Larkhall YMCA Harriers rack up excellent times in various races
Larkhall YMCA Harriers AAC took part in several events in recent months, with members racking up impressive times.
The Edinburgh Marathon Festival saw JogScotland graduates Lorna Elvin (38.44), Lorna Cardwell (42.43)and Nicola Ferguson (42.46) in the 5k at the end of May, in their first race completing the Couch to 5K programme.
On the Sunday, May 25, Shona Mitchell ran her first half marathon, completing the course in 2.27:04.
Erin Gordon and John Collins took part in the full 26.2 mile marathon, with Gordon finishing in 4.00:15, with Collins not far behind in 4.19:36.
Larkhall's U15 girls' team of Lily Cuthbertson, Lucy Thomson, Erin Ogston and Laci McNulty won bronze at the Lanarkshire AAA Track Relays in Cumbernauld on May 17.
Drew Reid, George Brown, Emma Dooey and Aimee Davidson competed in a mixed 4x100m, finishing sixth.
Senior endurance coach Alex Kidd took part in the Babcock 10k Series at Shettleston, Dumbarton and Helensburgh in V60, finishing in 57,22, 57.44 and 55.52, respectively.
Rona MacPherson recorded a personal best time at the London Marathon, completing the course in 3.38:51, setting a new women's club record.
Laci McNulty won silver in under-15 girls' 100m and bronze in 200m at the West District Track Championships at Kilmarnock.
Ross Kinkade won silver in under-15 boys' 200m, while Aimee Davidson and Emma Dooey both reached the under-13 girls' 100m semi-finals, both setting PBs.
Dooey set a PB in her 800m final, en route to finishing second.
In under-15 girls' 200m, Lucy Thomson and Lily Cuthbertson recorded PBs in their heats.
Drew Reid narrowly missed out on a PB in his heat in under-15 boys' 200m, and in 1500m.
Sam Thomson ran well to set a PB in under-15 100m, and PBs were set by George B rown in the under-15 boys' 800m final, and Sophie Brennan in her 800m final, finishing third in a very tight finish.
Michael Marden set a PB in long jump with 3.86m.
Larkhall athletes played a big role for Team Lanarkshire as the Youth Development League kicked off on May 4.
Ross Kinkade won under-15 200m A race, with the fastest overall time of 24.21, following that up wth a win in 4x100m relay.
Laci McNulty won silver in the girls' under-15 200m, with 0.04 between her and first place.
McNulty was part of a team that placed third in 4x100m.
Sophie Brennan was in the U15 girls' B race and placed third in 2.39:90, bringing in more points for the team.
Michael Marden and Drew Reid took part in U13 boys' 1500m, with Marden finishing seventh in the A race and Reid fourth in the B race.
Marden and Reid formed part of the 4x100m team finishing fourth.
George Brown finished seventh in the B race.
At the end of the meet, Team South Lanarkshire had a commanding lead of 384 points, at the top of Division 2.
Match 2 took place on May 25, with notable performances from Ross Kinkade – who won both the 100m and 200m A races and the 4x100 relay.
Laci McNulty won her 200m and placed second in 100m A race, and won the 4x100m.
Michael Marden finished fourth in U13 boys' 1500m and won his 4x100m, giving Harriers a clean sweep of the relays, and helping Team South Lanarkshire extend their league lead to 730.5 points and in the hunt for promotion next year, with one match remaining.
In April, the Harriers' beginner group, JogScotland Larkhall, completed their Couch to 5k programme, running the Strathclyde Parkrun with friends.
Twelve weeks of hard work, training three times a week, paid off as 36 of the original 40 completed the course.
In March, a team of six endurance athletes headed to the Alloa Half Marathon.
Aaron Partridge stormed through the 13.1 mile course in 1hr 14mins 44secs for 19th overall.
Rona MacPherson was first female home in 1.38:18.
Erin Gordon, Sarah Leggate and William Thomson completed the course next, all achieving PBs.
Ted Zokas and Hannah McGuire finished the race, with McGuire setting a new PB.
Louise Henderson took part in the Inverness Half Marathon, beating her old PB by nine minutes to complete the course in 2.10:48.
Erin Gordon took part in the Monklands Half Marathon, where she was fourth female overall in 1.45:47.
In the associated 10k, Shona Mitchell finished in 1.04:15.
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