02 and 7:06
• Davie – 7:24 and 7:52
• Jim – 6:59 and 7:12
• Louise – 8:37 and 8:40
• Tracey – 9:12 and 9:14

Blue Suede Trainers 27th place mixed team 86:59

• Grant – 7:31 and 7:36
• Neil – 8:45 and 8:30
• Donna – 7:51 and 7:56
• Anna – 9:25 and 9:33
• Karen – 9:59 and 10:07

Teddy Bears 8th place ladies’ team 84:38

• Teresa – 8:10 and 8:13
• Susan – 8:12 and 8:20
• Sandra – 8:18 and 8:28
• Claire – 8:25 and 8:30
• Karen – 8:52 and 9:00

Upcoming Events

East District Cross Country League – Saturday 25 November

Kinghorn RNLI Santa Run – Saturday 25 November 10:45am

Head along and contribute to this fund-raising event for Kinghorn RNLI, the brave and hardy folk who made sure everyone got around the Black Rock safely in the dark last week.

LLV Christmas Night Out – Saturday 25 November

Not to be missed!! Dress to impress!! Venue is Leven Thistle Golf Clubhouse (upstairs) for THE event of 2017. It’s not too late to get a ticket – see organiser Davie Hogg if you want to attend.

Blairadam Badass Trail Race – Sunday 26 November

Further ahead:

• Santa’s Sleighs of Fire 5k – Sunday 3 December
• Perth Santa Run – Saturday 9 December
• Jog Cowdenbeath 5k fun run for MND Scotland – Sunday 10 December (see below for details)
• Pitreavie Jingle Bell 5k – Sunday 17 December
• St Andrews Christmas Day Parkrun 10am
• Kirkcaldy New Years Day Parkrun 10:30am
• Portobello Promathon 4 mile – Monday 1 January 10:30am
• Scottish Athletics National 3000m Indoor Masters – Sunday 7 January
• Scottish Athletics 1500m Indoor Open – Saturday 13 January
• Devils Burdens – Saturday 27 January
• Scottish National Masters Cross Country – Saturday 3 February
• Scottish Athletics National 1500m Indoor Masters – Sunday 4 February
• Devilla Forest 15k and 5k – Sunday 18 February (Entries open Sunday 17 December)
• Smokies 10 mile (Ladies Only) – Sunday 6 March
• Alloa Half Marathon – Sunday 18 March (Entries open now)

Message from Irene at Jog Cowdenbeath

Hi all,

Last year our group organised a 5k Fun run at Townhill Loch raising money for MND Scotland and having a bit of fun in the process. We would like to repeat the event again this year.

Where: Townhill Water Ski Centre, Townhill Road, Dunfermline

When: 11am 10th December 2017

How much: Minimum donation of £3 to charity

This is NOT a race but a fun run, although if you run fast for fun, we won’t stop you.

It is open to members of Jog Scotland and we would like to invite your members to join us.

We encourage the wearing of Santa hats or Christmas jerseys, t-shirts or other festive wear.

We will provide a medal to finishers but that’s all- no water, banana or goody bag. There is a cafe at the finish area and they do have excellent bacon rolls (just saying!)

I hope your members will be interested in joining us and an indication of numbers would help us with the organisation, so please share this info and let me know if any of your members want to join us.

Best wishes

Irene

Cover photo – Julie completes her C25k graduation parkrun

Tuesday Night Training

New jog leader Bex took charge for the first time and led the group through a pyramid drill at Balfour Street in Leven.

Parkruns

Another impressive set of performances at this weekend’s parkruns.

Julie Campbell did her Couch to 5k graduation parkrun at St Andrews and received her medal and certificate from Ian Shield afterwards.

Also at St Andrews Lynsay Bell, Dawn Watson and Neil Beard recorded new personal best times (Neil may have had some help from his dog Oscar!), and Allen Marr continued his recovery from injury by achieving a top 10 finish in 19:44, his 3rd best time for the Craigtoun Park course.

At Kirkcaldy Teresa Guild and Kirsty Barclay set new PBs and Nicole Kelly ran the course for the first time.

Willie Goodfellow made his first appearance at Elgin parkrun.

National Short Course Cross Country Championships, Kirkcaldy

The 2017 national championships were held at Dunnikier Park in Kirkcaldy. The senior women’s event was won by Laura Muir in an impressive performance. Laura asked if there was any space in an LLV team for the Hartley Cup and she was disappointed with the news that we have a full set of teams.

Glen Clova Half Marathon

The Glen Clova half marathon is one of the most scenic events on the running calendar. The route starts at the Glen Clova hotel from where it heads eastward on a quiet road for the first half of the route before crossing the River South Esk and returning on the main road back to Clova for the finish. Running for Leven Las Vegas were Karen Capewell, Mark McLean and Matt Holden.

Race results:

• Mark – 42nd and 11th V40 1:33:06
• Matt – 110th 1:42:57
• Karen – 257th 2:14:09 PB

Edinburgh Morun 5k

The Edinburgh Morun 10k and 5k events are part of series of events all over Britain during the month of November in aid of the Movember Foundation which raises funds to address some of the biggest health issues faced by men: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health and suicide prevention.

The route starts near Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh and takes a circuit around Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags. Taking part were Leven Las Vegas veterans Lynda and Stewart English who both finished first in their age categories.

Race results:

• Stewart – 18th and 1st MV60 25:40
• Lynda – 62nd and 1st FV60 30:13

Upcoming Events

Blacker Than Black Rock Nightmare – Friday 17 November

Everyone’s favourite Nightmare the “Blacker than Black Rock” starts from the bottom of Pettycur Road in Kinghorn and proceeds across the sand for a mile and a half then around the Black Rock before returning to the starting point. There will be water behind the rock and you WILL get wet so bring a change of shoes. Also required – a headtorch to light the way and a stopwatch for recording your time. Race starts at 7:30.

Livingston AC Open Cross Country – Saturday 18 November

Hartley Cup – Sunday 19 November

Leven Las Vegas have a great record in this competition having won the men’s team event twice and placed second once in the last four years. This year LLV and Falkland Trail Runners are joint organisers. The venue is Shell Bay Caravan Park. The competition arrangements and the LLV relay teams are on the club Facebook page.

Further ahead

• East District Cross Country League – Saturday 25 November
• Kinghorn RNLI Santa Run – Saturday 25 November
• LLV Christmas Night Out – Saturday 25 November – all welcome – see organiser Davie Hogg if you want to attend
• Blairadam Badass Trail Race – Sunday 26 November
• Santa’s Sleighs of Fire 5k – Sunday 3 December

Advance notice of popular 2018 events

• Devils Burdens – Saturday 27 January
• Devilla Forest 15k and 5k – Sunday 18 February (Entries open Sunday 17 December)
• Smokies 10 mile (Ladies Only) – Sunday 6 March (Entries open now)
• Alloa Half Marathon – Sunday 18 March (Entries open now)

Cover photo – Alan, Tracey, Iain, Gillian and Matt at Templeton 10

Tuesday Night Training

On the first week of the new training block, jog leader Ross led a huge group of 63 joggers through a pursuits drill.

Glenrothes Triathlon Club 5k Halloween Hustle

Race results:

• Chris – 1st 18:58
• Dan – 13th 27:09
• Hennie – 24th 28:24

Bill Duff Charity Race number 100

Bill Duff was first over the line in his 100th race of 2017, achieving his target in aid of ABF The Soldiers Charity. Read Bill’s story here.

Next to finish was Chris Russell.

Pentland Hills Flash Mob Run

Chris Russell notched up another win in this race.

Parkruns

This week saw a number of improvements in members’ parkrun times. At St Andrews Jemma Guild, Karen Richards, Lesley Turnbull, Angie Wood, Matt Holden, Kirsty Barclay and Jaime Muir all set their best times so far, and Kenna Orkney completed her first ever parkrun. At Kirkcaldy Neil Beard improved on his previous best time.

Glen Ogle 33 Ultra

Race results:

• Jim – 223rd 5:58:08
• Karen – 413th 7:53:09

jogScotland Awards

Ian was shortlisted for the Leader of the Year award but was not chosen as the winner on this occasion.

Templeton 10

Race results:

• Alan – 17th 1:07:55
• Iain – 22nd 1:08:22
• Gillian – 68th 1:16:44
• Matt – 93rd 1:20:52
• Tracey – 254th 1:48:10

Edinburgh Men’s 10k

Race results:

• Andy – 135th 40:12
• Mark – 144th 40:26 PB
• Stewart – 920th 51:05 PB

Bob Stark Memorial 5k Race

This charity race starts at the duck pond in Falkland Estate and follows a circuit through the woods before finishing in the historic gardens of Falkland Palace. Allen Marr was representing LLV/PH Racing Club. There was a top quality race entrant in Allen’s age category – none other than Paul Forbes who represented Scotland at Commonwealth Games in 1978, 1982 and 1986 and remains one of the fastest Scots ever over 800m. Paul is also the current Scottish National 5k champion in the over-60 age category.

Race results:

• Paul – 12th and 1st MV60 20:53
• Allen – 23rd and 2nd MV60 22:19

Upcoming Events

Kelpies 5k – 10/11/12 November

National Short Course Cross Country Championships, Kirkcaldy – Saturday 11 November

This event is being held at Dunnikier Park in Kirkcaldy. LLV members can’t take part in this national competition as it is only for members of Scottish Athletics affiliated clubs. However, it is a great opportunity to go along and watch some well known athletes, including the 2016 senior women’s winner Laura Muir.

Glen Clova Half Marathon – Saturday 11 November

Karen Capewell, Matt Holden, Lynne Hughes, Andy Cargill and Mark McLean are representing LLV

Silvery Tay Trail Race, Wormit – Sunday 12 November

Further ahead

• Blacker Than Black Rock Nightmare – Friday 17 November
• Livingston AC Open Cross Country – Saturday 18 November
• Hartley Cup – Sunday 19 November
• East District Cross Country League – Saturday 25 November
• Kinghorn RNLI Santa Run – Saturday 25 November
• LLV Christmas Night Out – Saturday 25 November – all welcome – see organiser Davie Hogg if you want to attend
• Blairadam Badass Trail Race – Sunday 26 November
• Santa’s Sleighs of Fire 5k – Sunday 3 December

Advance notice of popular 2018 events

• Devils Burdens – Saturday 27 January
• Devilla Forest 15k and 5k – Sunday 18 February (Entries open Sunday 17 December)
• Smokies 10 mile (Ladies Only) – Sunday 6 March (Entries open now)
• Alloa Half Marathon – Sunday 18 March (Entries open now)