Saturday 22nd August – Greenock Glenpark Harriers caught the Ultra Bug this Saturday with a fantastic turnout of over 50 runners wearing the famous blue and yellow shirt as runners ventured onto the daunting +50km route. The Dunoon Ultra is a prestigious ultra-marathon and relay race and was celebrating its 10th anniversary. The event takes place around Loch Eck, featuring a scenic route that includes forest trails, rolling hills, and spectacular views of the Holy Loch and the Firth of Clyde. Participants can choose to race solo or as part of a relay team, with distances ranging from 20.16 km to 52.22 km. The race is known for its supportive community and beautiful landscapes, making it a memorable experience for runners of all levels – but not for the faint of heart or weak of constitution, with the first section alone featuring a memorable 2000+ feet of elevation around the hill trails. The runners representing GGH did the club proud – that everyone finishing made an outstanding effort goes without saying, but there were some brilliant results too.
The ULTRA RACE
Men’s Race: Five men took on the full distance; all running in either the v40 or v50 category. Run of the day came from Michael McLoone, taking on an Ultra for the first (and last) time. Michael actually runs in the v60 category (which didn’t feature in the race) so it was amazing to see him complete the course in a time of 5:18:56 and 2nd V50, 8th overall – all legs completed in under two hours. Next finisher for the Harriers was Adam Real, taking 4th in the 40 group. 13th overall despite showing fatigue in the last lag. Despite saying his Ultra Efforts were done for the year after completing the gruelling West Highland Way race, coach Alan O’Rourke fought through the pain barrier for 6th V50 / 19th overall, actually recording negative splits as he managed to speed up toward the end of the race and going faster over leg 3 than leg 1. Alan also recorded his first PB over any distance in 18 years, shattering his 50k record by over 20 minutes. Scott Beveridge for the v40 switched positions with Alan throughout the race but began to cramp up badly in the final leg, losing 30 minutes on Alan as they headed toward the finish but still managing 14th place for 43rd overall. Campbell Macfarlane was last down the famous Dunoon Pier finish in V50 27th, 90th overall in 8h05m05s.
Ladies Race: Once again, the ladies turned up in larger numbers for this one and there were some magnificent performances taking home some medals as the results were tallied up. Ultra specialists Lorna Mitchell and Viki Smith are no strangers to the bigger distances and had great runs on the day, going 3rd and 4th in the V50 category with only four minutes between them, both under six hours with 5h50m14s and 5h54m28s respectively. Lorna’s time secured bronze for third placed female overall, while Viki’s time also got her 1st position as Super Veteran Runner. Jill Aikman was just over the 6h barrier with 6:07:35 for 5th in the same category, and also 2nd super vet. Donna Campell managed bronze in the V40 category, 3rd place in a time of 6h30m13s just ahead of Emma Lynch, 5th lady in the Senior Race 6h33m27s. Another runner who is no stranger to the hills is Lisa Boonsanong, 6th in her V40 category with 6h52m17s for 30th overall. Finally for the ladies, a tough shift for Elaine Medinelli (8h04m53s) and Rebecca McCluckie (8h05m48) rounded off the runners taking on the full course.
The RELAY RACE
Runners form teams of three for the relay, with each runner tackling a single leg of the course. GGH put forward 14 relay teams of the 33 total, and teams can be male, female or mixed; but the official result (strangely) only records team, not gender categories. That being said, the toss up for run of the day goes to the all female team of Jennifer Rooney, Lynne Harrison, and Leona Donnelly. A strong first leg from GGH ladies captain Lynne Harrison put her into checkpoint one as first female in the race, a position which the rest of the team consolidated over their respective legs and easily the 1st female team home and 10th overall – we’ll be asking the organisers to change this result group for next year!
David Thomson and Stephen Hanley formed a team with a friend, David Murray from Newton Road Runners, so while not a full GGH team, the boys had the team podium result of the day with 3rd overall; Hanley in particular taking on the notoriously hilly first leg in fine style for a time of 1h40m45s at the changeover, Thomson and Murray also recording great times of 1h23m39 (Murray) and 1h17m41s (Thomson) over their sections for a chip time of 4h22m02. Just behind them was team Aaron Fullerton, Colin McKnight and Scot in a time of 4h26m dead for a brilliant 4th place overall.
Check out the stats from the relay in the table below:
- Full RESULTS
- Thanks to all the GGH Crew Teams for support over the event!
- Massive thanks to Dunoon Presents Ultra / Relay volunteers and co-ordinators for an outstanding day!
- Photo Credit: Stephen Harrison
