IRVINE Running Club had three teams entered for the annual Scottish Masters Road Relay Championships which were held at cold but wind-free Strathclyde Park on Sunday morning.

This race, which is for runners over the age of 35, entails each runner covering a 3.8 mile lap round the loch with four in the men’s team and three in the ladies team and attracts teams from all over Scotland.

In the men’s race, Irvine chose to put their stronger runners off first and Alex Allardyce got Irvine off to a good start with a run of 20:40 placing them in ninth place.

Billy Richardson was next up and ran strongly despite only recently recovering from a heavy cold to bring Irvine up the field into seventh place with a time of 19:46. On the third leg Dougie Connery, who only recently returned to the club and was running in first race in seven years, showed that he had not lost his competitive edge with a fine run of 22:51 keeping Irvine well placed in twelfth position. Last up was Mark Livingstone who ran a creditable 22:29 to take Irvine home in 14th place , behind the winners Cambuslang Harriers in a field of 51 teams.

The second men’s team was heavily depleted due to injury, but despite this Jim White had a fine run finishing the course in a time of 26:38.

In the ladies race Karen Figgins, in her first appearance at the event, got Irvine off to a good start with a time of 30:11 to put Irvine in 24th position. Next up was Susan Rhodes (33:09) who had a good run round the testing course before handing over to Liz Colquhoun (30:53) who ran strongly to maintain their 25th place.

Meanwhile at the Eglinton Parkrun there was a healthy contingent of Irvine runners taking part on a cold, crisp but sunny Saturday morning.

For the second week in succession an Irvine runner took the top spot with, on this occasion Paul Lafferty, who has gained entry to the London Marathon in April this year, being the person to lead the field home in a time of 18:09. Not far behind Paul was another Irvine runner, Alan Douglas, in a time of 18:23 to take second place. Steven Daye, warming up for Sunday’s Nigel Barge 10k in Glasgow, was next to follow in a time of 19:35 with John Miller (20:46), John Surgenor (21:11) and Jim Sneddon (21:18), who has quickly recovered from a dislocated shoulder suffered after last week’s run, the next trio home.

Jennie Jackson (33:12) and Ian McManus (34:58) were the final Irvine runners home in a large field of 212 runners.