The Retired Runner

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

Cover photo – another fantastic Leven Las Vegas turnout at the Ravenscraig relay

Couch to 5k

Tricia took the Couch to 5k group on a tour of the streets of Leven this week. There was also an assisted homework session led by Tricia on Sunday morning.

Tuesday Night Training

There was no training this week due to the Ravenscraig relay event.

Ravenscraig 2*1 Mile Relay

Normal Tuesday night training was cancelled to encourage a large attendance of club members at the madness and mayhem that is the Ravenscraig Park series end of season event. It was also the last event for organiser Daniel Newman of Fife AC who is moving work location. Leven Las Vegas would like to express their gratitude to Daniel for his energy, enthusiasm and organisational skills in promoting and operating the popular Kirkcaldy Parks 5k and one mile races for the last two years.

Of the 10 LLV pairs which entered, no fewer than 5 of them went home with medals. Andy Cargill and Bryan McLaren were 2nd overall in a tremendous time of 10:36. Not far behind were Alan Davie and James Scott who finished 1st in the Male Senior category, closely followed by Iain Wallace and Mark McLean who were 1st in the MV40 category.

Further down the field Robin Pate and Gillian Hewitt were 2nd in the Mixed Senior category and Becky Oakenfull and Jemma Guild were 1st in the Female Senior category.

Relay results:

• Andy/Bryan – 2nd 10:36
• Alan/James – 6th and 1st MS 11:14
• Iain/Mark – 7th and 1st MV40 11:22
• Dave/John – 8th 11:32
• Robin/Gillian – 16th and 2nd Mixed Senior 12:48
• Jeff/Davie – 20th 13:11
• Bex/Jemma – 27th and 1st FS 15:25
• Claire/Susan – 31st 16:03
• Tracey/Sandra – 34th 16:19
• Karen/Theresa – 35th 16:38

Bill Duff Charity Trail Race

This race was the latest in the Chilly Willy series of trail runs with proceeds going to charity.  The race was won by Chris Russell, with Lorna Hughes (1st FV40) and Josephine Lenachan also taking part.

Livingston 3000m

Allen Marr took to the track at Craigswood in Livingston for an open 3000m race run under Scottish Athletics conditions. The 3000m heats were the last events of the evening so darkness had fallen and the floodlights were on, with a fair-sized crowd of spectators still in attendance. There were two heats, with heat 1 comprising the faster competitors and heat 2 the not-so-fast. Allen was seeded in heat 1 where he proceeded to finish second from last of 13 runners in a time of 11:22, a bit slower than his PB and outside his 3000m target time of 11 minutes or less. The second heat was won in a time of 11:42 so all the runners in that heat were slower than Allen, making him 12th overall out of a total field of 29 runners.

Crombie Country Park 10k

This race was a fundraiser for Special Olympics Tayside to support athletes with intellectual (learning) disabilities to attend the Special Olympics GB 2017 National Summer Games in Sheffield 7-12 August 2017. The race winner was none other than Chris Russell of Leven Las Vegas.

 Highland Perthshire Challenge and Great Swim Aquathlon

Tricia Wallace took part in both these events on Saturday. The Highland Perthshire Challenge is a 50 mile cycle. The aquathlon is a half mile swim in Loch Lomond followed by a 5km run around Balloch Castle Country Park.

Perth 10k

A field of 250 runners set off on a bright and warm morning to run the annual Perth 10k race which starts and finishes at the North Inch Park in the city. Taking part for Leven Las Vegas were Sandra Cooper, Gillian Hewitt, Jemma Guild, Karen Richards and Allen Marr. A great performance by all, with Allen winning the MV60 category and shaving a few seconds off his time at the same event last year, Gillian comfortably beating her target time of 48 minutes and achieving a new 10k PB, Jemma with a strong finish but just outside her PB, and Sandra and Karen finishing together just dipping under the 60 minute mark, a time they were both delighted with.

Race results:

• Allen – 20th, 17th Male and 1st MV60 42:41 PB
• Gillian – 46th, 8th Female and 5th FS 47:12 PB
• Jemma – 116th 55:03
• Sandra – 163rd 59:39 PB
• Karen – 164th 59:39 PB

Forth Road Bridge 10k

The course follows an undulating route through North Queensferry and down towards Inverkeithing before heading out over the Eastern walkway of the Forth Road Bridge. At the south side of the bridge runners go under the structure and run back to Fife on the opposite walkway before finishing near the north end of the bridge.

Over 350 runners took part including 12 from Leven Las Vegas. First LLV finisher was Chris Russell in 4th place which qualified him as 1st in the MV40 category.  Iain Wallace was close behind in 21st position. Super veteran Peter Rieu-Clarke was first MV70. Other LLV were Tracey Millar, Susan Kerr, Ross Johnston, Jeff Taylor, Wendy Wylie, Bob Wylie, Jim Dunstan, Claire Doak and Robin Pate.

Race results:

• Chris – 4th and 1st MV40 36:34
• Iain – 21st 39:37
• Robin – 81st 45:09 PB
• Jeff – 96th 46:13
• Jim – 157th 50:57
• Ross – 219th 55:34
• Wendy – 230th 56:54
• Bob – 231st 56:54
• Susan – 242nd 57:50 PB
• Peter – 273rd and 1st MV70 60:09
• Tracey – 285th 60:47
• Claire – 288th 61:23

Great Aberdeen Run Half Marathon

In among the 3500 runners in the Great Aberdeen Run half marathon were six LLV – Alan Davie, Mark McLean, John Kay, Davie Hogg, Bex Oakenfull and Lorna Hughes. The race starts in Union Street from where the course winds its way around the city and along the Esplanade before returning to Union Street for the finish.

Race results:

• Alan – 143 01:33:04
• Mark – 146 01:33:14
• John – 177 01:34:37 PB
• Davie – 1215 01:56:53
• Bex – 2845 02:18:31
• Lorna – 3356 03:21:28

Upcoming Events

Gateside Gallop – Wednesday 30 August

This trail race of roughly 4 miles starts and finishes in Gateside village. The first half of the race is mostly uphill until reaching the Bunnet Stane then mostly downhill from there. Entries on the night at the village hall.

Fife AC Festival of Trail Running & Scottish Mid Trail Championships – Saturday 2 September

On Saturday afternoon a large field of top quality trail runners will compete for Scottish Championship titles.  Allen Marr will be running for PH Racing Club and Andy Cargill will be representing Leven Las Vegas.

Highland Perthshire Half Marathon – Saturday 2 September

Bryan McLaren is taking part in this event in the scenic countryside around Aberfeldy and Kenmore

Mr Gs MND 5k – Sunday 3 September

This charity event takes place around the playing fields of St Andrews University. Starting at 11:30am at the cricket pavilion. Enter via EntryCentral or on the day.

Stuart Duncan Memorial 5k – Tuesday 5 September

John Kay for LLV and Allen Marr for PH Racing Club are taking part in this race. Entries are still open on EntryCentral.

Grangemouth Open Graded Track Meeting – Wednesday 6 September

Allen Marr is on the track again, for a 1500m race

Murieston Trail Race – Saturday 9 September

An opportunity to do both Livingston parkrun at 9:30am and this 6km trail run at 11:00am

Tiree Ultramarathon – Sunday 10 September

Bob Wylie, Jim Dunstan, Davie Hogg and Robin Pate will be doing a full 35 mile circuit of the island of Tiree. More details next week as the race approaches.

Stirling 10k – Sunday 10 September

The Stirling 10k incorporates the Scottish 10k Championships.

Great North Run – Sunday 10 September

Bex Oakenfull and Lorna Hughes are taking part in this iconic event. Watch out for them on live tv!

#RunEveryDay

Advance notice of Ronhill UK’s annual fun challenge. The idea is to run every day in October and post photos of your run with the hashtag #RunEveryDay for Ronhill UK to view on Facebook or Twitter with the chance of winning daily prizes. A certain LLV member won a major prize in October 2015 and LLV also featured in the Ronhill post-challenge video in 2016.

The sign-up link for the #RunEveryDay challenge will be notified soon.

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

With 23 club members competing on Sunday this week plus a huge turnout at Ravenscraig on Tuesday, there was fierce competition for this week’s accolade.  There were PBs galore, the Andy/Bryan relay team stormed round Ravenscraig Park, and there were weekend age category wins for Peter and Allen.

However, it was only a matter of time before Chris Russell aka the Prince of Darkness featured as runner of the week.  LLV’s most consistent race winner knocked off two notable victories at the Bill Duff Charity Race on Tuesday and Crombie Country Park 10k on Wednesday then topped it off with a 4th place finish in a high quality field at Forth Road Bridge 10k which earned him 1st MV40.

We are already all eagerly looking forward to the clocks changing and the arrival of Chris’s Nightmare series of races in the pitch dark and freezing temperatures on unfamiliar trails with dodgy underfoot conditions. As Chris says, “What could possibly go wrong?”

Couch to 5k

Several new Couch to 5k beginners joined the programme this week, bringing the total to over 30 participants enthusiastically aiming to improve their fitness and achieve the challenging objective of running a 5k distance.

There was an informal group “homework” session on Sunday morning in bright sunshine at Leven promenade. The homework sessions will continue next week.

Training

Tuesday night training this week took place at the path skirting Scoonie Golf Course. The session comprised the popular hill sprints up and down the gravel path. Birthday-boy Robin Pate stepped in as jog leader to supervise the session.

Carnegie Harriers Memorial Race

The Carnegie Harriers Memorial Race is held annually in memory of Graham Clark who was a Scottish international athlete and a coach and club president at Carnegie Harriers.

The race comprises 3 laps of Knockhill motor racing circuit north of Dunfermline in Fife. Total race distance is 3.9 miles.  Taking part for Leven Las Vegas were Lorna Hughes, Claire Doak, Sandra Cooper, Tracey Millar, Iain Wallace and Chris Russell.

Chris finished an excellent 10th in 21:34.  Iain was 33rd in a time of 23:57 and the LLV ladies all ran well in a large field of very experienced club runners.

Allen Marr’s Scottish Athletics affiliated club, PH Racing Club, had included this event in their championship series so Allen swapped his LLV colours for a PH vest on the night. He finished 2nd MV60 behind PH club-mate Ed Norton.

Social run

This week’s ever-popular Thursday night social run was from Lower Largo to Shell Bay on a beautiful late summer evening.

Beveridge Park 5k team event

There was a great turnout by club members at Beveridge Park for the final 5k race of the summer. This one was a team event, with each team comprising three male and three female runners.  The LLV team of Gillian Hewitt, Jemma Guild, Sandra Cooper, Iain Wallace, John Kay and Mark McLean put in a fantastic performance and there was great excitement when they were awarded third place.

Unfortunately it later transpired that the results had been calculated incorrectly and our team had in fact finished in fourth place, still a brilliant achievement but a rather disappointing outcome.

Awards were also made to individual age category winners for the overall race series. Allen Marr won the over-60 male award, recording 5k times of 20:18, 19:43 and 21:04 to clinch the title.

Parkruns

16 LLV took part in parkruns at St Andrews and Kirkcaldy. There were no PBs this week – more effort required at club training!!

Fife AC Midweek Series overall results

The final results for the Fife AC Midweek Series have been published.

Bryan McLaren was 2nd in the Male Senior category and was 3rd highest points scorer in the series, just missing out on 2nd place by one point.

Iain Wallace was 4th in the MV40 category, and depending on how Fife AC allocate podium positions he may get an award for 3rd place in that category because the leading MV40 was 2nd highest points scorer in the series.

Allen Marr won the MV60 category.

Coming back from injury, Jeff Taylor did all 5 races in the series and would undoubtedly have been in competition for a podium place in the MV50 category if fully fit.

Medals will be presented at a special awards night still to be arranged by Fife AC.

Upcoming events

Ravenscraig 2*1 Mile Relay – Tuesday 22 August

No training on this evening so club members can turn out in large numbers to take part in the relay fun.

Livingston Open Graded Track Meeting – Wednesday 23 August

Allen will be on the track at Craigswood Sports Centre in Livingston for the 3000m.

Perth 10k – Sunday 27 August

Karen, Gillian, Jemma, Sandra and Allen are running at Perth.

Forth Road Bridge 10k – Sunday 27 August

Claire, Jim, Ross, Susan, Tracey, Peter, Iain, Angela, Robin, Jeff, Bob and Wendy are taking part.

Great Aberdeen Run Half Marathon and 10k – Sunday 27 August

Davie, Bex, Mark and John are doing the half marathon.

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

This week the praise goes not to an individual but to the team of 6 athletes who put in a fantastic performance at the Beveridge Park 5k team event. Well done Sandra, Iain, Gillian, John, Jemma and Mark!

 

Couch to 5k

Leven Las Vegas Running Club this week fired the starting gun on their Couch to 5k initiative when 27 beginner joggers began a 10 week journey which will result in them being able to run a distance of 5 kilometres (just over 3 miles) without stopping. Couch to 5k is a running plan promoted by the NHS to help participants improve their physical and mental health by progressively increasing the periods of continuous running week by week. A few more beginners are expected to join the C25k group next week, taking the total to well over 30 self-motivated joggers all keen to improve their fitness levels and experience the joys of running. A warm LLV welcome to everyone!

Our new Couch to 5k members

A couple of “homework” sessions were held during the week, to help guide and support the C25k members in their first week of the programme, and these informal group sessions will continue in the weeks to come.

Tuesday night training

The new training block kicked off with a variable speed session at King George V Park in Leven. This involved 3 sets of slow, medium and fast-paced running, with increasing effort as the sets continued. Great enthusiasm was shown by everyone, especially on the fast section.

Balmullo Trail Race

The final race in Fife Athletic Club’s midweek series took place at Balmullo on Thursday evening. Around 150 runners including 8 LLV tackled the 5 mile course starting from Balmullo village and making their way to the summit of Lucklaw Hill, a climb of some 600ft, before returning to the village. Bryan McLaren, Andy Cargill, Alan Davie, Iain Wallace, Allen Marr, Jeff Taylor, Gillian Hewitt and George Stewart wore the LLV colours with Bryan achieving a creditable top 10 finish.

Photos by Pete Bracegirdle / Fife AC

The overall results for the series of 5 midweek races have not been published yet but unofficially Allen has won the MV60 age category, and Bryan and Iain are expected to be highly placed as well.

Team LLV after the race

Social Run

On the same evening as Balmullo, the popular LLV Thursday evening social run took place.

Happy runners!

Parkruns

Alan Davie set a new PB at St Andrews. Jemma Guild ran her first ever parkrun at the same venue. At Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy, Paula McLean set a new PB and Sandra Cooper ran her first parkrun.

New Gilston 5k

This was a fantastic LLV day out with 15 members taking part at this friendly local event in glorious weather.

A great turnout (but where's Tam?)

Tam Cullen managed to avoid being in the group photo but he WAS there.

Tam was there

Gillian Hewitt continued her excellent recent performances by finishing 3^rd female overall. Andy Cargill was 3^rd  placed male finisher and Allen Marr won the over-60 male prize.

New Gilston 5k prize winners

After the 5k run, as part of their training for the Tiree Ultramarathon in September, Robin Pate, Davie Hogg and Jim Dunstan then set off to run back to Leven accompanied by Andy Cargill and Iain Wallace.

Some of the team couldn't afford the bus fare home from New Gilston

Touch of Tartan Half Marathon

Lorna Hughes took part in this event starting from the North Inch in Perth and covering a mixture of unclassified road, tarmac, forest trails and paths.

Lorna and friends showing a touch of tartan!

Upcoming events

Tuesday 15 August – Graham Clark Memorial at Knockhill

Tracey, Claire, Sandra, Lorna and Allen will be heading along to this.

Friday 18 August – Beveridge Park 5k Team Event

It would be great to see as many LLV as possible attending this event. For a full team, 3 males and 3 females are needed. There will also be the prize-giving for winners of the various categories for the overall series of 5k runs.  It’s possible that LLV may be picking up one of those!

Tuesday 22 August – Ravenscraig Park 2*1 Mile Relay

There will be no LLV training on this evening so that as many as possible can head along to Ravenscraig Park in Kirkcaldy to participate in the great fun that is the 1 mile relay event. Mark this one on your calendar and start getting your teams organised!

Runner of the week

A few contenders here. Peter at age 75 recorded an amazing time of under 29 minutes at the New Gilston 5k and Allen bagged a couple of age category wins. Bryan, Alan, Andy and Iain all had high placed finishes during the week. But the outstanding performances came from Gillian who followed up her recent great run at the Donkey Brae race in Aberdour by finishing ahead of some very experienced hill runners at Balmullo and then achieving a podium place at New Gilston 5k, again ahead of some experienced runners including the lady who had won the event for the previous two years.

Gillian at Balmullo