THE annual Round Cumbrae 10 Mile Road Race was held on Sunday, with the race also counting as the Ayrshire 10 mile road race championships.

The race is a single anti-clockwise circuit round the island and a large field of almost 350 runners took to the start line in Millport.

A strong contingent from Irvine Running Club made the journey across with hopes of success in the Ayrshire Championship race.

Conditions for the race proved to be difficult with the wind and rain making it tough going in certain sections. This was particularly true on the far side of the island between miles four to eight as the runners ran into a strong head wind.

The men’s race proved to be an extremely tight affair with Shettleston Harrier’s Daniel Bradford winning in a time of 54 minutes 33 seconds, only 3 seconds ahead of John Bell of Inverclyde with Kevin Brydon also of Shettleston third (55:25). The women’s race was won by a more comfortable margin with Garscube’s Katie White first in a time of 60 minutes 36 seconds, nearly five minutes in front of the second runner, Ruth Joss of Shettleston (65:05), with Laura Wallace of Ayr Seaforth third (66:57).

Colin Whitby was first to finish of the Irvine runners with a new best time of 60 minutes and 31 seconds for the distance, placing him in 19th position with Paul Lafferty 21st (61:34) the next of the Marress-based club to finish to take silver and bronze medals respectively behind winner Kenny Neil of Ayr Seaforth in the men’s Ayrshire Championship event. Solid runs from Alan Douglas in 34th (64:44) and Scott Brown in 47th (67:03) meant that, combined with the positions of Whitby and Lafferty, Irvine won the Ayrshire team prize for the event.

There were fine runs from a number of other Irvine runners with Graeme MacFarlane (69:05), Jim Sneddon (75:15), Mike Flinn (80:49), Colin Patterson (80:54), Susan Rhodes (87:24), Liz Colqhuhoun (88:27), Karen Figgins (89:24) and Ross Laye (90:56) all performing solidly in the testing conditions.

The recent Ben Nevis Hill Race proved to be a tough but enjoyable challenge for Irvine Running Club’s top hill runner Tommy Begley. The race which starts in the centre of Fort William before ascending the 4,409 feet of Britain’s highest mountain before the testing descent back into Fort William, attracts a strong field of experienced hill runners. Indeed, runners are only allowed to enter this event if they have completed at least three qualifying races which are of the highest degree of hill running difficulty.

This year’s race, which sold out within two days of entries opening in February, had almost 500 runners at the start and Begley put in a strong performance to finish in a time of 2 hours and 20 minutes which placed him in 196th position overall. This was fine return for the Kilwinning runner after a period of solid training. The race itself was won by top Scottish hill runner Finlay Wild of Lochaber Athletic Club in a superb time of one hour and 31 minutes.