Archive 2006

Irvine AC had 14 runners taking part in the Millport ten mile road race which consists of one circuit of Isle of Cumbrae.

The race also incorporates the Ayrshire ten mile championship and this provided a good contingent of Ayrshire runners amongst the 218 starters.

Weather conditions were not great for distance running as the runners had to contend with a mini heat wave which resulted in quite a few suffering from dehydration.

From the gun Dave Millar, who has had an excellent road running season, opened up a gap over the chasing group which consisted of some very good runners.

However Dave stayed in the front to win the race with a fast time of 52:01 and also take the county title finishing almost two minutes ahead of the second placed runner,

Next Irvine runner home was Billy Richardson who had a more steady race, finishing 7th with a time of 57:41.

Colin Miller finished 13th in 58:44, losing out on the veteran prize by a mere 20 seconds but winning the Ayrshire veteran title as consolation.

These three runners along with Brian Craig 18th in 61:53 won both the open and Ayrshire team titles.

Other finishers were Dave McLelland 19th in 61:58, Ian Berryman 22nd in 63:01, John Moore 38th in 66:14, Joe McNamee 39th in 66:19, Jim Sneddon 40th in 66:25, Findlay Dowell 66th in 71:30, Mike Flinn 70th in 72:33, Mary Miller 111th in 78:38, Ian McManus 117th in 79:25 and Ian Hamilton 176th in 92:25.

Irvine AC had two competitors at the National Under 15 Boys championships at Grangemouth stadium where John McCafferty capped a brilliant season by scooping three medals and Sean Thompson showed his potential in the short sprints.
In the High Jump, John’s specialist event he won the gold medal with a fantastic
1.88mtrs clearance. John had three attempts at a new championship record of 1.92 metres where his final attempt was brought down by his heel.
Lifted by this performance John added a 3rd place bronze medal to his cabinet with a personnel best Long Jump of 5:71metres, which was a 20cm increase on his previous personal best.
His third and final event was the discus, where he threw an excellent 41.90 metres into a headwind to take the Gold medal.
Also competing was Irvine AC sprint ace Sean Thompson who set a new personal best 100 metre time of 11: 70 seconds in the semi-final heat but was unlucky to miss out on the medals in the 100 metre final where he finished in 4th place.
In the 200 metres semi-final Sean cruised to a heat win and in the final showed his class by taking the Silver medal in a personal best time of 24:01seconda.
At halfway he was sitting in sixth position but blasted through the field to claim Silver. The eventual winner just managed to hang on to the lead from the fast finishing Irvine man.
This was the last major outdoor meeting for this season and both boys will move up an age group to under 17 category next season which should hold no fears for them.

Ultra runner Dave McClelland was through at Strathaven for a 50 mile race.
With a field of 20 runners Dave started at a good seven minute mile pace eventually breaking away with another runner
As the course was fairly undulating Dave dropped behind at the five mile mark to settle into a steady eight minute mile pace.
Dave continued on his own to the finishing line in second place only nine minutes behind the winner with a time of 6hr 57mins.
This was an excellent result and with all the top road and cross-country performances over the years, gets the club noticed in the tough ultra distance running events.

Helensburgh Half Marathon

A number of Irvine AC runners travelled to Helensburgh on Sunday for the half-marathon. Conditions along the picturesque 13.1 mile route were reasonably good although the field of over 300 runners had to contend with a headwind for for the first five miles of the race as it it headed out of the town towards the Faslane naval base. After a steady opening mile Irvine's David Millar broke away along with Clydesdale Harrier Alan Adam and Cambuslang Harrier Robert Gilroy. They then sustained a fast pace with Gilroy eventually dropping back and out of the race around 7 miles. David Millar and Alan Adam battled it out until the Clydesdale Harrier managed to open up a lead after 11 miles, with David taking second place in a time of 69'12", 17 seconds behind the winner. George Irving, running his first half marathon for a couple of years had an excellent run, using all his experience by starting at a controlled pace and then coming through the field in the second half of the race to finish in 8th place in a time of 79'36 (and picking up third prize in the Veteran 40 category). Dougie Connery was the next Irvine man home in a time of 82'54 and 14th place. This was another quality result for Dougie who had felt a little jaded, but still produced a strong run. Hot on his heels, Jim White was the next Irvine finisher in a superb 18th place in a time of 83'05 and first place in the Veteran 50 category. This was a fantastic and well deserved result for Jim, one of Irvine's mainstays for many years who has been enjoying excellent form after a couple of years hampered by injuries. Another runner dogged by injury, Brian Craig was the next Irvine AC man home in 84' 35. The final Irvine AC finisher was Mike Flinn. Irvine were also boosted by picking up the second team prize with the team of David Millar, Dougie Connery and Jim White.

Islay Half Marathon

Billy Richardson went one better by winning the Islay Half Marathon. This was the 3rd time Billy has taken part in the race in the last 10 years. Billys winning time of 1.16.14 , pruned several minutes off his previous best for the tough 13.2 mile course. With Terry Coyle of Glasgow hot on his heels until the 12 mile mark it was a closely contested race with Richardson just having the edge over the final mile. With excellent prizes on offer the event was well worthwhile for Billy who is now looking to gear up for the forthcoming cross country season .

Irvine AC Under 15 athlete John McCafferty travelled to Waterford in Ireland to represent Scotland in the Celtic Cup International at under 16 category . John was selected to compete in the High Jump and Discus against older & more experienced Internationalists. Adverse weather made the outdoor competition challenging for all competitors with John finishing an excellent 3rd in the High Jump failing to clear 1:85 metres At one point the High Jump competition was in danger of being cancelled as the bar was continuously dislodged by high winds. A few hours later John completed his first International win in the Discus event and in the process he set a new personnel best with a throw of 42:74 metres with the 1:25 kg implement. That throw will consolidate Johns position as 5th in the UK Discus rankings for his age group.

Track & Field

John McCafferty was competing at Grangemouth Sat 15th July 2006 in the British Schools outdoor championships, representing Scotland Schools in the under 17 age group at High Jump, even although he is just still only 14 years old. He narrowly missed out on a medal finishing 5th in the event, but he still managed to clear a new personnel best for outdoor competitions clearing a height of 1:90 metres.This performance would have got John the Gold medal at Sweden in the European championships last week instead of his fantastic bronze in his first competition outside the British Isles. John is now in fantastic condition to try & add the British outdoor under 15 title to his current British indoor High Jump title. John will be travelling to Birmingham in early August to compete in the High Jump & the Discus events.

British Masters Track and Field Championship

Irvine AC club president John McGarry was taking part in the British Masters track and field championships at Birmingham and had a storming few days in the over-55 category.

Taking part in his specialist event, the 100 metres, John showed the cream of British sprinters a clean pair of heels in his age group category, taking the gold medal in a time of 12.8.

This was followed by a silver in the 200 metres where he recorded a time of 26.5 which was slightly slower than he would have expected due to the blustery conditions.

These were excellent results and all the more remarkable as John only trains twice a week due to his coaching commitments at the club. Wait till he moves up to three days.
Wife Liz was also competing and had a fine 9th place finish in the over-50 5,000 metres with a time of 22 minutes.

West Highland Way race

Irvine AC coach Dave McLelland recently competed in the 98 mile West Highland Way race and finished in 9th place with a time of 21hrs 24mins 9secs.

The race started well up to just before Inversnaid which is approximately 30 miles into the race when he went over and pulled his right quad, but with some strapping at the next check point Dave was able to carry on.
With all the pressure of the down hills on his left leg, Dave’s left knee gave up at Kinghouse at around 70 miles but with the help of some more strapping he managed a very painful finish.
There were 103 starters and 70 finishers with a new course record being set by Jez Bragg in a time of 15hrs 44 mins 50secs.

Not all finishers were so lucky and Dave thought he was in pain until he heard that Prestwick runner Mark Hamilton broke his tibia not long into the race and carried on to finish in 32hrs 33mins 21secs

And people think that a marathon is long.

Diet Coke Half Marathon

The Diet Coke East Kilbride Half Marathon incorporating the West District Half Marathon Championship took place on Sunday. Two Irvine AC runners took part around the 2 lap course. Having been focussing their training on the shorter 10K races, this was the first half marathon of the season for both David Millar and Dougie Connery and for Dougie it was his first return to the 13.1 mile distance for a number of years. With a 9.30am start the temperature was ideal although a gusty wind made some parts of the fairly open course quite difficult. David Millar was right up with the leaders throughout the race to finish in 4th place with a time of 69'07 and a new personal best. Fourth place was good enough to pick up the silver medal in the West District V35 category. Behind him Dougie Connery put up another great performance to finish 34th in 81'24 - a fine return to the half marathon distance and a time to build upon