Friday 5 August saw over 100 runners tackle PH Racing Club’s highly competitive QA 5k event. Time graded into five separate races, it was a fight to the finish for the packs of runners, who sped around seven and half clockwise laps of Queen Anne High School in Dunfermline.
Despite a strong wind along the finishing straight, the flat lapped course lined with cheering family, friends and fellow competitors, lived up to its fast reputation from one year ago, proving to be a course of speed as new personal bests and course records were set in the grounds of the Fife high school.
Taking the win in the final race of the evening was Tokyo 2020 Paralympic gold medallist Owen Miller MBE, smashing both the course record, which previously stood at 14:55, and the 15-minute barrier in a new personal best. Having started off steady in a stacked field, the Fife Athletics Club runner showed his strength and experience by pulling away from the leading group with a few laps to go, coming home in a time of 14:38 ahead of second place East Kilbride Athletics Club’s Daryl Reid (14:48) and teammate Lewis Rodgers in third (14:51).
Ramping up the pace in the third race, four women broke the previous course record of 17:20, but as the sole woman in the fifth and final race of the evening, it was Fife Athletic Club’s Annabel Simpson, who displayed her class, stealing both the win and the course record in a new personal best of 15:54. Jennifer Wetton of Central Athletics Club took the second place (17:08) with Amy Frankland of Lasswade Athletics Club the third (17:12), having finished fifth and ninth, respectively, in the third race.
A strong turn out from the home club added to the exciting atmosphere as 20 PH Racing Club runners completed the speedy loops. The fastest of the bunch was Paul Kieran (16:07), who finished second in the closely bunched fourth race after picking up the pace with a few laps to go before sprinting for the finish line, just one second ahead of Edinburgh Athletics Club’s Max Meres. Aaron Bennet and Ben Hukins finish as the second and third home club runner, respectively, with Graeme Doig and Peter Gibson, also coming home in sub 17 minutes.
The event was commended on social media for its good organisation and incredible atmosphere, with participants commenting that they enjoyed the evening and having the opportunity to race on a fast course.
Event organiser and PH Racing Club member, Dan Monaghan, said: ‘What a night. Thank you to everyone who raced, volunteered, cheered, promoted and commentated. There was a lot of hard work put into the organising of the night but it is what all of these runners deserve, it was nothing compared to the hard work that they put in to perform they way they have. It really was a great night of competitive action. This is club running. This is club racing. This is QA 5k.”
A big thank you goes to all those involved from PH Racing Club for their work on the night, Ewan Heeles from Community Use Fife for his assistance with the venue and Graham & Gregg Coull from You Can Sport for the fantastic PA and commentary that they provided all evening. A further thank you to Kristin Lownie and Graeme Baxter for their brilliant race night photographs.
For a full list of results and photographs from the evening, visit the QA 5k Race Results page.
Author:
PH Racing Club 