THE lull in road running events from which to choose continues for members of Irvine’s running and jogging group Ron's Runners with the only decisions to be made is whether to enter a 5k park run and if so which one to support and while most plump for the local Eglinton Park others prefer a change of scenery.

Opting for a change, Neil McMullen journeyed through to Strathclyde Park to once more line up for their 5k last week-end and was rewarded with a finishing time of 19:59 which although not quite his best time over the course was good enough to earn him a seventh position from the 216 runners taking part.

Jennifer Shaw and her pal Fiona Wyper also bypassed Eglinton last week-end preferring to return to Linwood for the 5k there which is run over completely flat ground. Jennifer’s purple running patch continued as she crossed the finish line with a time of 23:42, Fiona holding her close with 23:43. Jennifer, who also set herself a new personal best, finished third female overall to Fiona’s fourth position - much to the girls' delight.

At Eglinton Park this weekend Cameron Miller led the club home finishing with 19:40 followed again by Andrew Stewart clocking 20:37. Another good run from Neil Kyle saw him record 23:01 then came Hugh Hood 23:39 having to work hard to keep Mark Garton 24:22 behind.

Jennifer Shaw continued to run well posting 24:59 and claiming second female finisher with Fiona Wyper third female 25:03 and not to be outdone Pamela Porteous was also content to claim 25:34 which earned her fourth female overall. Next home was Hazel Anderson 28:20 while Gemma Davidson 28:47 - in her first race for some time did well keeping ahead of Carol Rome 28:56 who was followed by Rachel Wood not yet fully fit recording 29:53 happy to finish under the 30-minute mark. Also appearing after an absence was young Amy Dickson 32:46 and just pipping mum Suzanne with the same time. Eric Pearson finished with 32:54 just ahead of Ann Hay 33:13 then David Milton in only his third race posted a satisfactory 34:47 while John Owens acted as a steward.

The Saturday morning group mainly consisting of the less able runner continues to help those wishing to increase their mileage slowly and in easy stages while continuing to offer company to those content on just being able to attain a personal goal albeit simply to run their first mile without stopping. Provision is also made for those who can run faster and further again with company.

Training nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 6pm from the Asda end of the Mall and routes generally take around an hour to complete with the distances covered varying from around three to eight miles, depending on the pace of the individuals involved. Runners of all standards are welcome to come along and join in, run with company for extra enjoyment and added safety. Those wishing to give running a try especially welcome.

For further details of these and other training times contact jogalong2010@hotmail.com for further details.