Raistrick wins North Berwick road race
More than 200 runners lined up at the far end of Portobello Promenade on Saturday morning for the starters gun to set them on their 20 mile run to North Berwick.
This traditional race started over 50 years ago originally from Edinburgh post office to North Berwick post office, a journey of 22.2 miles.
It has seen changes for safety reasons in the last few years and after moving the start from Meadowbank stadium last year, this year's finish near the beach proved most successful for both runners and spectators.
From the gun Scottish hill runner Paul Raistrick from Kingcraig, who became a father just two days before, took the lead and at both five and 10 miles looked to have it clearly won.
However, New Zealander John Carpenter (Harmeny AC) caught the leader with just two miles to go at Dirleton. A toe to toe battle ensued with Raistrick just finding the edge to win by just eight seconds in 1hr57m48s.
Finished
All runners were affected by the strong north wind which at least kept the rain away.
The only other runner to break the two hour barrier was North Berwick's Dave Wright (HBT) who was second in the Chris Hoy race. He clocked 1hr 59m24s.
In fourth place was Ian Taylor (Carneigie H) who took the Veteran O/40 award in 2hr6m33s.
The O/45 vet award went to Stuart Hay (DRC) who finished in eighth place in 2h8m37s and the O/50 vet award went to Musselburgh based Willie Jarvie (PortobelloRC) in 10th place in 2h9m18s.
Portobello had a total of 28 runners taking part in their nominated club run event.
Secretary
The over 55 vet award went to North Berwick stalwart Sandy Wallace who was completing his 26th consecutive running of the event and completed the course in 2hrs24m21s, over three minutes faster than last year. Tom Spry took the over 60 award.
The ladies race was won by Marietta Beal (EAC) in 2hrs 26m13s from Isobel Joiner (ERC) in 2h27m41s with HELP's club secretary Julie Oswald, who had just come off a night shift as a nurse, taking the LV35 award in 2hr 28m24s. Erni Hamilton (Perth RR) won the LV45 award clocking 2h29m47s.
Carnegie were winners of the men's team award ahead of Portobello RC and Perth Road Runners took the ladies prize.
Kirsty Preston, who took over from Bill Gardner two years ago in organising the event on behalf of East Lothian Council, thanked everyone who helped make the event a success.
Other East Lothian based club runners taking part included: 15th Colin Menzies (LAC) 2h14m32s; David Lott (HELP) 2h21m58s; Dermot Ferry (MADAC) 2h23m46s; Graeme Busfield (MADAC); Neil Wyatt (DRC) 2h45m09s; Anne Hay (DRC)LV 2h52m17s; Paddy McDonald (HELP) V 2h56m02s; Ray Harris (HELP) V.2h59m Exactly 215 runners from the 244 original entries completed the 20 mile course within the 3.5hr time limit.
Full results can be found on the Scottish Athletics website.
Meanwhile, it was estimated that more than 10,000 runners took to the streets of Edinburgh on Sunday for the annual BUPA 10k road race by the time the last group of runners started the race the elite runners were already crossing the finish line.
A beautiful morning welcomed the runners to Holyrood Park and for the first time ever the runners came through the grounds of Holyrood Palace to the finish line.
The known East Lothian club runners taking part were James Terry (HELP) 40m32s; Craig Wilson (MADAC) 40m55s; Alex Oliver (MADAC) 41m10s; Roddy MacKenzie (MADAC) 48m30s; Jan Oliver (MADAC) 49m46s and John Hughes (HELP) 50m06s.
All those runners had the satisfaction when the results were scutinised to see they had beaten the former world marathon record holder Ron Hill who 40 years ago came to the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh and won the marathon in a then world record time of 2hrs 9m.
Ron, now 71, has the reputation of having run everyday for 45 years and completed nearly 150,000 miles. His time on Sunday was a very respectable 51m36s.
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Weather for Musselburgh
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 3 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South west
