We are now into July and races 3 and 4 of our summer virtual series are underway. These are a new 10k route, starting and finishing on the peel and the same 5k from June.
In the first 10 days we've had a few marker performances to set the tone for the rest of the month. Now that we've all had some virtual racing under our belt, we're expecting the handicap racing to be close, nail biting stuff (spoiler alert.... it is!!).
So please get involved, whether you are fast, slow or somewhere in the middle, there's something here to challenge you.... and every second counts as you will see.
Starting with the 10k. Just 2 Ladies currently on the board. Karen Outram and Clair Howison ran 46:22 and 47:20 respectively. Karen taking the scratch victory so far with Clair taking the handicap spoils (handicap times 43:20 (Clair) and 43:58 Karen)).
Only Yvonne McHugh on the 5k roster so far for the ladies with her excellent 29:15 (18:34), well done Yvonne.
Scott Hyslop leads the 10k way with his 42:58 for the fastest scratch time around the route. This gives him a handicap time of 37:48. Next up is Neil Anderson in 44:02 with his handicap less than 30 seconds down on Scott in 38:16. Roddy Simpsons 55:53 puts him just 2 seconds slower than Neil (38:18), come on Roddy, I'm sure you can find a few seconds.... And then less than 20 seconds back again to David Main-Reade's 38:37 handicap (scratch time of 47:27). That puts the top 4 within 50 seconds. Graham Chambers and Ian Fyfe posted close scratch times of 52:08 (40:46) and 52:06 (44:49), respectively.
The 5k is even closer. 4 athletes all within 30 seconds handicap time. Graham Chambers currently leads (23:39 (handicap 18:30), then Roddy Simpson just 1 second back (27:01 ((18:31)), and David Main-Reade in 3rd (23:12 (18:53)). Neil Anderson is currently in 4th with 21:50 (18:59).
Just a wee note to runners to ensure you familiarise yourself with the 10k route. There is a map on the series page and Paul Dudchenko has very kindly posted a video to the Linlithgow runners Facebook page.
Plenty of time to go and plenty of virtual racing to be had.
