THE Scottish Masters Cross Country Championships took place at Camperdown Park in Dundee on Saturday.

Open to runners over the age of 40, the race was run in a cold, damp and misty setting with the previous day’s hard underfoot conditions significantly softened by overnight rain. The field was the largest ever assembled for this event with almost 500 runners from all parts of Scotland represented.

The 6k female race covered two laps of an undulating course and Irvine’s sole representative, Liz Colquhoun, who was competing for the first time in the event, had a solid run completing the course in 37:31 to finish in 111th place in a large and extremely strong field. It was a good effort from Liz who is in training for her ultra-marathon debut later in the year.

The men’s race was run over 8k with two laps of a course which included a mixture of woodland and parkland running including some long uphill stretches along with good downhill descents. Billy Richardson, who has placed well in this event previously including a second place in the race two years ago, was looking for another good run started strongly placing in fifth position after the first lap. On the second lap, a fall on a tricky muddy section of the course hampered his progress but he finished well in a time of 28:51 to place 10th overall in a field of 300, one minute behind the winner Jethro Lennox from Shettleston Harriers and narrowly missing a medal in his M45 age group category.

Next to finish for Irvine was Alex Allardyce, who continued his fine run of form with a time of 30:31 placing him 45th in the field. The final two runners Mark Livingstone (133rd in 33:30) and Douglas Connery (139th in 33:44) had a good tussle round the course and helped Irvine place 15th overall in the team race.

Meanwhile, Irvine Running Club’s Steven Daye took almost 40 seconds off his 10k personal best with his time of 34:39 good enough for an excellent 11th place in the Nigel Barge 10k road race in Glasgow last weekend. This race, which is run in Glasgow by Maryhill Harriers and commemorates a soldier killed in action at Dunkirk during the second world war, is one of the oldest on the Scottish running calendar and the first major 10k race of the year and attracts a strong field. Steven’s fine run this early in the season bodes well for the future as he looks to target faster times later in the year.

Steven Daye followed up his 10k personal best with another strong showing at the 5k Eglinton Parkrun, to be first home with his time of 17:40 an excellent time on such a muddy and slippery course.

Paul Lafferty (18:53) and Alan Douglas (19:33) were second and third to finish on the route which had to be altered slightly due to the previous night’s heavy rainfall. Jim Sneddon (21:38) closely followed by John Surgenor (21:43) were next with Mike Flinn (24:39), Ross Laye (25:56) and Ian McManus (35:38) all running well in a large field of 189 runners.