Running: Marcus scores impressive hat-trick

Apr 3 2009 by Our Correspondent, Dumfries Standard Friday

IN HIS debut run at the Anglo Celtic plate race in Galway at the weekend, Dumfries Running Club’s Marcus Scotney completed an outstanding hat-trick.

He finished in third place in the UK 100 kilometre championship as an individual, winning the Gold medal as first Scottish championship runner and helping England to retain the overall team title.

This means that Marcus will run in the England A team in the Commonwealth Championships in September at Keswick and has been selected to represent Great Britain at the World Championship event in the summer.

On a breezy and cool morning Les Hill, Paul Hart and Marcus lined up with the cream of Britain’s ultra distance runners as well as teams from Germany and individuals from Norway, Poland and Australia.

Marcus settled into the rhythm of the race early on and with the help of his support crew led by DRC’s Carolyn Hunter Rowe he completed the first marathon in two hours 58 and got to halfway in 3.31.

He slowed down marginally by 14 minutes in the second 50k and crossed the line in a magnificent seven hours 16, an agonising 20 seconds short of claiming second place in the UK Championships.

Metronomic race winner Jez Bragg was a class apart from others in the field.

He managed to run under 42 minutes for each of the ten 10-kilometre sections of the route and completed the final 10k in his fastest time as he finished in under 7 hours.

As the record holder in the 95 mile West Highland Way race and the 50mile round Rotherham race, as well as several other ultra events, his ability to grind out the distance means that on his day he is the best in the country.

2007 Scottish Champion Paul Hart started confidently and was well up with the leaders in the first half of the race with each 10k between 42 and 44 minutes but he suffered from severe stomach problems.

He struggled on but was forced to drop out at 70 kilometres.

2006 Scottish Champion Les Hill was very cagey in his approach to the race.

With a race pace between 47 and 49 minutes for each 10k he completed his first marathon in three hours 20 and the second slightly slower in 3.40 but, by his own admission, “the wheels came off” in the final stages where lack of training miles counted against him.

He finished in a very gutsy eight hours 36 and was the third counter helping Scotland to second place overall in the team competition.

Monday night beginners’ race

The Monday night beginners section of Dumfries Running Club showed that effort and enthusiasm can go a long way.

On March 30, 30 newcomers lined up on the Queen of the South viaduct bridge to take part in the first of the monthly two-kilometre race aimed at giving newer runners a target to aim for and giving improvers a chance to measure the progress that they have made over the year.

For many this was their first race of any description and many opted to run in groups out on the cycle path.

The first runners back were Chris Neill, Tom McCaulay and Gerry Edgar closely followed by Kerry Walker and everyone enjoyed the chance to test themselves over a measured route.

Many thanks are due to coaches Margaret Gray and Susan Graham who devised this very popular debut race.

As befitting the increasingly International flavour of races run by Dumfries Running Club members, Christine and Charles Clemie took part in the Rome Marathon last weekend.

While both have not been able to train as much as they would have liked a route that went past the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps and passed through St Peter’s Square in the Vatican was enough to rekindle anyone’s enthusiasm for running and sightseeing. Christine was pleased to celebrate her birthday in four hours 54 and Charles, in his first race for over two years struggled in the heat in five hours 15, well over an hour slower than his best.